POPE FRANCIS HOLDS EXTRAORDINARY PRAYER & BLESSING EVENT IN MIDST OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
How to pray with the Pope on Friday
Join Pope Francis in prayer and receive his extraordinary "Urbi et orbi" blessing and plenary indulgence on Friday at 6pm Rome time.
12:00 NOON WINNIPEG LINK BELOW ä
Faithful across the world are invited to join Pope Francis spiritually in prayer on Friday, 27 March at 6 pm Rome time. 12:00 NOON WINNIPEG
The initiative was announced by Pope Francis on Sunday during the Angelus when he said "I invite everyone to participate spiritually through the means of communication".
It follows Wednesday's live-streamed ceremony during which Christians of all denominations were able to join the Holy Father in praying the "Our Father" in this time of global crisis and fear due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
AN EXTRAORINARY "URBI ET ORBI" BLESSING
The Director of the Holy See Press Office confirmed that the moment of prayer on Friday will be broadcast live from the Vatican, beginning at 6 pm Rome time. He noted that the plenary indulgence attached to the Urbi et orbi blessing is subject to the conditions foreseen by the recent Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary (see below).
Pope Francis will pray before an empty Square from the sagrato of St. Peter's Basilica, the platform at the top of the steps immediately in front of the façade of the Church, as he explained when he made the announcement on Sunday and as he reiterated on Wednesday during the General Audience:
"We will listen to the Word of God, we will raise our supplication, we will adore the Blessed Sacrament, at the end I will impart the Urbi et orbi Blessing, and you will have the possibility of receiving a plenary indulgence."
From 6pm Rome time, the ceremony will be broadcast live to the world by Vatican Media and can be followed in several languages on our website, on our Facebook page via Facebook Live and on our YouTube channel.
It will consist in readings from the Scriptures, prayers of supplication, and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament; and will conclude with Pope Francis giving the Urbi et orbi Blessing, with the possibility of gaining a plenary indulgence for all those who listen to it live through the various forms of communication.
The blessing "to the City of Rome (Urbe) and to the World (orbi)" is normally only given on Christmas and Easter.
The extraordinary moment of prayer in time of pandemic will last about an hour. The "Salus Populi Romani" icon of the Mother of God and the crucifix of St. Marcellus, will be placed in front of the central door of St. Peter's Basilica.
The Blessed Sacrament will be exposed on the altar in the atrium of the Vatican Basilica.
This usually requires a prayer for the Holy Father, a sincere Confession and the reception of Holy Communion. In the midst of the Coronavirus Pandemic, these conditions are simplified for those that have already contracted the virus and/or are in quarantine or hospitals and do not have access to churches or priests...
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Decree of the Apostolic Penitentiary on the granting of special Indulgences to the faithful in the current pandemic, 20.03.2020
The gift of special Indulgences is granted to the faithful suffering from COVID-19 disease, commonly known as Coronavirus, as well as to health care workers, family members and all those who in any capacity, including through prayer, care for them.
"Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer" (Rom 12: 12). The words written by Saint Paul to the Church of Rome resonate throughout the entire history of the Church and guide the judgment of the faithful in the face of all suffering, sickness and calamity.
The present moment in which the whole of humanity, threatened by an invisible and insidious disease, which for some time now has become part of all our lives, is marked day after day by anguished fears, new uncertainties and above all widespread physical and moral suffering.
The Church, following the example of her Divine Master, has always had the care of the sick at heart. As Saint John Paul II points out, the value of human suffering is twofold: "It is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission" (Apostolic Letter Salvifici Doloris, 31).
Pope Francis, too, in these recent days, has shown his paternal closeness and renewed his invitation to pray incessantly for those who are sick with the Coronavirus.
So that all those who suffer because of COVID-19, precisely in the mystery of this suffering, may rediscover "the same redemptive suffering of Christ" (ibid., 30), this Apostolic Penitentiary, ex auctoritate Summi Pontificis, trusting in the word of Christ the Lord and considering with a spirit of faith the epidemic currently underway, to be lived in a spirit of personal conversion, grants the gift of Indulgences in accordance with the following disposition.
The Plenary Indulgence is granted to the faithful suffering from Coronavirus, who are subject to quarantine by order of the health authority in hospitals or in their own homes if, with a spirit detached from any sin, they unite spiritually through the media to the celebration of Holy Mass, the recitation of the Holy Rosary, to the pious practice of the Way of the Cross or other forms of devotion, or if at least they will recite the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and a pious invocation to the Blessed Virgin Mary, offering this trial in a spirit of faith in God and charity towards their brothers and sisters, with the will to fulfil the usual conditions (sacramental confession, Eucharistic communion and prayer according to the Holy Father's intentions), as soon as possible.
Health care workers, family members and all those who, following the example of the Good Samaritan, exposing themselves to the risk of contagion, care for the sick of Coronavirus according to the words of the divine Redeemer: "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends" (Jn 15: 13), will obtain the same gift of the Plenary Indulgence under the same conditions.
This Apostolic Penitentiary also willingly grants a Plenary Indulgence under the same conditions on the occasion of the current world epidemic, also to those faithful who offer a visit to the Blessed Sacrament, or Eucharistic adoration, or reading the Holy Scriptures for at least half an hour, or the recitation of the Holy Rosary, or the pious exercise of the Way of the Cross, or the recitation of the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, to implore from Almighty God the end of the epidemic, relief for those who are afflicted and eternal salvation for those whom the Lord has called to Himself.
The Church prays for those who find themselves unable to receive the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick and of the Viaticum, entrusting each and every one to divine Mercy by virtue of the communion of saints and granting the faithful a Plenary Indulgence on the point of death, provided that they are duly disposed and have recited a few prayers during their lifetime (in this case the Church makes up for the three usual conditions required). For the attainment of this indulgence the use of the crucifix or the cross is recommended (cf. Enchiridion indulgentiarum, no.12).
May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and of the Church, Health of the Sick and Help of Christians, our Advocate, help suffering humanity, saving us from the evil of this pandemic and obtaining for us every good necessary for our salvation and sanctification.
The present Decree is valid notwithstanding any provision to the contrary.
Given in Rome, from the seat of the Apostolic Penitentiary, on 19 March 2020.
on Sunday during the Angelus when he said "I invite everyone to participate spiritually through the means of communication".