Diocese of Rome offers Mass for former bishop, Benedict

A Mass will be held this afternoon at St. John Lateran, the cathedral of Rome, for the diocese’s former bishop, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.

In a message December 29, Cardinal Vicar Angelo De Donatis invited all the communities of the Diocese of Rome to unite in prayer for Benedict.

“In the celebration of Masses today and in the coming days,” the cardinal writes, citing Pope Francis’ invitation, “we accompany our dear bishop emeritus in his time of suffering and trial, invoking the Lord so that ‘he may console and sustain him in this witness of love for the Church until the end.'”

The Mass at St. John Lateran will be December 30 at 5:30 pm and presided over by Bishop Guerino Di Tora, vicar of the cardinal archpriest of the Lateran Basilica.

The celebration will be streamed on the Facebook page of the Diocese of Rome.

When a pope is elected, he becomes the Bishop of Rome. As bishop, his cathedral is not St. Peter’s but St. John Lateran.

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