VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The last three months of the Year of Mercy include jubilee celebrations for the imprisoned and for homeless people.
Releasing a schedule of liturgical celebrations over which Pope Francis will preside, the Vatican included Holy Year Masses for prisoners Nov. 6 and for the homeless Nov. 13.
The schedule, released at the Vatican Sept. 6, also mentions his planned trips to Georgia and Azerbaijan Sept. 30-Oct. 2, and to Sweden Oct. 31-Nov. 1 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation.
The pope also will preside over Mass with canonizations in St. Peter’s Square Oct. 16, World Mission Sunday. The pope will declare six men and one woman saints, including the Argentine “gaucho priest,” Blessed Jose Gabriel del Rosario Brochero, and Blessed Jose Sanchez del Rio, a 14-year-old Mexican boy martyred for refusing to renounce his faith during the Cristero War of the 1920s.
Also on the calendar:
- Sept. 25: Jubilee Mass in St. Peter’s Square for catechists.
- Oct. 8: Jubilee Prayer Vigil in St. Peter’s Square with delegations from Marian shrines around the world.
- Oct. 9: Jubilee Mass in St. Peter’s Square in honor of Mary.
- Nov. 4: Memorial Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for bishops and cardinals who have died in the past year.
- Nov. 20: Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the closing of the Holy Year of Mercy.