Pope offers Mass for All Souls’ Day at Rome’s Laurentino Cemetery

By Lisa Zengarini

Continuing his custom of offering Mass in a Roman cemetery on All Saints’ Day, Saturday, November 2, Pope Francis visited the Laurentino Cemetery, the third largest in Rome.

He celebrated mass in a space reserved for deceased children and unborn babies called the “Garden of Angels”.

Silent prayer for the deceased

The Pope arrived shortly before 10 a.m. and was greeted by Rome Mayor Roberto Gualtieri and a group of about 100 faithful. Among them Stefano, a young father who lost his daughter Sara in 2021 after three months of pregnancy who sent her a letter.

Before the liturgy, the Pope briefly stopped in front of the tombs and placed on the stone a bouquet of white roses with the inscription “Garden of Angels”.

Pope’s prayer before the final blessing

During the Mass, Pope Francis did not deliver a homily, but prayed silently for a few intense moments.

Before the final blessing, he prayed these words:

Blessed are you, O God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in your great mercy has given us new birth to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (cf. 1 Peter 1, 3-4). Listen to the prayer we offer to you for all our loved ones who have left this world. Open the arms of Your mercy and receive them into the glorious assembly of Holy Jerusalem.

Comfort those who cry in sorrow, with the assurance that the dead live in You and that even the bodies entrusted to the earth will one day participate in the Easter victory of your Son. You who placed the Blessed Virgin Mary as a radiant sign on the path of the Church, support our faith through her intercession, so that no obstacle diverts us from the path that leads to You, who are the infinite glory. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

The Pope welcomed by a group of mothers who have lost a child

During the visit, Pope Francis was also welcomed by a group of mothers who have lost a son or daughter at an early age and who are united in an association called “Sparks of Hope” “(Scintille di Speranza”) . Each of them gave the Pope a white scarf: “It is our warm embrace for him, a symbolic hug also from our children”, they explained, expressing their gratitude for his “respectful” silence during the mass and for his presence at the Laurentino cemetery: “It is a testimony of affection, a powerful way to be close to our children,” they declared.

Visit of Pope Francis to the military cemetery in Rome on November 2, 2023

This is the second time that Pope Francis has offered a mass for the deceased at the Laurentino cemetery on All Saints’ Day, the first time in 2018.

Last year he visited Rome’s small war cemetery, which contains 426 Commonwealth graves dating from the Second World War. Reflecting on fallen soldiers whose lives were “cut short” by war, he said he could not “stop thinking about today’s wars and reiterated his constant refrain over the past years according to which “wars are always a defeat…”.

The Pope made a similar appeal against the “self-destruction” of war on All Saints’ Day 2017 at the Anzio War Cemetery near Rome, where 7,861 Allied soldiers who fought the deadly Battle of Anzio in January 1944 against the Germans (the so-called “Operation Shingle”), are buried. Once again he warned that “with war we lose everything…” and that war only brings “death” and “destruction”, killing innocent people.

Mass at the Teutonic Cemetery in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, the Pope chose to stay in the Vatican due to the COVID-19 pandemic and celebrate Mass for the deceased in the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, at the Teutonic Cemetery – burial place of those of German, Austrian and Swiss origin. , and in particular the members of the Archconfraternity of the Sorrowful Mother of God of the Germans and Flemish. The previous year, he had celebrated mass in the Roman catacombs of Priscilla.

In accordance with custom, during the week of All Saints’ and All Saints’ Day, on Monday, November 4, Pope Francis will preside over a mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the repose of the souls of bishops and cardinals who have died during the year previous.