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Pope Francis says Mass for All Souls' Day at the Laurentino Cemetery outside Rome, Nov. 2, 2018. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 30, 2024 / 10:10 am (CNA).

After an October full of activity due to the Synod on Synodality, in November Pope Francis will once again mark the beginning of the month of the dead with special prayers and Masses for All Saints' and All Souls' Days. 

On the solemnity of All Saints on Nov. 1, Pope Francis will lead the Angelus, a traditional Marian prayer, from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square at noon Rome time, as he does on every holy day of obligation.

Before the Angelus, the pope will deliver a short reflection; often it is based on the day's Gospel or feast. Afterward, he may greet some of the groups present in St. Peter's Square and draw attention to current social issues affecting the world, especially war.

For All Souls' Day on Nov. 2, Francis will continue his custom of holding a Mass in a local cemetery to pray for the dead, especially the holy souls in purgatory.

The Mass will be offered at 10 a.m. in part of the nearly 52-acre Laurentino Cemetery — Rome's third largest. Pope Francis usually gives a brief, spontaneous homily on this occasion.

This will be the pope's second All Souls' Day Mass in Laurentino Cemetery. In 2018, he offered Mass in an area of the cemetery reserved for deceased children and unborn babies called the "Garden of Angels."

Since 2016, Pope Francis has celebrated or presided at a Mass in six different cemeteries in or near Rome. For All Souls' Day in 2023, Mass was offered at the small Rome War Cemetery, which contains 426 Commonwealth burials from the Second World War.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the pope opted to stay in Vatican City and celebrate Mass for the faithful departed in the Church of Our Lady of Mercy, which is surrounded by the Teutonic Cemetery — the burial place of people of German, Austrian, and Swiss descent, and particularly members of the Archconfraternity to the Sorrowful Mother of God of the Germans and Flemings.

In 2019, the pope celebrated Mass at the Catacombs of Priscilla, while in 2022 he privately visited the Teutonic Cemetery again but offered Mass for deceased bishops and cardinals in St. Peter's Basilica — another papal custom during the week of All Saints' and All Souls' Days.

On Sunday, Nov. 3, Pope Francis will again lead the Angelus in St. Peter's Square, as he does every Sunday at noon.

The following morning, on Nov. 4, he will preside at a Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the repose of the souls of the bishops and cardinals who died during the previous year. It is the pope's practice to always offer this Mass sometime during the first week of November.

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