5 of the most memorable prayers of Pope Francis’ pontificate

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 12:00:00 +0000
Religion

Pope Francis blesses St. Peter’s Square with the Blessed Sacrament during the statio orbis prayer to end COVID-19 pandemic, Friday, March 27, 2020. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Apr 26, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).

Pope Francis’ pontificate spanned 12 years and numerous major global events — including international gatherings, the COVID-19 crisis, and the Synod on Synodality — that saw him delivering prayers often under extraordinary and historical conditions.

Here are five of the most memorable prayers the late Holy Father delivered over the course of his papacy.

*March 2013: First benediction urbi et orbi*

Stepping out onto the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica as Pope Francis, a name he chose in honor of St. Francis of Assisi, people were immediately struck by the simple appearance of the Church’s new pontiff elected to lead the world’s approximately 1.4 billion Catholics.

March 13, 2013: Pope Francis greets the pilgrims in St. Peter's Square and delivers his first urbi et orbi blessing. Credit: Mauricio Artieda/CNA

Before imparting the first urbi et orbi blessing of his pontificate, the Argentine pope bowed his head, asked the blessing of the people, and prayed in silence with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square and the Via della Conciliazione.

“And now, we take up this journey: bishop and people,” he said. “This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity.”

*July 2013: World Youth Day welcoming ceremony on Copacabana Beach, Brazil *

Pope Francis made history when he successfully called more than 1 million young people to observe several minutes of prayerful silence at a single event, at World Youth Day in 2013.

Showing great care for all those who suffer, the Holy Father asked the cheering crowds to first be mindful of those who could not join them for the World Youth Day festivities before continuing his prepared speech.

“Before I continue, I would like to call to mind the tragic accident in French Guiana that young people suffered on their way to this World Youth Day. There young Sophie Morinière was killed and other young people were wounded. I invite all of you to observe a moment of silence and of prayer to God, Our Father, for Sophie, for the wounded, and for their families.”

*April 2018: Consoling, praying with a boy whose father died not believing in God *

Pope Francis’ encounter with a young boy mourning the loss of his father was a personal yet powerful moment of prayer that caught the attention of people around the world.

Pope Francis listens to a boy called Emanuele at St. Paul of the Cross Parish, Rome, on April 15, 2018. Credit: Vatican Media

The pope listened intently to what the tearful boy had to say and assured him that God does not choose to abandon people even if they did not believe in him.

“It’s nice that a son says that about his father, that he ‘was good.’ If that man was able to raise his children like that, then he was a good man … God surely was proud of your father, because it is easier when one is a believer to baptize his children than to baptize them when you are an unbeliever. Surely God likes this so much. Talk to your dad, pray for your dad.”

*March 2020: Statio orbis prayer to end COVID-19 pandemic*

Pope Francis blessing the world with the Eucharist before an empty St. Peter’s Square at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic is considered to be one of the most memorable moments of his pontificate.

The Holy Hour and special urbi et orbi blessing was livestreamed by the Vatican on a wet and cold evening on March 27, 2020.

Pope Francis walks through St. Peter's Square before delivering an urbi et orbi prayer on Friday, March 27, 2020. Credit: Vatican Media

Before the Byzantine icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known as the “Salus Populi Romani” (“Health of the Roman People”) and the 14th-century statue of the “Miraculous Crucifix” brought to a dark and wet St. Peter’s Square, the Holy Father pleaded to God on behalf of the Church for faith and strength amid the crisis:

“Look at your Church, which crosses the desert;

Console us, O Lord.

Look at humanity, terrified by fear and anguish;

Console us, O Lord.

Look at the sick and the dying, oppressed by loneliness;

Console us, O Lord.

Look at the doctors and health workers, exhausted by fatigue;

Console us, O Lord.

Look at the politicians and administrators, who bear the weight of choices;

Console us, O Lord.”

*May 2022: International prayer for peace in Ukraine, war-torn countries*

The Holy Father held those affected by the Russia-Ukraine war close to his heart, describing its end as his “wish for 2025.” Every general audience and Sunday Angelus address was used as an opportunity by the pontiff to ask people to pray for peace to reign in Ukraine and Russia.

Entrusting every man, woman, and child suffering war and violence to the Mother of God, the pope consecrated both Russia and Ukraine to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on March 25, 2022.

Pope Francis reads the Act of Consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary in St. Peter’s Basilica, March 25, 2022. Credit: Vatican Media

“Accept this act that we carry out with confidence and love. Grant that war may end and peace spread throughout the world. The ‘fiat’ that arose from your heart opened the doors of history to the Prince of Peace. We trust that, through your heart, peace will dawn once more. To you we consecrate the future of the whole human family, the needs and expectations of every people, the anxieties and hopes of the world.”

*October 2024: Pope leads rosary for peace in the Basilica of St. Mary Major*

The same day Pope Francis opened the Vatican’s final session of the Synod on Synodality’s three-year discernment phase, he invited every Christian to participate in a global day of prayer and fasting on Oct. 7, 2024, to bring an end to the Israel-Hamas war, which broke out the same day the year before.

On the evening vigil of the Oct. 7 feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary, the Holy Father led the recitation of the prayer dedicated to the Mother of God to begin the Church’s day of prayer and fasting to overcome “diabolical plots of war” carried out throughout the world.

Pope Francis presides over a rosary prayer for peace on Oct. 6, 2024, in the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. The prayer service took place on the eve of the first anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, amid escalating violence in the Middle East. Credit: Daniel Ibañez/CNA

“Mary, Queen of the Holy Rosary, loosen the knots of selfishness and dispel the dark clouds of evil. Fill us with your tenderness, lift us up in your caring embrace, and bestow on us, your children, your motherly caress, which gives us hope for the coming of a new humanity where ‘the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is deemed a forest. Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness abide in the fruitful field. The effect of righteousness will be peace’ (Is 32:15-17). O mother, Salus Populi Romani, pray for us!”