“He is invited,” said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi. “We’ll have to see if he wants to be present and feels up to it.”
Lombardi also said the popes’ tombs in St. Peter’s Basilica would not be disturbed, other than to change the inscriptions from “blessed” to “saint.” Pilgrims can visit the tombs after the April 27 Mass.
Relics from the two popes will be presented during the liturgy, the spokesman said. The relic of Blessed John Paul — a vial of his blood encased in a reliquary featuring a silver sculpture of olive branches — will be the same that was used for his beatification in 2011.
A matching reliquary has been made for a relic of Blessed John, said Msgr. Guilo Dellavite, an official of the Diocese of Bergamo, where the pope was born. When Blessed John was beatified in 2000, no relic was presented, the monsignor said, because no blood or body parts had been preserved for that purpose. However, when Blessed John’s tomb was opened in 2001 and the remains treated before being reinterred in St. Peter’s Basilica, some bone fragments were removed.
Floribeth Mora Diaz, a Costa Rican whose recovery from a brain aneurysm was the miracle accepted for the canonization of Blessed John Paul, and French Sister Marie Simon-Pierre, whose cure from Parkinson’s disease was accepted as the miracle that paved the way for his beatification, are both expected to attend the Mass April 27, Lombardi said. Pope Francis waived the requirement for a miracle for the canonization of Blessed John.
The canonization Mass is scheduled to begin at 10 a.m. the Sunday after Easter, Divine Mercy Sunday. Pilgrims are expected to begin filling St. Peter’s Square early in the morning, Lombardi said, and will have an opportunity to participate in the recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet, a series of prayers focusing on the gifts of God’s mercy, especially shown through the passion of Christ.
The Vatican, he said, is not issuing tickets for the Mass, although large sections of St. Peter’s Square will be reserved for official government delegations, bishops and priests, and members of the Vatican diplomatic corps. Other than that, space in the square will be allotted on a firstcome, first-served basis.
“We hope many people will come and we are making preparations to welcome them,” Lombardi said.
Cardinal Agostino Vallini, papal vicar for Rome, will lead an evening for young people April 22 along with the postulators — official promoters — of the sainthood causes of the two popes. The night before the canonization, 11 churches near the Vatican will be open all night for prayer, meditation and confessions.
The diocese also has launched a special web site — www.2papisanti. org — and several social media initiatives with the help of communications students at a Rome university. The Facebook fan page is “2popesaints,” the Twitter account is “@2popesaints,” the Instagram account is “#2popesaints” and the YouTube channel search term is also “2popesaints.”
The Diocese of Bergamo, where Pope John was born and ordained a priest, has put much of the focus of its celebration on acts of charity, Dellavite said. The diocese is contributing the equivalent of $1.1 million for the construction and three years of operating costs of a St. John XXIII School in Haiti; it is building a church and pastoral centre in Shengjin, Albania, at a cost of about $830,000; and it is remodelling a former military barracks in Bergamo to serve as a shelter and assistance centre for the poor. In addition, he said, the 900 priests of the diocese are being asked to donate one month’s salary and take up a collection in their parishes to strengthen the diocese’s “family and home” fund. The diocese also is selling some of its property to increase the fund’s principal.