I received a question today:
If we are still Sede Vacante on Good Friday, is the intercession for The Pope omitted?
I suppose it would be omitted, yes.
In the meantime, until 8:00 Rome time on 28 February, may I suggest that you all pray, even several times a day…
℣. Oremus pro pontifice nostro Benedicto.
℟. Dominus conservet eum, et vivificet eum, et beatum faciat eum in terra, et non tradat eum in animam inimicorum eius.
Deus, omnium fidelium pastor et rector, famulum tuum Benedictum, quem pastorem Ecclesiae tuae praeesse voluisti, propitius respice: da ei, quaesumus, verbo et exemplo, quibus praeest, proficere: ut ad vitam, una cum grege sibi credito, perveniat sempiternam. Per Christum, Dominum nostrum. Amen.
℣. Let us pray for Benedict our pope.
℟. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
O God, Shepherd and Ruler of all Thy faithful people, look mercifully upon Thy servant Benedict, whom Thou hast chosen as shepherd to preside over Thy Church. Grant him, we beseech Thee, that by his word and example, he may edify those over whom he hath charge, so that together with the flock committed to him, may he attain everlasting life. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
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Fr. Z, thank you for the reminder and for the prayer. I watched the video and I realized it is still a hard thing to accept, his resignation, I mean. So with heart and with hope I will pray not only for our beloved Pope but for the Cardinals and for the new pope yet to be elected. I am especially going to pray more earnestly for this week’s retreat so that our Holy Father is strengthened in mind, body and soul. I am also praying that through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Cardinals on retreat, will be enlightened, renewed, gifted with a deeper abiding faith for our Lord Jesus Christ and his Church.
The new pope to be elected is among them, I am praying he be gifted with the heart of Christ, gifted with a zeal for the faith, gifted with boldness and clarity to proclaim the good news and made strong to fight the onslaught that is present in the Church and in the world. He will need our fidelity and our prayer and our love!
Thy will be done, Lord Jesus! Amen
During the Sede Vacante, the reference to the Pope is also ommited from the Litany of the Saints.
The phrase: “Ut Dominum Apostolicum et omnes ecclesiasticos ordines in sancta religione in sancta religione conservare digneris” becomes “Ut omnes ecclesiasticos ordines in sancta religione in sancta religione conservare digneris” during the Sede Vacante, with the omission of the reference to the “Apostolic lord” (the Pope) during this period.
Would being Sede for this time prevent the Faithful from receiving indulgences (esp. Plenary)? Norm conditions do not seem to the times when the chair is empty.
Opps…didn’t scroll down. Fr already answered my question. Mea culpa.
Here’s a suggestion from Fr. Clooney to conider waiting a year before electng a Pope:
“Right now, when the Church is on edge, awaiting a new pope, it is easy to be overwhelmed by the complexity of what lies before anyone taking up that office, and it is tempting to spend our time thinking about who should do what, or stop doing what. So here’s a real Lenten discipline: it might be good for the Church to live sede vacante for a full year — contemplating an empty seat of power — before electing a new pope. We might think of it as a long Lent, to get down into the more stubborn roots of our bad and good deeds.”
http://americamagazine.org/content/all-things/yoga-and-lent-ii-sede-vacante
?. Let us pray for Benedict our pope.
?. The Lord preserve him, and give him life, and make him blessed upon the earth, and deliver him not up to the will of his enemies.
That has a nice ring to it . . . I think we might add it.
Fr. Clooney’s thoughts – as with most of what America magazine publishes – is best left to the garbage heap. Any Catholic priest who thinks it is worthwhile studying a Hindu text, the Yoga Sutras, and karma and quoting them favorably in a “catholic” magazine rather than quote established Catholic mystics recognized by the Church, along with Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium should be ignored.
The Church, via the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and its Prefect Cdl. Ratzinger in 1998, condemned the writing of Indian Jesuit Father Anthony de Mello who put forth too much emphasis on Hinduism and Eastern religions in his writings. Perhaps Clooney should consider reading On Some Aspects of Christian Meditation, and the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue’s Jesus Christ, The Bearer of the Water of Life , and Dominus Iesus.
America Magazine?
Fr. Clooney?
I smell a rat.
What’s the real reason? Not a long Lent, I’m sure.
They can’t even put up with a short Lent or a meatless Friday.
Maybe he hopes that, perhaps, after a year with no Pope.
Will people start to think :
“Do we need one?”
“Do we need the Church as God, Himself established it?”
What we really should be thinking is:
“Do we need America Magazine?”
“Do we need Fr Clooney?”
Our schola sang the Gregorian chant version of the first part of this prayer at Mass on Sunday. Among other sources, it’s in the Liber Usualis and the Parish Book of Chant,
acardnal wrote “Any Catholic priest who thinks it is worthwhile studying a Hindu text,…”
That is his area of expertise
“After earning his doctorate in South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago in 1984, he taught at Boston College until 2005, when he became the Parkman Professor of Divinity and Professor of Comparative Theology at Harvard Divinity School.
His primary areas of scholarship are theological commentarial writings in the Sanskrit and Tamil traditions of Hindu India, and the developing field of comparative theology, a discipline distinguished by attentiveness to the dynamics of theological learning deepened and complexified through the study of traditions other than one’s own. He has also written on the Jesuit missionary tradition, particularly in India, and the dynamics of dialogue in the contemporary world.
Clooney sits on a number of editorial boards, was the first president of the International Society for Hindu-Christian Studies and, from 1998 to 2004, was coordinator for interreligious dialogue for the Jesuits of the United States. Clooney has authored several articles and books; his current projects include an introductory volume on comparative theology, and a study of yoga and Jesuit spirituality.[2]
I’s rather Clooney study, teach and preach Jesus Christ crucified not laud Hindu yoga Sutras as a reason not to have a Pope for one year. Stupidity!
Our Holy Father Pope Benedict didn’t disdain to study Hindu texts like the Bhagavad Gita, any more than he disdained to study pagan Greek texts like the Iliad and Odyssey. There is always something to be said for seeing the longings for God and celebrations of Beauty and Truth (Who is God) in all human civilizations. Beauty and Truth are good things. Pagan epics and mythologies and philosophies are the spoils of the Egyptians, and we can make good with them. It is also valuable for figuring out useful stuff for the missions (ie, targeting your preaching of the Gospel towards where the culture is aching most). So it’s a respectable occupation for a priest, and many priests have studied pagan lit as their field.
That said, it’s a mistake to prioritize pagan stuff over Christian stuff, so these things have to examined in a balanced and prudent way.
I don’t think that Fr. Clooney’s suggestion about waiting awhile to elect a New Pope has anything to do with Hinduism apart from the fact that he tagged it onto the end of one of a series of Lenten articles he is writing for America. I didn’t mention Hinduism in my post.
However, I think we are getting into a rabbit hole and I suggest dropping this discussion here. I will.
Si non suis vatibus,
credat vel gentilibus;
Sibyllinis versibus
haec praedicta.
(Christmas Sequence, Letabundus)