POPE LEO XIV
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Whether you’ve already been to Mass since Pope Francis’ death or will go soon, you may notice a change.
I’m talking of course about the one mention of the Holy Father regularly during each Mass. After the Consecration and the Memorial Acclamation, the priest prays for all of the Church’s faithful. In Eucharistic Prayer I, as one example, the celebrant prays:
Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity
your pilgrim Church on earth,
with your servant [Name] our Pope and [Name] our Bishop,
the Order of Bishops, all the clergy,
and the entire people you have gained for your own.
Until his death, we have been hearing “Francis, our Pope,” followed by the name of your local bishop. Soon, we will have a new pope and his name will fill in the gap … but what happens in the meantime?
The answer is deceptively simple - the prayer for the pope is simply omitted. So the congregation will hear, "Be pleased to confirm in faith and charity your pilgrim Church on earth, with your servant [Name] our Bishop.” And that’s it.
Even if you’ve never focused on this line of the Eucharistic prayer, the absence is recognizable by most. You may even hear a priest or two stumble over the words (understandably!).
And, just as after St. Pope John Paul II’s particularly long pontificate, once we have a new pope, there may be the odd occasion or two when someone lets Pope Francis’ name slip out.
While just one small detail of the interregnum period (the time without a pope), it does draw attention to the important fact that we are a Church universal that prays for the pope in every single Mass throughout the world. Well, except for these few short weeks!
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
881 The Lord made Simon alone, whom he named Peter, the "rock" of his Church. He gave him the keys of his Church and instituted him shepherd of the whole flock.400 "The office of binding and loosing which was given to Peter was also assigned to the college of apostles united to its head."401 This pastoral office of Peter and the other apostles belongs to the Church's very foundation and is continued by the bishops under the primacy of the Pope.
882 The Pope, Bishop of Rome and Peter's successor, "is the perpetual and visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful."402 "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."403
883 "The college or body of bishops has no authority unless united with the Roman Pontiff, Peter's successor, as its head." As such, this college has "supreme and full authority over the universal Church; but this power cannot be exercised without the agreement of the Roman Pontiff."404
