The road leading to St. Peter’s Square was packed on Saturday morning: but not with the usual tourists or merchants. Instead, a long line of pilgrims processed along the street carrying candles and singing hymns. They were participants in an international pilgrimage to Rome celebrating the Extraordinary Form of the Mass made widely available by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in 2007.Bishop Fernando Areas Rifan of the Personal Apostolic Administration of Saint John Mary Vianney in Brazil spoke to EWTN News about his participation in the journey.“I am here for this pilgrimage to give my support and even the correct orientation of this pilgrimage. We are Catholics, united to the Holy See, with the blessing of the Holy Father, Francis,” he said Oct. 26.Saturday’s procession ended at the Altar of the Chair of St. Peter in St. Peter’s Basilica, where a Solemn Pontifical Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos of Columbia.
An estimated 1,000 laity and religious from Italy, the US, France, Brazil, Switzerland, Germany and elsewhere joined in prayer as the incense rose to the ceiling of the ancient Basilica and the gospel was chanted in Latin.
North Carolinian Noah Carter, who served as deacon, told EWTN News that it was a joy to be able to “experience things that are not a part of daily life, and benefit from the riches that go before us. I enjoy the ability to worship in the Extraordinary Form,” he said. “I think a lot of people can benefit from what the Church has benefitted from since the 600s – that’s 1500 years of the Mass that sanctified so many Christians.” Carter noted that the Extraordinary Form may not “be for everyone: some people don’t connect with that form of worship.”
