New Feast Day and Prayer for Blessed John Paul II

12 APRIL 2011. To coincide with today's announcement from the Vatican that Blessed John Paul II's feast day will be celebrated on 22 October, the date that Cardinal Wojtyla became pope, Rome has also released a new collect to be said during the feast day and thanksgiving masses for Blessed John Paul II:

Prayer

O God, who are rich in mercy
and who willed that Blessed John Paul II
should preside as Pope over your universal Church,
grant, we pray, that instructed by his teaching,
we may open our hearts to the saving grace of Christ,
the sole Redeemer of mankind,
Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.

Amen