Today, Pope Francis will celebrate
a solemn Eucharist and his enthronement as Bishop of Rome in the
Arch-Basilica of St. John Lateran, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Rome. Cardinal Vicar, Agostino Vallini, Emeritus Vicar, Cardinal Camillo Ruini, the Bishops’ Council of the Diocese and the Council of Parish Prefects will be co-celebrating.
Also attending will be Rome’s priest and students from the city’s Major and Minor Seminaries, the Redemptoris Mater, the Almo Collegio Capranica and the Oblates of the Oblates of Our Lady of Divine Love, as well as members of the Pontifical Chapel, in accordance with the Motu Proprio “Pontificalis Domus”.
Communion will be offered by 75 permanent deacons and the Choir of the Diocese of Rome will offer musical accompaniment to the liturgy.
The Pope will be enthroned before the start of mass.
After the enthronement, some Diocese representatives will pledge obedience and filial devotion to him on behalf of the Church of Rome. Representatives include: Cardinal Vicar Agostino Vallini; Mgr. Filippo Iannone; Vicar to Capitulate, Mgr. Luca Brandolini; Mgr. Pasquale Silla, parish priest of Santa Maria del Divino Amore in Rome’s Castel di Leva area (dean of parish priests); Fr. Daniele Natalizi, parish vicar of Santa Maria Assunta and San Michele in Rome’s Castel Romano area (the youngest in terms of ordination and age, he was ordained in 2012); Fr. Gianpaolo Pertici, Permanent Dean of the Nativita' di Nostro Signore Gesù Cristo parish, in the Appio Latino district; Fr. Marco Bellachioma, a member of the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor Conventual and diocesan secretary of the Italian Conference of Major Superiors (CISM); Sister Maria Giuseppina Abruzzini, a Salesian nun and diocesan secretary of the Union of Italian Major Superiors (USMI); Marco and Monica Curzi’s family with their four children: Francesco (11), Marta (10), Alessandro (9) and Paolo (6); Sofia Presciutti and Massimo Presti from the Diocese of Rome’s young people’s pastoral service.
The liturgy will be celebrated by 13 Seminarists from Roman Pontifical Major Seminary along with 2 Roman Seminarists from the Almo Collegio Capranica and assistant deacons Alberto Daniel Lopez Pantano (of Argentinean origin) and Fr. Giuseppe Conforti, both of whom will be ordained presbyters for the Diocese of Rome this coming 21 April.