For Christmas 2026 the U.S. bishops' visitors' office in Rome, on a page updated October 8, 2026, expects the Pope's Christmas Day Mass in St. Peter's Basilica in the morning, the Urbi et Orbi blessing from the central balcony at noon, and Vespers with the Te Deum in the late afternoon on December 31; it gives no time yet for the Christmas Eve Mass, the January 1 Mass of Mary, Mother of God, or the Epiphany Mass on January 6. On December 8 the Pope leads the Angelus at noon and customarily honors the statue of the Immaculate Conception near the Spanish Steps in the afternoon, with no ticket needed. The Holy See confirms the calendar closer to the dates, so check it before you book anything around a papal liturgy.
American pilgrims request tickets for the papal Masses through the visitors' office, which warns that they are very limited; those without one follow the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Masses on the screens in St. Peter's Square. The Baptism of the Lord Mass in the Sistine Chapel is not open to ticket requests.
Good to know before you go: the season is also kept away from the Vatican. Cribs go up in Rome's churches from about December 8. The free exhibition of a hundred cribs under the left-hand colonnade of St. Peter's Square is expected from December 8 to January 8, usually from morning until evening. St. Mary Major keeps the relic venerated as the Holy Crib. At Santa Maria in Aracoeli a replica of the Santo Bambino is venerated; the original statue of the Child Jesus was stolen in the 1990s. Santo Spirito in Sassia, near the Vatican, has Mass in English in the morning on Christmas Day. Expect cold evenings and long security lines at St. Peter's, and check holiday closures for museums.