HAILING FROM ALL CORNERS OF THE DIOCESE, hundreds of clergy, religious and parishioners gathered with Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., to remember, pray and thank God for the life of his servant, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
“We join today with sadness but also with a sense of joy as we commend His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, to our heavenly father,” Bishop O’Connell said at the start of the memorial Mass he celebrated Jan. 5 in St. Robert Bellarmine Co-Cathedral, Freehold. The memorial Mass, which was livestreamed on diocesan media sites, was celebrated nearly nine hours after the Pope Emeritus’ Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated by Pope Francis on the steps of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.
Read more HERE.THE ENTIRE CHURCH MOURNS THE DEATH OF OUR EMERITUS HOLY FATHER, BENEDICT XVI. In cathedrals, basilicas, parish churches, shrines, and chapels the Holy Eucharist will be offered for the repose of his soul. Communities and individuals will ask God to bestow his infinite mercy on the man who served the Church as Bishop of Rome.
This novena has been prepared to help pray for the Pope Emeritus during this time. The daily novena – lasting from his funeral on Thursday, January 5 through Friday, January 13 – consists of a short reading from Scripture or some other ecclesiastical text and some brief prayers, including orations drawn from the Roman Missal and the Order of Christian Funerals.
The novena can be found HERE in English and HERE in Spanish.