While I mourn for the impeding abdication of Pope Benedict XVI, whose Papacy I prayed would endure still, I can but bow my head in sorrowful acknowledgement of the wisdom of this most humble Servant of the Servants of God, knowing that he, after wrestling in prayer before God, has freely determined in conscience that for the good of the Church and souls it were best for him to abdicate, that the burden now too great for him to bear should be taken up by a new Pope.
Well done, thou good and faithful servant
As of 6 am on Friday the 1st of March (local time here in Eastern Australia), just a fortnight away, the Holy Roman Church will be sede vacante. All faithful men ought then turn their eyes and lift up hearts and hands to God in heaven, begging the Lord, true Pastor of the Universal Church, to grant us a Pope not according to our sins but according to our dire needs. Certainly he who will have abdicated will be interceding to this end; as Fr Pacwa remarked, it may be more by his prayer and contemplation than even by his Petrine ministry that Benedict shall accomplish what it shall please God to grant (it would be foul Americanism, that detestable heresy, to say otherwise).
Here is a slightly updated version of a private Litany I drew up at the time of the last Papal election, in 2005. It certainly worked then! – so may it storm heaven now:
LITANY FOR THE ELECTION OF A POPE
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
God the Father of heaven, have mercy on us.
God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.
God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.
Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, Mother of the Church, pray for us.
St Michael Archangel, Protector of the Universal Church, pray for us.
All holy Angels and Archangels, and all holy orders of blessed spirits, pray for us.
St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, pray for us.
SS Peter and Paul, Princes of the Apostles, Founders of the Church of Rome, pray for us.
St Linus, pray for us.
St Cletus, pray for us.
St Clement, pray for us.
St Sixtus, pray for us.
St Cornelius, pray for us.
All Holy Popes and Martyrs, pray for us.
All Martyrs of the Church of Rome, pray for us.
St Leo the Great, pray for us.
St Gregory the Great, pray for us.
St Pius V, pray for us.
St Pius X, pray for us.
Bl Pius IX, pray for us.
Bl John XXIII, pray for us.
Bl John Paul II, pray for us.
All Holy Popes, pray for us.
All Saints of God, holy men and women, pray for us.
Be merciful, Graciously hear us, Lord.
Be merciful, Spare us, Lord.
We sinners, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst deign to rule and preserve thy holy Church, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst not forsake thy Church bereft of her pastor, We beseech thee, hear us.
That the universal Church, spiritually united with Mary, the Mother of Jesus, would persevere with one heart in prayer, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst grant the Church a new Pope as a gift of thy goodness and providence, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst raise up and provide for thy people a shepherd after thine own heart, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst raise up for thyself a faithful priest, who shall act according to thy heart and soul, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst deign to direct the Cardinals of the most holy Roman church by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou wouldst enlighten the electors and make them likeminded in their task, We beseech thee, hear us.
That a speedy, harmonious and fruitful election may take place, as the salvation of souls and the good of the whole people of God demand, We beseech thee, hear us.
That thou deign graciously to hear us, We beseech thee, hear us.
Son of God, We beseech thee, hear us.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, graciously hear us, O Lord.
Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
Christ, hear us.
Christ, graciously hear us.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
Our Father…
Psalm 122
To thee have I lifted up my eyes, who dwellest in heaven.
Behold as the eyes of the servants are on the hands of their masters,
As the eyes of the handmaid are on the hands of her mistress: so are our eyes unto the Lord our God, until he have mercy on us.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, have mercy on us: for we are greatly filled with contempt.
For our soul is greatly filled: we are a reproach to the rich, and contempt to the proud.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.
V/. Our help is in the name of the Lord.
R/. Who made heaven and earth.
V/. Lord, hear our prayer.
R/. And let our cry come unto thee.
Let us pray.
Lord, with humility we entreat thee, that in thy boundless mercy thou wouldst grant the most holy Roman Church a pontiff who, by his zeal for us, may ever be pleasing to thee, and, by his good government, may ever be honoured by thy people, to the glory of thy name.
Grant us, Lord, from the fulness of thy loving kindness, that we may rejoice in a pontiff pleasing to thy majesty to rule over the government of holy Mother Church.
May we, Lord, be gladdened by the wonderful grace of thy majesty in granting us a supreme pontiff, who shall both instruct thy people by his virtues, and fill the minds of the faithful with spiritual fragrance. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
V/. May the almighty and merciful Lord graciously hear us.
R/. Amen.
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