By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
The Vatican has just published a notice regarding the feast day assigned to Pope John Paul II, who will be beatified this year on May 1, Divine Mercy Sunday.
According to the Catholic News Service, the Vatican has appointed October 22 as the official feast day for the new Blessed John Paul II. The date marks the anniversary of the formal inauguration of his pontificate in 1978.
L’Osservatore Romano also published the opening prayer – known as the “collect” – for the feast day Mass:
“O God, you who are rich in mercy and who willed that 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, forever and ever, Amen.”
Bishops outside of Rome and Poland who wish to mark the new feast day are required to file a formal request with the Vatican for permission to do so. This is in keeping with Church policy that allows “local-only” celebrations of a blessed, rather than the universal celebration awarded to canonized saints.
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