The entire Church mourns the death of the Holy Father, Pope Francis. 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 during the time of mourning. The daily novena – lasting for the novendiales period from April 26 to May 4, 2025 – 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 Petrine Ministry of Mercy
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
A reading from the Encyclical Ut unum sint by Pope Saint John Paul II
As the heir to the mission of Peter in the Church, which has been made fruitful by the blood of the Princes of the Apostles, the Bishop of Rome exercises a ministry originating in the manifold mercy of God… The authority proper to this ministry is completely at the service of God’s merciful plan and it must always be seen in this perspective. Its power is explained from this perspective. Associating himself with Peter’s threefold profession of love, which corresponds to the earlier threefold denial, his Successor knows that he must be a sign of mercy. His is a ministry of mercy, born of an act of Christ’s own mercy… The Church of God is called by Christ to manifest to a world ensnared by its sins and evil designs that, despite everything, God in his mercy can convert hearts to unity and enable them to enter into communion with him. (nos. 92-93)
Pause for silent prayer.
Pray one Our Father, Hail Mary, and Glory Be.
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord.
— And let perpetual light shine upon him.
Grant, we pray, almighty God,
that the soul of your departed servant Pope Francis,
to whom you committed the care of your family,
may, with the manifold fruit of his labors,
enter into the eternal gladness of his Lord.
Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Acknowledgements: https://www.usccb.org/novena-memory-pope-francis