Pope Francis’ Prayer for the Year of Mercy
Jesus Christ,
you have taught us to be merciful like the heavenly Father,
and have told us that whoever sees you sees Him.
Show us your face and we will be saved.
Your loving gaze freed Zacchaeus and Matthew from being enslaved by money;
the adulteress and Magdalene from seeking happiness only in created things;
made Peter weep after his betrayal,
and assured Paradise to the repentant thief.
Let us hear, as if addressed to each one of us, the words that you spoke to the Samaritan woman:
“If you knew the gift of God!”
You are the visible face of the invisible Father,
of the God who manifests his power above all by forgiveness and mercy:
let the Church be your visible face in the world, its Lord risen and glorified.
You willed that your ministers would also be clothed in weakness
in order that they may feel compassion for those in ignorance and error:
let everyone who approaches them feel sought after, loved, and forgiven by God.
Send your Spirit and consecrate every one of us with its anointing,
so that the Jubilee of Mercy may be a year of grace from the Lord,
and your Church, with renewed enthusiasm, may bring good news to the poor,
proclaim liberty to captives and the oppressed,
and restore sight to the blind.
We ask this through the intercession of Mary, Mother of Mercy,
you who live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever.
Amen.
Prayer for a Pope
O Lord, with suppliant humility we entreat Thee, that in Thy boundless mercy Thou wouldst grant the most holy Roman Church a pontiff, who, by his zeal for us, may be pleasing to Thee, and by his good government may ever be honored by Thy people for the glory of Thy name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who with Thee liveth and reigneth world without end. Amen.
Prayer for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI
O God, who didst give to Thy servant Benedict the grace to exercise with fidelity the Petrine office and serve Thy people as the visible source and foundation of unity in faith and communion, accept the prayers we offer with gratitude for his years of faithful ministry in Thy Church, and, in Thy mercy, grant him both strength and grace to serve Thee in the manner to which Thou callest him, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
Quidnunc 