Pope Francis will stop the live broadcast of his daily morning Mass on Monday, May 18, more than two months after it started during the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
On Monday, the public celebration of Masses in Italy are being allowed to resume.
The last live broadcast of the pope’s Mass will be a special one as it marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Karol Wojtyla’s, or Pope St. John Paul II.
Pope Francis will celebrate Mass at the altar over the tomb of his predecessor on that day.
Pope John St. Paul II was born in 1920, elected Bishop of Rome in 1978, died in 2005, and canonized in 2014.
Vatican News reported that the live video, radio, and online streaming of the celebration of morning Mass in the Casa Santa Marta during the quarantine period was an “unexpected and beautiful gift.”
The report said many people “felt accompanied and supported by the pope, who quietly knocked on the doors of their homes at the beginning of each day.”
“The beauty and simplicity of the pope’s off-the-cuff homilies allowed us all to enter the pages of the Gospel, as if we were present when those events took place,” it added.
“During the emergency that has confined us within the walls of our homes, the importance of the pope’s daily teaching was confirmed, and made even more decisive in these moments filled with uncertainty, suffering, anguish, and many questions about the future,” read the report.
The homilies given by the pontiff during the morning Mass “represent a significant aspect of Pope Francis’ service as Bishop of Rome.”
Vatican News said several million people have come into contact with the morning Masses and have written to give thanks.
“Now, as celebrations in Italian churches resume with a congregation, a new phase begins,” said the report.