Aleteia logoAleteia logoAleteia
Friday 29 March |
Good Friday
Aleteia logo
Church
separateurCreated with Sketch.

1st time in 40 years: Pope will celebrate Corpus Christi in Ostia, as Paul VI did in 1968

Pope Francis 2015 Corpus Christi Procession

AFP

Photo courtesy of AFP

I.Media - published on 05/30/18

Before John Paul II's election, feast of the Body and Blood was held at various places in Rome

Please consider a gift for Aleteia!
Help us spread the joy of Christ's victory.
Aleteia depends on your support.

Join our Lenten Campaign 2024.

DONATE NOW

For the first time in 40 years, the papal Corpus Christi celebration will return to “another tradition,” being celebrated outside Rome, affirmed the Vicariate of Rome on Tuesday. Following in the footsteps of Pope Paul VI, Pope Francis will go on this occasion to the city of Ostia.

Since 1978, the pontiffs have been in the habit of celebrating this solemnity at the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, which is the pope’s cathedral.

The celebration has been followed by a procession through the streets of Rome to Saint Mary Major.

This year, the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ will be celebrated in a particularly popular area of the seaside town of Ostia, approximately 20 miles (30 km) from the capital.

“We are interrupting a tradition,” said Bishop Paolo Lojudice, auxiliary bishop of Rome for the southern sector, “but we are renewing another.”

Indeed, Pope Francis is following in the footsteps of one of his predecessors, Pope Paul VI (1963-1978).

Pope Paul celebrated the solemnity of Corpus Christi in this coastal city in 1968. Before 1978, the Corpus Christi festival took place at different locations in the Italian capital. According to Bishop Lojudice, this choice is an expression of the “pastoral logic” of Pope Francis: that of the “magisterium of signs” which wants to carry the Church to the peripheries and “the most delicate situations.”

This year, the Successor of Peter will preside over Mass at 6 pm in the Square in front of Saint Monica Church. At the end of the Eucharistic Celebration, concelebrated with Bishop Angelo De Donatis, his vicar, as well as the auxiliary bishops and priests of the parishes of Ostia, the Bishop of Rome will go in procession with the Blessed Sacrament along a route ending near the Church of Our Lady of Bonaria.




Read more:
Wow! Look at the Flower Festival this Italian town has for Corpus Christi

A feast day now celebrated on Sunday

So that the greatest number of people can participate, the pope had already decided in 2017 to shift the celebration from Thursday to the following Sunday, as many dioceses do.

Until last year, this solemnity was celebrated in Rome on the Thursday following the octave of Pentecost, as a reminder of Holy Thursday, as established by Pope Urban IV (1261-1264).

In 1264, Pope Urban IV established the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ to celebrate the real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. This solemnity, the French pontiff said, was to be a true feast for the Church so “that all the clergy and the people, full of joy, may sing songs of praise,” he wrote. This solemnity had been established in response to the desire of the people to contemplate the Blessed Sacrament, and particularly through the work of a saint, Juliana of Liege.




Read more:
Juliana of Liege, the 13th-century religious woman who brought us Corpus Christi

Support Aleteia!

Enjoying your time on Aleteia?

Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you.

Thanks to their partnership in our mission, we reach more than 20 million unique users per month!

Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting and transformative Catholic news, stories, spirituality, and more.

Support Aleteia with a gift today!

jour1_V2.gif
Daily prayer
And today we celebrate...




Top 10
See More
Newsletter
Get Aleteia delivered to your inbox. Subscribe here.