All Souls Day 2024
ShareCommemoration of the Faithful Departed
Comfort those who suffer
The Holy Father's prayer before the final blessing on All Souls' Day
Pope Francis presided over Holy Mass in front of the chapel dedicated to “Risen Jesus” at Rome's Laurentino Cemetery on Saturday morning, 2 November [2024], the Commemoration of the faithful departed. Upon arriving, he paused briefly in the “Garden of the Angels”, an area of the cemetery where children are buried. He prayed before some of the tombs and left a bouquet of white flowers. The following is a translation of the prayer the Holy Father said before the final blessing.
In visiting the cemetery, the resting place of our departed brothers and sisters, we renew our faith in Christ who died, was buried and rose again for our salvation. Even mortal bodies will awaken on the last day, and those who have been laid to rest in the Lord will join with Him in the triumph over death. With this certainty, we raise our unanimous prayer of suffrage and blessing to the Father.
Be blessed, O God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in your great mercy has regenerated us through the resurrection of Jesus from the dead to a living hope, to an inheritance that does not decay or perish (cf. 1 Pet 1:3-4). Hear the prayer we address 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 the holy Jerusalem.
Comfort those who are in the pain of parting, with the certainty that the dead live in You and that even the bodies, entrusted to the earth, will one day be sharers in the Paschal victory of Your Son. May you, who have placed on the path of the Church, as a luminous sign, the Blessed Virgin Mary, through her intercession sustain our faith, so that no obstacle may make us deviate from the path that leads to You, who are glory without end. Through Christ Our Lord. Amen.
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L'Osservatore Romano, Weekly Edition in English, Fifty-seventh year, number 45, Friday, 8 November 2024, p. 7.
