Monday, December 21, 2020

THE INTENTIONS OF THE SOVEREIGN PONTIFF


In order to obtain indulgences, along with other conditions, the Church usually asks that certain prayers be said (usually an Our Father, a Hail Mary, a Glory and the Creed) for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff. 

 There is a common mistake that these intentions are the ones that the reigning Pope has at the time, according to the circumstances. This is not true. In fact, when the Church establishes for us to pray "for the intentions of the Supreme Pontiff", she refers to certain intentions that she already has pre-established as intrinsic for all the Roman pontiffs. 

 Below is a list of these intentions: 

 1 - The exaltation of the Catholic Church: because the Lord founded and constituted it as a sign and instrument of salvation for the world.

 2 - The extirpation of heresy: because the Lord asked His disciples and all those who believed in Him to follow the whole truth and not choose parts of it, absolutizing them and making them absurd and erroneous. These "truths" that Protestants claim to have preserved, are already found in the Catholic truth from which they took them. 

 3 - The propagation of the Faith: because the Lord ordered His apostles and their successors to teach the Gospel and make disciples of all nations. 

 4 - The conversion of sinners: because the Lord came to save all souls through His divine word and the institution of the sacraments. 

 5 - True concord between the nations: because the Lord brought down with His cross the wall of enmity that stands between them. It is recalled that the Popes considered all peoples, especially the Christianized ones, as their children. 

 6 – The further welfare of the Christian people. 

Image: The second Pope of the Catholic Church: Saint Linus.