Pope to Celebrate Mass in Portuguese

Pope to Celebrate Mass in Portuguese

The Rite of Canonization to be Celebrated also in Portuguese

Pope Francis will celebrate the Mass of the 13th of May as well as the whole Rite of Canonization of the blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto in Portuguese.

The Prayer of the Faithful, as is the tradition for International Anniversary Pilgrimages, will be pronounced in six languages: Portuguese, Italian, English, French, Polish and Arabic.

In the prayer in Arabic, it will be asked for the migrants, the poor and the refugees “that through the intercession of Mary, who knows their sufferings, they feel welcome by all, and that we shall bring them dignity and reasons for hope.”

The second lecture will be proclaimed in Spanish by a lecturer.

For the Eucharist, the Holy Father will clothe himself with liturgical vestment in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Rosary of Fatima, where he will pray upon the tombs of Francisco and Jacinta, starting at 9:40 am.

The official program of that day starts at 9:10 am in Our Lady of Mount Carmel house, with a meeting with the Prime Minister, Antonio Costa.

From Our Lady of Mount Carmel house to the Basilica the Pope will be driven in a closed vehicle, which will be the only moment when the he will not use the pope mobile while going from one site to another in Cova da Iria.

The entrance procession to the Mass includes the carrying of the image of Our Lady, adorned, as always, by the Shrine of Fatima and transported by cadets of the Military Academy, as well as the carrying of the two lamps with the relics of Francisco and Jacinta, transported by the Postulator for the Cause of Canonization of the two Little Shepherds, Sister Angela Coelho, and by the Consultant of the Postulation, Pedro Valinho, who will be both surrounded by about 20 children and young people between 9 and 16 year old.

The platform with the statue and the relics will be placed at the right of the altar. On the altar will be prepared the liturgical implements to be used by the Pope: cross, chalice and ciborium (pyx).

In the new Presbytery there will be around 140 people, among which eight cardinals, 73 bishops and archbishops, besides the lay members of the papal entourage.

The Rite of Canonization will start right after the initial greeting of the Mass, pronounced by the Pope.

For the Communion, there will be on the altar, besides the chalice and pyx that will be used by the pope, 25 other chalices. 400 points are defined to distribute the communion, inside and outside of the Prayer Area, as a note the pyxes with particles will come directly out from the inferior level of the new altar.

After the Communion, the Monstrance of the Blessing of the Sick will be brought to the altar. The Pope will leave the chair from which he was presiding the Mass and stop for a short moment of Eucharistic adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and he will then address a greeting to the sick.

The Holy Father with the monstrance in the hands, will go to the zone reserved to the sick, in the north colonnade, and will proceed to the Blessing with the Blessed Sacrament, a ceremony he has wanted to do in person.

The monstrance will be laid back onto the altar and, after a last moment of Eucharistic adoration, the Pope will do the blessing of all the Assembly with the Blessed Sacrament.

At the end of the Eucharistic celebration, the Farewell Procession will leave the altar and he will go, in the pope mobile and following the same itinerary (central aisle of the Shrine and exit through the street “rua Cónego Formigão”) to Our Lady of Mount Carmel house, where he will have his lunch with all the Portuguese bishops, this will be the last official act of the Pilgrimage to Fatima.

The first part of the way back to the Monte Real air base, from where the TAP flight to Rome will leave, will be done also in pope mobile, until the Northern Roundabout, where a short farewell ceremony will take place, with a musical moment led by the Fatima Orchestra and the Fátima-Ourém Conservatory, before the Pope enters in a closed vehicle that will drive him back to the Monte Real air base.

After the short farewell ceremony, with the civil and religious entities, Pope Francis will enter the TAP plane that, leaving at 3:00 pm, will take him back to Rome, to Ciampino airport where he will arrive at 6:05 pm Lisbon time (7:05 pm Italian time).

On the day of his arrival, the pope mobile that transports Francis will leave the Municipal Stadium of Fatima at around 5:30 pm, in direction to the Shrine, and will take the streets of Giesteira and Minde, the Northern Roundabout and the Avenida D. José Alves Correia.

It is for this itinerary (as well as for the Farewell one) that the Rector of the Shrine, Father Carlos Cabecinhas, invites the Portuguese to join in order to greet the Pope in his pilgrimage to the Shrine and to celebrate with him.

In the beginning of the southern lateral avenue, the open vehicle will enter the Shrine though the Pórtico Jubilar in the upper part of the Shrine, and will go through the central aisle to the Chapel of the Apparitions, where the Pope will pray, in silence.

In the pope mobile again, he will go from the Shrine, through the street rua Cónego Formigão to Our Lady of Mount Carmel house, where he will have diner and will stay until 9:30 pm; from there he will go back, through the same itinerary, to the Chapel.

There he will preside the blessing of the candles addressing a greeting to the pilgrims, followed by the recital of the Rosary, and he will pray again at the Carmel house, around 10:10 pm.

The Mass will be celebrated by the Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Vatican.

On the 12th and 13th of May, the Holy Father will preside the first International Anniversary Pilgrimage of the Centennial of the Apparitions, during which he will canonize the Little Shepherds, the blessed Francisco and Jacinta Marto, that will thus be the youngest saints not martyr of the Church.

Francis is the fourth pope to visit Fatima, after Paul VI (1967), John Paul II (three times in 1982, 1991 and 2000) and Benedict XVI (2010).