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Catholic World News News Feature

Pope to lead Corpus Christi procession through Rome June 12, 2006

Pope Benedict XVI will lead the traditional Eucharistic procession through the streets of Rome on the feast of Corpus Christi, which is celebrated in Italy on Thursday, June 15.

The Holy Father will celebrate Mass in the basilica of St. John Lateran at 7 in the evening. Immediately following the Mass he will board a vehicle on which a monstrance will be displayed for the veneration of the Blessed Sacrament. This vehicle will lead the way down the Via Merulana to the basilica of St. Mary Major, with hundreds of pilgrims following, praying and singing hymns. At St. Mary Major the Pope will offer Benediction, concluding the Corpus Christi observance. During his Angelus audience on Sunday, June 11, the Pope invited all the faithful to join in the traditional ceremony. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the vicar for Rome, issued an open letter to the people of the diocese, asking them to participate. The cardinal also asked residents to display candles in their windows and doors if they live along the route that the procession will pass.

The solemnity of Corpus Christi, dedicated to the mystery of the Eucharist, concludes the cycle of feasts following Easter. The date is fixed by the Vatican as the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, which is turn is the Sunday after Pentecost.

The feast day was first officially celebrated at Liege in 1246, and extended to the universal Church by Pope Urban IV in 1264. In Italy the traditional feast dates back to the 15th century, and the route of the annual procession was set in the 16th century.

The procession through Rome was abandoned in 1870, after Italian forces took Rome from the papacy. Pope John Paul II revived the tradition in 1979.