On December 26, the second day of Christmas celebrations for Christians of the Western rite a solemn mass, led by Pastoral Coordinator for Ukrainians in Italy, Fr. Marko Semehen was held at the Roman basilica of St. John Lateran.

The event was attended by the Ambassador of Ukraine to the  Holy See Tetiana Izhevska, archimandrite of the Basilian Order of St. Josaphat Genesiy Viomar , Mother Superior of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Virgin Mary Theresa Slota, heads of the religious society "Saint Sophia", representatives of the media, in particular television channel 1+1 , and a large number of Ukrainians from various parts of Italy that almost completely filled one of the largest basilicas of Rome that day.

Interestingly, the tradition to start Christmas celebrations in one of the main Roman temples was launched two years ago in the framework of the "Ukrainian Christmas at the Vatican". On December 26, 2011 Ukrainians of Italy made its first Christmas pilgrimage to the Cathedral of St. Peter, which had its square decorated by Ukrainian Christmas tree.

Next year, Christmas celebrations of Ukrainian religious communities in Italy began on December, 26 in the Papal Basilica of St. Paul. This year the tradition was continued by the liturgy at the Basilica of St. John.