Vatican says no set prayer is required when praying for the pope's intentions

The phrase "praying for the intentions of the pope" turns up often in the Church's instructions for obtaining a plenary indulgence, especially at celebrations such as All Saints' Day and the commemoration of All Souls. Meeting the condition does not require knowing any particular request of the pope or reciting any set prayer.

The Apostolic Penitentiary, the office of the Holy See responsible for indulgences, says the faithful can satisfy the requirement with prayers of their own choosing, though it recommends an Our Father and a Hail Mary. That guidance appears in The Gift of the Indulgence, published on January 29, 2000, which sets out the conditions for obtaining indulgences and explains how the prayer for the pope's intentions is to be made.

What are the pope's intentions?

Praying for the pope's intentions means joining in prayer with the requests and concerns the pope entrusts to the faithful, in communion with his ministry as head of the Church. The practice should not be confused with the monthly prayer intentions the pope proposes through the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network, which address specific issues relating to the Church and the needs of humanity.

Those monthly intentions are an invitation to pray together, but there is no need to know the one for a given month to fulfill the condition of praying for the pope's intentions in connection with an indulgence.

Recommended prayers: a free choice

The Gift of the Indulgence leaves the prayer for the pope's intentions to the choice of the faithful and suggests an Our Father and a Hail Mary. There is no single required formula. Any other prayer counts, as long as it is offered for the pope's intentions.

Nor does anyone need to know the pope's specific requests. What matters is that the prayer is offered with that intention. The prayer can be said alone or with others, for example at the end of a religious service or during a time of personal prayer.

A condition for a plenary indulgence

Prayer for the pope's intentions is one of the usual conditions the Church sets for obtaining a plenary indulgence, along with sacramental confession, Holy Communion and the required spiritual dispositions.

The apostolic constitution Indulgentiarum doctrina, promulgated by Paul VI on January 1, 1967, governs the discipline of indulgences and includes the requirement to pray for the pope's intentions. The Church defines an indulgence as the remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven. It can be partial or plenary, depending on the remission granted.

For a plenary indulgence, besides performing the work attached to it, the person must be in a state of grace and interiorly detached from all sin, even venial sin. Praying an Our Father and a Hail Mary therefore does not automatically obtain a plenary indulgence: the remaining conditions set by the Church must also be met.

Does it have to be the same day?

The Apostolic Penitentiary says the three conditions, sacramental confession, Holy Communion and prayer for the pope's intentions, may be fulfilled several days before or after the indulgenced work, roughly 20 days. It still considers it fitting that Holy Communion and the prayer for the pope's intentions take place on the same day as the work.

The document also states that a single sacramental confession can serve for several plenary indulgences. Each plenary indulgence, though, requires a separate reception of Holy Communion and a separate prayer for the pope's intentions.

A practice of communion in the Church

Prayer for the pope goes beyond indulgences. The faithful can pray for the pope and his intentions during Mass, at prayer meetings, as a family or on their own. In the context of indulgences, the practice expresses Catholics' communion with the successor of Peter and with the universal Church.

No special formula is needed, and there is no need to know the pope's monthly intentions in advance. The faithful can choose whatever prayers they wish and offer them for the pope's intentions, keeping in mind the remaining conditions when a plenary indulgence is sought.