VATICAN CITY.- This Sunday, the Pope Leo XIV went to Summer Roman Cemeteryon the day that the Catholic Church remember the deceasedthe largest in the capital, stops, he assured, “pray for the dead that no one remembers“.
At the end of angelus prayerPope Leo XIV recalled that in the afternoon he would travel to the Verano cemetery to celebrate the Eucharist in honor of all the deceased.
“I will pray spiritually over the graves of my loved ones, just as I will pray for the dead that no one remembers. But our Heavenly Father knows us and loves us, one by one, and forgets no one,” said Pope Leo XIV.
#LeoneXIV in the Verano Cemetery in Rome to celebrate the Mass in remembrance of the faithful deceased. As soon as he arrived, the Pope placed a bouquet of white roses on a tomb. Hundreds of people gathered for the celebration#2 November pic.twitter.com/WVhLMTH7z4
— Vatican News (@vaticannews_it) November 2, 2025
Leo XIV thus continues the tradition of his predecessor the papa Franciscowho visited several cemeteries on this date during his pontificate.
The pontiff visited this cemetery, one of the most emblematic in Italy due to its rich history, which dates back to twenty centuries ago, and which demonstrates the existence of a Roman necropolis, the so-called catacombs of Santa Ciriaca.
#PopeLeoXIV leaves flowers on a tomb at Rome’s Verano cemetery before celebrating Mass there. pic.twitter.com/iBWL2XRZSQ
— Catholic News Service Rome (@CatholicNewsSvc) November 2, 2025
In addition to this event, celebrations are planned in other cemeteries in Rome, such as Laurentino, Ostia Antica and Prima Porta, also on the occasion of All Saints’ Day, which the Catholic Church commemorates on November 1.
In this same cemetery where Leo XIV celebrated mass, Pope Francis presided in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
May the visit to the cemetery be for all of us an invitation to remember and wait. We are not locked in the past, in the tears of nostalgia; Nor are we confined to the present, as in a tomb. May the familiar voice of Jesus reach us all,…
— Pope Leo XIV (@Pontifex_es) November 2, 2025
The Argentine pontiff celebrated the Eucharist in other cemeteries, such as in 2022, when he did so at the Pontifical Teutonic College of Santa María in Camposanto, in the Vatican, or last year, in the Laurentino cemetery in Rome.
In 2023, for example, it was moved to the cemetery dedicated to Commonwealth servicemen who fell during the World War II in Rome to celebrate the Mass of the Dead.
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