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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: How do you "pray for the Pope's intentions"?
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stonespring
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# 15530
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Posted
Roman Catholic prayers often include "praying for the Pope's intentions" - and many modern-day indulgences require it - but I've never been sure if there is a set way to go about doing this.
I've seen that the Vatican will release a blurb each month that is the "Holy Father's Monthly Intention" - do you have to write this down or memorize this for every time you pray for the Pope's intentions or else you are doing it wrong?
Is there a standard prayer (or at least a template) for praying for the Pope's intentions, regardless of what his intentions happen to be at the moment?
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
Whenever I've done it, I've pictured the Holy Father being carried in his chair through the throngs (pre-Popemobile days, don't you know), doing his two-hand blessing thing, while thinking to myself that whatever Papa wants is good enough for me.
A generic prayer appears here.
Apparently his intentions from month to month are published on a variety of websites, though.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
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Forthview
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# 12376
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Posted
In the past at the end of Stations of the Cross and May devotions there were almost always prayers for the 'Intentions of the Holy Father'.This consisted of the recitation of Our Father,Hail Mary and Glory be....
50 years ago I didn't realise that the pope's intentions were published monthly.I always thought that it was for the good health and well-being of the Holy Father.Now I know that it is indeed a general prayer for the well being of one section of the whole Church.The actual words of the prayers are not so important as the thought and prayer for the wellbeing of the Universal Church in concert with the prayers of the Holy Father.
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Forthview
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# 12376
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Posted
There are always two monthly intentions of the pope.For March 2015 they are :
1.Universal that those involved in scientific research may serve the well being of the whole human person.
2.Evangelisation that the unique contribution of women to the life of the Church may always be recognised
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
You are supposed to pray for what the pope intends you to pray for. You can find a complete list for 2015 here, i.e., this is published in advance and not a "current affairs" kind of thing.
It's also a topical suggestion. While you obviously can make these summary sentences your prayer, verbatim, I would say a personal prayer of the same intention is more appropriate.
And yes, you will have to remember / google the current intentions of the pope. If you say these in order to gain an indulgence, then the (very mild...) effort required to do so is part of the deal, really.
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
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Enoch
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# 14322
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Posted
I think the phrase is an excellent candidate for the thread I started a few weeks ago on Revspeak.
So also IMHO is 'the intention of the Mass'. Confession time perhaps, but I've never been able to work out what that means.
[ 03. March 2015, 15:47: Message edited by: Enoch ]
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stonespring
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# 15530
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by IngoB:
You are supposed to pray for what the pope intends you to pray for. You can find a complete list for 2015 here, i.e., this is published in advance and not a "current affairs" kind of thing.
It's also a topical suggestion. While you obviously can make these summary sentences your prayer, verbatim, I would say a personal prayer of the same intention is more appropriate.
And yes, you will have to remember / google the current intentions of the pope. If you say these in order to gain an indulgence, then the (very mild...) effort required to do so is part of the deal, really.
IngoB,
Do you know how old the practice of the Pope announcing a specific intention of his for each month for the faithful everywhere to pray for is? I understand it being very practical now, but did this practice exist way back when most Catholics could not read?
Was there a time in the past when "praying for the Pope's intentions" in the formulaic way it is referred to now for daily prayers and for the granting of general indulgences, etc., did not refer to praying for a specific intention released by the Vatican for every month of the current year, or did the requirement to pray for the Pope's intentions as a part of such things begin at the same time that the Pope began to announce monthly intentions? This has no bearing on the rules today - I am just curious.
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Forthview
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# 12376
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Posted
When I was a child,although I was indeed able to read from the usual age that children started to read,no-one would have bothered about what the pope's intentions actually were.It was more important to pray for the intentions,than to know what the intentions were.
Also many people tend to forget that in order to gain any indulgence you had to make a sincere confession of sin and receive Holy Communion within the space of 8 days before or after reciting the prayers or undertaking the activity which gained the indulgence.
As far as I know this is still the case, so no sincere contrition,no confession,no Communion,no Indulgence.
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Ceremoniar
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# 13596
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Posted
It is a wonderful practice to look up what the Holy Father's monthly intentions are, but it's not necessary to know what these are in order to pray for them. He presumably has many other intentions, as well. When he travels, or receives visitors, additional concerns become his, and we pray for those, as well, not merely the intentions listed on the Vatican website. And surely, like any priest, he has specific intentions that are not always announced publicly.
We pray for all of these intentions. There is no set way to do this, but probably the most common is to say an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be. My parish does this at the end of Stations of the Cross, and at the end of all rosaries prayed before Mass. Most people seem to do this at the end of their private rosaries and other prayers.
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
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Posted
I cannot help thinking, though, that a mere recitation of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, without any thought given to what we are actually asking of God, is suspiciously akin to the chanting of magic spells over something we'd like changed.
