Urbi et Orbi, March 2020: An Extraordinary Blessing

A truly unique event just concluded. From St. Peter's Basilica, to an empty St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis just gave an extraordinary (and here I use the word both in the liturgical sense of "outside the normally prescribed times" and in the typical sense of "awe-inspiring") "Urbi et Orbi" blessing. These blessings "for the City [of Rome] and for the World" traditionally only happen on only the rarest and most solemn of occasions. Currently, they are given at:

a.      Easter (last time was about a year ago; next time will be in about 3 weeks)

b.     Christmas (last time was 3 months ago; next time will be 9 months from now)

c.      The first blessing of the newly-elected Pope as Successor of Peter and Vicar of Christ (In the last 60 years: March 2013, April 2005, October 1978, August 1978, June 1961)

I’d never seen one before; the Easter and Christmas blessings usually take place in the midmorning from St. Peter’s in Rome, usually between 9 and 10:30 AM local time. Adjusted for my time zone, that’s sometime between 3 and 4:30 AM for the Christmas blessing or between 4 and 5:30AM for the Easter blessing. The first blessing after the conclave varies, but almost certainly occurs in the ballpark of 6:00 AM or 12:00 noon Eastern time, depending on if the conclave finishes after the morning/noon (Rome time) votes or the evening (Rome time) votes.  March 13, 2013 was a Wednesday, so at that time, I was in 6th grade, probably at lunch. I didn't learn of the end of the conclave until around 5:00 Eastern Time, about 5 hours after it ended that day. 

Before 1870 (when Italy unified), the blessing was also given on these other dates: Holy Thursday (the Thursday immediately before Easter), the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul (June 29), at the Papal Coronation (when the new Pope received for the first time the three-tiered Papal Tiara sometime after his election), not used since the 1960s), the Solemnity of the Ascension (40 days after Easter, 7 weeks after Holy Thursday), and when a new pope was elected as Bishop of Rome, and on the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary (August 15).  Since 1870, however, the blessing had only been given at the three previously-mentioned times: Christmas, Easter, and the election of a new Pope.

As far as I can tell, before the blessing that just concluded, never before had an Urbi et Orbi blessing—which can only be given by the Pope because only he is the Successor of Peter, but which can technically be given at any time—been given outside of those traditional times or without a crowd gathered to receive the blessing.

This evening, the hour-long period of adoration and benediction began with a reading from the Gospel according to Luke (specifically Luke 8), after which the Pope gave a brief homily on the passage from Luke's gospel wherein the evangelist recounts Jesus' calming of the storm from the boat. Following this, the Pope spent time in prayer before an image of the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus, and then venerated a miraculous 16^th century crucifix. The church where the crucifix is housed was almost completely destroyed in a fire in 1519, but the crucifix survived the fire unscathed. In 1522, only 3 years later, Rome was hit by a terrible plague, and the friars in charge of the church decided to process through the streets of the city with the crucifix despite local authorities protesting the inevitable gathering of people that would follow the procession through the city as being a bad idea from a public health perspective, not unlike the civil leaders of today who try as much as possible to implement social distancing and limit bringing people into close contact with one another. When the procession in 1519 was concluded, however, the plague miraculously left the city and everyone was restored to health. Tonight’s veneration of the same crucifix served the same purpose: to implore to God that the city of Rome, the country of Italy, and the entire world be spared from the Coronavirus; for the alleviation of the suffering of all those who currently have the virus or are caring for someone who has it; and for the souls of everyone who died because of the virus.

