Pope Francis Celebrates Mass “Sine Populo”

By Fr. Casmir Odundo

Pope Francis Celebrates Mass alone

As the Corona Virus continues to spread, many countries are taking precautions to prevent its spread. This has prompted the Diocese of Rome, to cancel all public Masses and religious gatherings. The churches in Rome are however open for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and personal prayers. One great consequence of this is that many Christians are not able to receive Holy Communion in these places. Many people are not in a position to attend Mass. As such, many Christians have been encouraged to make a spiritual communion.

However, as it is a serious obligation for priests to celebrate Mass every day, priests in these places are continuing to celebrate Masses in Private.

Pope Francis, who whenever he is in the Vatican celebrates Mass Daily in Casa Sancta Martha, the Papal guesthouse where he lives has continued with his daily celebration of Mass despite this crisis. He has allowed that these Masses with are otherwise private be broadcasted live for the benefit of the many people who do not have an opportunity to attend Mass.

Canon 904 in the Code of the Canon Law states: “Remembering always that in the mystery of the Eucharistic sacrifice the work of redemption is exercised continually, priests are to celebrate frequently; indeed, daily celebration is recommended earnestly since, even if the faithful cannot be present, it is the act of Christ and the Church in which priests fulfill their principal function.”

However, it is recommended that the priest should have at least one member of the faithful. He may celebrate solely (alone), however only for a just and reasonable cause. (Cf. Can. 906). The reason for this obvious: Mass is not a private devotion but a public worship. Even, where it is celebrated without a congregation, it is still celebrated in union with the whole Church.

There are basically two types of Masses in the Church as far as this aspect is concerned: Mass offered Cum Populo (with People Present) and Mass offered Sine Populo (without a congregation but perhaps with one member only to assist in the responses). The General Instruction of the Roman Missal provides for the two types.

Seeing Pope Francis celebrate Mass alone, brought tears to my eyes. One cannot help but marvel at his commitment to his priestly ministry. Pope Francis celebrates Mass every day without fail. He is an example to many priests.  Seeing Pope Francis celebrate Mass alone also brought me back memories of my first daily Mass in the place of my first appointment as a priest in Keringet.

As it is the case for many recently ordained priests, I was excited at the prospect of celebrating my first daily morning Mass in the place of my first appointment as a priest. Due to the nature of the parish then, we used to celebrate daily Masses in the communities. Thursdays and Sundays were the only days we would celebrate Mass in the parish church. (The practice changed before I left, as we managed to introduce the people to the practice of daily morning mass in the parish church.) 

My Parish priest then, had forewarned me that there are not too many people who come for the Thursday Mass but nothing could have prepared me for what I was to expect the following morning.

That Thursday was 2^nd February 2017 and it happened to be the Feast of the Presentation. I had spent a great deal of the previous night preparing myself for the Mass: Typing my homily, making sure that I picked my best chasuble, going through the collect, Preface, the other prayers of the Mass et al.

On that Thursday, I opened the doors of the Church exactly thirty minutes before time, (We had no sacristan so we literally did everything). I prepared everything for the celebration. Since it was the fest of the Presentation, I had also prepared a few candles for procession. Finally, it was 7 am and no one yet in sight. “They must be coming…” I thought. A watched pot never boils. It was not until it was 7:30 am that I realized they were not coming and so I decided to vest for Mass. I was going to celebrate my very first morning Mass in the place of my first assignment as a priest; and I was going to celebrate alone. For some minutes I felt so disappointed. Then one person showed up. And the Mass went on as usual just the two of us. It was disappointing but ended up to be very beautiful. And yes, we did the procession with candles…of course just the two of us.

That experience taught me a great lesson as a young priest: Whether there is just one person, just three people, twenty thousand or even none; we priests have an obligation to make Christ present in the holy sacrifice of Mass. Later, on, I celebrated many other Masses Sine Populo.  Sometimes it was only one other person present. Other times, I had to read both the first reading, the responsorial Psalm before I read the Gospel due to the circumstances.

Indeed, as the late Bishop Javier Echevarria Rodriguez once told a group of priests he recently ordained, “We priests are ordained to principally celebrate Mass. Celebrating Mass is our main duty. Once you have celebrated Mass every day, you have fulfilled your greatest obligation.  The rest are just decorations.”

The author is Parochial Vicar, Mary Mother of God Parish, Kabarnet. casmirthomas28@gmail.com