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To: All Clergy
From: Patricia DeJarnett, Associate Director, Office for Divine Worship
From the Committee on Divine Worship:
Pope Francis has ordered the inscription of Pope Saint Paul VI in the General Roman Calendar, as an Optional Memorial to be celebrated on May 29. His decision was promulgated in a decree of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments dated January 25, 2019 (Prot. n. 29/19) and publicly released on February 6. The decree was accompanied by new proper liturgical texts in Latin, and a commentary by the Congregation’s Prefect, Robert Cardinal Sarah.
The Prefect wrote that St. Paul VI responded to the universal call to holiness “as a Baptized Christian, as a priest, as a Bishop, and Pope, and he now contemplates the face of God.” Remarking on an unofficial translation of the new Collect Prayer for the memorial, Cardinal Sarah noted that the text “resonates with all that God accomplished in his faithful servant: ‘who entrusted your Church to the leadership of Pope Saint Paul VI, a courageous apostle of your Son’s Gospel,’ and it asks: ‘grant that, illuminated by his teachings, we may work with you to expand the civilization of love.’ Here is synthesized the principal characteristics of his pontificate and his teaching: a Church, which belongs to the Lord (Ecclesiam Suam), dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel, as recalled in Evangelii Nuntiandi, and called to bear witness that God is love.”
English and Spanish translations of the proper texts must be prepared, followed by their approval by the USCCB and confirmation by the Holy See. The process will take some time to complete; until then the Mass formularies available in the Roman Missal and Misal Romano under the Common of Pastors: For a Pope are to be used.
Further information on the inscription of St. Paul VI may be found at USCCB.org/paulvi.
Finally, in light of this new optional memorial, the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Liturgical Calendar for the Dioceses of the United States of America are emended as follows:
May 2019
29 Wed Easter Weekday white/white
[Saint Paul VI, Pope]
Acts 17:15, 22—18:1/Jn 16:12-15 (293)
May 2020
29 Fri Easter Weekday white/white
[Saint Paul VI, Pope]
Acts 25:13b-21/Jn 21:15-19 (301)
If you have any questions, please contact me at pdejarnett@archatl.com or call 404.920.7339.