Likewise, I can't help thinking that if God isn't going to listen to the Pope, of all people, when he prays, what good will it do for us to add our prayers to his? I don't think God is running a democracy: The majority of us want this, God, so give it to us.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
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Enoch
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# 14322
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ceremoniar:
It is a wonderful practice to look up what the Holy Father's monthly intentions are, but it's not necessary to know what these are in order to pray for them. ...
That sounds a bit like When Harry met Sally. 'I'll have whatever the Holy Father's having'.
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Ceremoniar
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# 13596
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe:
I cannot help thinking, though, that a mere recitation of the Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, without any thought given to what we are actually asking of God, is suspiciously akin to the chanting of magic spells over something we'd like changed.
Likewise, I can't help thinking that if God isn't going to listen to the Pope, of all people, when he prays, what good will it do for us to add our prayers to his? I don't think God is running a democracy: The majority of us want this, God, so give it to us.
Who says that there us no thought given? We are asking that the Holy Father's intentions be before the Lord. How is that thoughtless. One can pray in a rote fashion for anything (and often do), even when we know the intention.
As for the second part, using that rationale, there would be little prayer happening, ever. Someone else has already asked; why should I?
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IngoB
Sentire cum Ecclesia
# 8700
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by stonespring:
Do you know how old the practice of the Pope announcing a specific intention of his for each month for the faithful everywhere to pray for is? I understand it being very practical now, but did this practice exist way back when most Catholics could not read?
Was there a time in the past when "praying for the Pope's intentions" in the formulaic way it is referred to now for daily prayers and for the granting of general indulgences, etc., did not refer to praying for a specific intention released by the Vatican for every month of the current year, or did the requirement to pray for the Pope's intentions as a part of such things begin at the same time that the Pope began to announce monthly intentions? This has no bearing on the rules today - I am just curious.
The whole thing was started as the "Apostleship of Prayer" by Fr. Francois-Xavier Gautrelet in 1844 in a Jesuit seminary, as a regular practice to pray for the needs of the universal Church and the missions. This became a popular practice with the publication of the first "Messenger of the Sacred Heart" in 1861. For example St. Therese of Lisieux enrolled in the "Apostleship of Prayer" as young girl in 1885. Pope Leo XIII is said to have been the first to adopt these intentions "officially", but I'm not sure when and how. In 1929, Pope Pius XI established the current format by adding a second monthly intention for the missions, so we now have "universal" and "for evangelisation" intentions, respectively.
As far as these official papal prayer intentions go, it is hence (1) a modern practice (late 19th to early 20thC), (2) these were always specific and regularly updated intentions, and (3) it was always expected that one would pray for the specific intentions of the pope, and the people were expected to know about them. It may have gotten slightly easier to find these intentions nowadays, online, but back then they were published in a magazine, in leaflets that were being handed out, etc. And furthermore, back then people joined up in the local parish chapter of the "Apostleship of Prayer" group, like St. Therese of Lisieux did, and would have been informed through them.
You can of course still join that very same group today, you can find them here.
I feel there is no point to discussing to what extent "I pray for whatever the pope may be praying for" may "count" as far as indulgences go. If you don't know better, I assume God will accept that gracefully. If you do know better, then you should pray better.
[ 04. March 2015, 19:49: Message edited by: IngoB ]
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They’ll have me whipp’d for speaking true; thou’lt have me whipp’d for lying; and sometimes I am whipp’d for holding my peace. - The Fool in King Lear
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ceremoniar:
Who says that there us no thought given? We are asking that the Holy Father's intentions be before the Lord. How is that thoughtless.
Well, I suppose that among the Holy Father's intentions are that God's kingdom should come, that we be given our daily bread, that we be forgiven as we forgive others, that we not be led into temptation, that the Blessed Mother should pray for us sinners, and that the Trinity be glorified, but I suspect his laundry list is quite a bit longer than that.
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"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
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venbede
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# 16669
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
So also IMHO is 'the intention of the Mass'. Confession time perhaps, but I've never been able to work out what that means.
This Anglican always presumed it meant that which was being prayed for particularly at that mass.
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Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.
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Cameron PM
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# 18142
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Posted
There's a form of the prayer used on EWTN if you get that on the tele.
Periodically I attend the Latin Mass and before it they say a Rosary specifically "for the Pope's intentions throughout the world" and that's the only wording they use.
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Your call.
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Ceremoniar
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# 13596
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Enoch:
This Anglican always presumed it meant that which was being prayed for particularly at that mass.
Correct. And one does not always know the person for whose intention the Mass is offered, and if that person is living, what the specific intention for that person is. Is it illness, need, sorrow, unemployment, addiction, return to the faith, etc? Often one does not even know what the Mass intention is at all, as when it is listed as "for a special intention." Nevertheless, we unite our prayers with the priest's intention, even when we do not know what it is.
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