Date: April 21, 2025

As many of you have already heard, today we received notification that our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has died. I’m sure that, like myself, the emotions around his death are difficult to articulate. It is no surprise that we would find ourselves caught between the joy of the Resurrection and the sorrow we rightly feel at the death of the Vicar of Christ. However, my mind returns to the providence of God that our Holy Father declared the current jubilee year, that we are even now celebrating, a jubilee of Hope. After all, the joy of Easter is the joy founded in the hope we have, as we recite in the Creed, in “the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

I would like to provide you with some helpful guidance on how we traditionally observe the novendiales, that is, the nine days of mourning we observe when the Roman Pontiff has died. First, when you come to St. Catherine’s you will see black bunting at the entrances to the building from the plaza and the chapel as a sign that we are corporately in mourning. Also, the portrait of the Holy Father has been placed in the chapel as a remembrance. Because it is the Easter Octave we cannot yet celebrate the Mass for the death of a Pope. However, we will do so this coming Monday, April 28th, at the 6pm Mass. Please join us if you are able. On that day we will also pray the Office for the Dead at our regular times for the public celebration of the Divine Office.

In addition to formal liturgical celebrations it is customary to pray individually or in gatherings of the faithful the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary, and the Eternal Rest, etc., prayers throughout the day for the repose of the soul of the Holy Father. This is particularly laudable to do together as a family or with friends. We are also encouraged to pray a novena in Memory of Pope Francis. The text for the novena can be found on the USCCB website or a simple internet search will bring up the texts.

As we mourn the passing of Pope Francis we should also remember to pray for the Cardinal electors that they have safe travels to Rome and that they are granted an abundance of wisdom, by the Holy Spirit, to select the next successor of St. Peter. We should not worry about who is to be chosen or get embroiled in debates about such politics. Rather, we believe in the promise that Christ made to us. He promised to be with his Church even until the End of Time. We believe this promise! But also, as God has willed that we participate in his work of salvation, so must we pray. We must pray for the wisdom of the Cardinals. We must pray for the good of souls. We must pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Francis. As Pope Francis asked of us, on the day he was elected to the See of Peter, to pray for him, now we must do so with all the more love, hope, and trust in the Lord. As St. Paul reminds us, we are to console one another with our firm hope in the resurrection. So, now, let us do just that, and pray to our loving God, in the name of Jesus, that he hears our petitions, looks upon us, and grants us his loving mercy.

In SPND,

Fr. Gabriel Thomas Mosher, O.P.

Pastor