Jan 23, 2026 / 10:04 am
Pope Leo XIV will visit five Catholic parishes of Rome in February and March, in continuity with his predecessors, the Diocese of Rome announced Friday.
The visits, which will take place on Sundays during the penitential season of Lent, will include the celebration of Mass.
The pope will also meet with Rome’s priests for the second time on Feb. 19 at the Vatican. His first encounter with priests of the diocese took place one month into his pontificate.
The pope is not only the head of the universal Catholic Church, he is also the bishop of the Diocese of Rome, though he does not manage the diocese like a typical diocesan bishop. A cardinal vicar general, vice regent (deputy), and auxiliary bishops are responsible for the ordinary running of the diocese.
Cardinal Baldassare Reina, the vicar general of Rome, said last year there were 8,020 priests and deacons in the diocese, of whom 809 were permanent Rome diocesan priests, and most of the remaining were part of religious communities or doing advanced studies.
The first parishes selected for papal visits in 2026 are located in each of the five sectors of the diocese: north, south, east, west, and center. Leo reinstated the central sector in November 2025 after Pope Francis had eliminated it the year prior.
Pope Leo’s predecessors also visited parishes in the Diocese of Rome during their papacies.
John Paul II managed to visit 317 of 333 parishes throughout his long pontificate. During his final years, when he was too ill to travel to them, he invited the remaining 16 parishes to come to the Vatican.
Pope Francis in his 12 years as pope made 20-some pastoral visits to parishes in Rome, mostly concentrated in the city’s outskirts, part of his great attention to the peripheries, which was also reflected in his visits to many of the city’s prisons and charitable entities.
