What is the traditional Sunday blessing that popes deliver in St. Peter's Square?
The new pope, Leo XIV, is scheduled to deliver his first such prayer on Sunday from the loggia where he first appeared in public after being elected three days ago.
Here is a look at the history, meaning and memorable moments from Sunday blessings of popes past.
The history of the pope's Sunday blessing
In 1954, which he had declared a special year of veneration to the Virgin Mary, Pope Pius XII started reciting in public a traditional Catholic midday prayer to her. He first delivered it from the pope's summer residence, just outside Rome at Castel Gandolfo.
Back at the Vatican, he kept it up from a window facing St. Peter's Square at the Apostolic Palace, the 16th century building where the papal apartments are. Pope Francis broke with tradition by living at a Vatican guest house instead but still maintained the Sunday prayer tradition from the palace.
It's become a chance for ordinary faithful to see the pope relatively up close. Especially since the papacy of St. John Paul II – from 1978 to 2005 – popes have added short messages touching on different topics of the day.
When a pope misses the weekly occasion – as Francis did earlier this year during his hospitalization – it makes global news.
The Vatican announced Leo would deliver his first such prayer on Sunday, which is coincidentally Mother's Day in Italy and the United States, among other countries.
The prayer to Mary
The Angelus is the short prayer to Mary that many Catholics recite daily.
Often prayed before Mass, but traditionally accompanied by the tolling of bells at dawn, midday and early evening, it references the moment when the Gospels say the Archangel Gabriel told Mary she would become the mother of God, and she accepted.
'Angelus' is Latin for angel, and the prayer's first verse is 'The Angel of the Lord declared unto Mary.' The faithful then answer, 'And she conceived of the Holy Spirit,' followed by a Hail Mary and a few more verses and prayers.
This 'annunciation' scene is so pivotal in Christian dogma that it's been represented by some of the most celebrated painters for centuries. Some artists have also portrayed the faithful reciting the Angelus, a practice that is believed to have started in the Middle Ages.
During Eastertime – the current liturgical season, spanning 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost – the prayer is substituted with another devotion to Mary, the Regina Coeli (also spelled Caeli, Latin for 'Queen of Heaven') that encourages rejoicing in Christ's resurrection.
Memorable Sunday prayer moments
Looking frail, St. John Paul II appeared at his hospital window for his last Angelus prayer less than three weeks before he died in 2005. He didn't speak, only blessing the crowd with an olive branch. An archbishop delivered his message, with the trademark exhortation to young people not to be afraid to follow Jesus.
Tens of thousands of people packed St. Peter's Square when Pope Benedict XVI gave his final Sunday prayer in 2013 before becoming the first pope in 600 years to resign. They cheered him on as he reassured the faithful he wasn't abandoning the church, but rather turning to prayer because of his advancing age.
At his first Angelus in 2013, Francis introduced a key motif of his papacy: mercy. 'A bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just,' he told the crowd.
More recently, Francis used the Sunday blessings to call for peace, especially in Ukraine and Gaza. But he also would close his blessings with the down-to-earth phrase, 'Have a good lunch."
___
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Washington Post
11 hours ago
- Washington Post
Pope speaks about childhood and early mornings as an altar boy in unscripted visit with campers
ROME — Pope Leo XIV spoke publicly about his childhood in Chicago for the first time as pontiff Thursday, recalling that from the age of six he used to get up early to serve as an altar boy at the 6:30 a.m. Mass before going to school. Leo shared the memories during an unscripted visit with the children of Vatican employees who are attending the Holy See's summer camp. They were joined by other children, including Ukrainian young people, who are attending summer programs run by Italy's Caritas charity.
Associated Press
11 hours ago
- Associated Press
Pope speaks about childhood and early mornings as an altar boy in unscripted visit with campers
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV spoke publicly about his childhood in Chicago for the first time as pontiff Thursday, recalling that from the age of six he used to get up early to serve as an altar boy at the 6:30 a.m. Mass before going to school. Leo shared the memories during an unscripted visit with the children of Vatican employees who are attending the Holy See's summer camp. They were joined by other children, including Ukrainian young people, who are attending summer programs run by Italy's Caritas charity. The visit, which was not announced in advance, took place in the Vatican's main audience hall, which was decked out with huge inflatable bouncy castles for the estimated 600 kids. One of the young campers, Giulia, asked Leo if he used to go to Mass as a child. The former Robert Prevost, who grew up the youngest of three brothers in the south Chicago suburb of Dolton, said the family always went to Mass on Sundays. 'But starting from when I was around 6 years old, I was also an altar boy in the parish. And so before going to school -- it was a parochial school -- there was Mass at 6:30 a.m.,' he said, emphasizing how early it was. 'And Mom would wake us up and say 'We're going to Mass!' Because serving Mass was something we liked because starting from when I was young, they taught us that Jesus was always close to us.' Leo, who was born in 1955, recalled that at the time, Mass was celebrated in Latin. He said he had to learn it to serve Mass even before he made his First Communion, one of the key sacraments in the church. 'It wasn't so much the language that it was celebrated in but the experience of getting to know other kids who served the Mass together, the friendship, and this closeness with Jesus in the church,' he said. Leo's brother, John Prevost, has said his little brother knew from a very young age that he wanted to be a priest. Young Robert used to pretend to celebrate Mass using their mother's ironing board as an altar and Necco candies — a once-popular sweet — as Communion wafers. History's first American pope spoke in Italian, but he switched to English to address a group of Ukrainian children, some of whom held up Ukrainian flags and snagged Leo autographs. He spoke about the benefits of meeting people from different backgrounds, languages and lands. It was one of the first times Leo has spoken unscripted at length in public, responding to questions posed to him by the children. He has tended to stick to his prepared texts for his audiences so far in his young pontificate. ___ Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP's collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
New York Times
11 hours ago
- New York Times
Don't Bet Against the House Salad Dressing
Anyone who hosts regularly knows the power, the necessity, of a house specialty. Many of my friends traffic in the house dessert or drink: At one apartment, you can expect to end a meal with a platter of cherries or other ruby fruit, shards of dark chocolate and little disks of shortbread or other cookie. At another, you'll be greeted by some elusive specialty amaro and soda. At my own, there is a house salad. I love to serve a pile of sliced Persian cucumbers and celery tangled in arugula, dressed in a mixture of mashed avocado, sesame oil and lime juice. Sometimes I add thinly sliced snap peas! Other times there are scallions. Many more times, there is cilantro. Catch me adding the occasional splash of ponzu. (I can take no credit for it: It's one of my colleague Becky Hughes's house salads, on perpetual loan to me.) Samin Nosrat, too, knows how one person's house specialty can quickly become your own. Her house dressing is actually that of Via Carota, the beloved Italian restaurant in the West Village. 'Since I first wrote about this recipe,' she writes, 'it's become indispensable not only for me but also for my entire Culinary Brain Trust, who now simply call it House Dressing.' Think of today's newsletter, then, as your own Culinary Brain Trust, a sauce library from which to borrow your next house dressing. Samin has a few more suggestions for you. Her creamy lemon-miso dressing — perhaps her new favorite all-purpose dressing, she writes in the recipe — is inspired by another restaurant, Kismet Rotisserie in Los Angeles. It checks all the boxes: creamy, tangy, sweet, savory, good on salad, good on everything else, especially roasted broccoli. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
