A Mass of thanksgiving for the Beatification of John Paul II to be celebrated by Archbishop Nichols on Friday 13 May

The Archbishop of Westminster, the Most Rev Vincent Nichols, is planning to celebrate a Mass of thanksgiving for the Beatification of Pope John Paul II. The Mass will be held in Westminster Cathedral on Friday 13 May at 5:30pm. The day coincides with the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima, to whom John Paul II was especially devoted - even crediting the saving of his life (after being shot in an attempted assassination) to her intercession. It is expected that many bishops, priests and religious, as well as lay faithful, will want to be present at this special service.

According to The Tidings, the Vatican announced on 11 April that Catholics throughout the world will have a year in which to celebrate a Mass in thanksgiving for John Paul's beatification. As the public devotion to a beatus is limited to his or her country, diocese or religious order, thanksgiving Masses for a beatification are limited to those places / communities. Acknowledging the "the exceptional character of the beatification of the Venerable John Paul II, recognized by the entire Catholic Church spread throughout the world," the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments issued a decree permitting Masses of thanksgiving for the beatification in all Catholic dioceses throughout the world. This permission ends 12 months after the beatification, which will be 1 May 2012.

Local ordinaries or provincial superiors are free to choose when and where they would like to celebrate the thanksgiving Mass. A special thanksgiving Mass in the Diocese of Rome will be celebrated on 2 May, the day after John Paul II's beatification. I hope to be present at this Mass, which will be celebrated in St Peter's Square by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State. Of course, I will remember this blog's readership and the proposed Guild of Catholic Bloggers in my prayers at that Eucharist.

According the decree issued by Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, Pope John Paul's feast day, 22 October, will be inserted automatically into the annual calendars in the Diocese of Rome and in all the dioceses of his native Poland. This day is of special significance to the devotees of Pope John Paul, as it was on 22 October 1978 that he was Inaugurated as the 264th Bishop of Rome.

The text of the opening prayer for the Mass in honour of Blessed John Paul will be: "O God, who are rich in mercy and who willed that the Blessed John Paul II should preside as pope over your universal church, grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching, we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ, the sole redeemer of mankind. Who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen"

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For more information on the events surrounding the Beatification of John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła), please see Catholic Herald, Catholic Culture and The Tidings.

[Image: From left, The then US President George W. Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, former President George H. W. Bush, former President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card pay their respects to Pope John Paul II as he lies in state in St Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, 2005; As a work of a US federal government official produced during the course of his / her duties, this image is in the public domain; Source: Wikipedia]