Then, the Pope went back into the Basilica and a monstrance was brought out, and the Pope and the few other members of the clergy who were there spent some time in prayer before Christ made present in the consecrated Host—the Body of Christ—made present there in the monstrance. The typical Rite of Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament was followed, after which there was a time of silence, exactly as one would see in an ordinary church, if these times did not call for the churches to close to protect the people. After several minutes of silence for individual prayer, the Litany of the Sacred Heart and the Divine Praises were said. The chanting of the Tantum Ergo signaled that our time in Adoration, even if virtually, was about to come to an end, and that a Eucharistic Benediction (using the monstrance which contains the Body of Christ to deliver a blessing) would soon follow. Again, if these were ordinary circumstances, benediction with and reposition of the Blessed Sacrament would be totally normal things to be seen in any parish throughout the world. 

This, however, was no ordinary benediction. As Pope Francis prepared to receive the monstrance and to head to the door of St. Peter’s to deliver the Eucharistic Benediction to the City and the World, there were almost no people in the Square which, at Christmas, Easter, and the election of a new Pope, the traditional times for this blessing, would normally be filled with tens or hundreds of thousands of people who would receive the blessing in person. As I said at the outset, I don’t know of any instances of this blessing being given to an empty St. Peter’s Square or outside of the traditional times; this evening in Rome, something happened for the first time in the 2000-plus year history of the Church. Instead of blessing the thousands of faithful gathering in the Square and in the surrounding areas, the Pope blessed an empty Square with no one anywhere to be seen except for a few police cruisers blocking the entrances to the Square to enforce the lockdown containment measures put in place a few weeks ago by the Italian government. (The Vatican is a separate country from Italy, but it is fully adopting and complying with all the lockdown measures implemented by the Italian government.) Looking out at a world that is in pain from not knowing what will happen tomorrow; a world that wants answers, prayers, comfort; and a world longing and praying for a cure, Pope Francis gave the Eucharistic Benediction to all of us in the City of Rome and around the world. The bells of St. Peter's Basilica tolled to announce to the City and the World that the Blessing was being imparted upon us. 

In recent decades, TV, radio, and the Internet have become reliable and widespread means of communication. As such, the Vatican made some provisions so that anyone who watches or listens to the blessing, live, from the radio, the TV, the Internet, or any other means of communication can receive the blessing (and all the graces attached to it) in the same manner as anyone would if the public health situation were better and people were allowed into the Square.

 

In the image above, Pope Francis delivers the Eucharistic Benediction Urbi et Orbi, to the City of Rome and to the World. 

Normally, there are some requirements that must be fulfilled in order to receive the Urbi et Orbi and the graces it manifests:

1.     The person receiving the blessing must be present, either physically or by means of communication, or even by desire (someone who made effort to try to be present by media or in person but who could not be).

2.     `The person must resolve to avoid sin.

3.     The person must receive Communion within 3 weeks, and must Confess their sins before then.

4.     The person must pray for the intentions (prayer requests) of the Pope.

In these times of a public health crisis, the requirements in 3 were amended—the person must receive Communion when it is safe to do so again, and, before then, once it is safe again, they must go to Confession. Receiving the blessing having satisfied the conditions grants someone a plenary indulgence: it removes from their souls all the temporal consequences of any and all sins committed before the blessing was received. The historical significance of this blessing today is clear; when history books look back on this pontificate, the Urbi et Orbi blessing of March 2020 will certainly be labelled one of its defining moments. 

The Urbi et Orbi blessing is clearly an extraordinary event, and that Pope Francis chose to impart it on us today shows just how serious the Coronavirus is. Therefore, let us all join in prayer that the doctors and other medical professionals may, as quickly possible, find a cure for this virus. 

A few weeks ago, before the announcement of the extraordinary blessing, I edited and translated a perpetual novena for the intercession of St. Luke, patron saint of doctors and their patients, to God, for the resolution of the crisis. I invite all of you reading this, in the United States and around the world, to pray along with me. I have written versions in English, Italian, and Portuguese, but if your language is not listed, feel free to use the translation feature on the right side of the web page to translate the text of the novena into your language.

You can find the novena here, in English
Here, you’ll find the translation to Portuguese
Here, you’ll find the translation to Italian

St. Luke, pray for us!