Faith

Pope Leo prays for 143 departed cardinals and bishops: “Let us not reduce their memory to mere nostalgia”

Vatican City • November 5, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: the interior of St. Peter's Basilica during a solemn Mass, clergy seen from behind, rows of lit candles glowing in the foreground

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on Thursday, November 5, 2026, at St. Peter's Basilica for the repose of the seven cardinals and 136 bishops who died over the past year, preaching that prayer for the dead is a celebration of life — and warning the faithful not to let remembrance of the departed become mere nostalgia.

It is customary for the popes to celebrate this Mass every year at the beginning of November, in the month the Church dedicates to prayers for the dead. The names of those for whom the Mass was offered are printed in the opening pages of the liturgical booklet. This year, 143 prelates in all passed away between October 2025 and the end of October 2026, according to the Vatican. Among the cardinals who died were Italy's Camillo Ruini, who investigated Medjugorje; Czech Cardinal Dominik Duka; and Cardinal Pengo.

The Mass was celebrated in Latin at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Dean of the College of Cardinals, and Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, Vice-Dean, stood at the altar during the Eucharistic Prayer, and other cardinals and bishops joined the celebration.

Drawing from the first reading of the liturgy, from 2 Maccabees 12:43–46, in which Judas Maccabeus ordered a sacrifice for fallen soldiers, the pope set out two truths that he said illuminate prayer for the deceased: hope in the resurrection, and the communion of saints.

"For our remembrance of our departed brothers and sisters at the altar of the Lord is founded on the promise that our life, in Christ, is not lost, because it has been redeemed," Leo said. "If there were no resurrection, it would be futile to pray for the dead."

He built his homily on Jesus' words in John 12:26 — "If anyone serves me, he must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also" — and recalled St. Monica's final request to her sons Augustine and Navigius: "Remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be," underscoring that prayer for the dead is one of the Church's fundamental duties.

"To pray for the repose of the dead is to celebrate life," the pope added. "First and foremost the risen life of Christ the Lord, and, by his grace, our own life, which rises in him. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the memorial of his passover, by which he saved us through the gift of himself for us. Let us not allow the memory of the deceased to become merely nostalgic. In faith, we contemplate the mystery of death without fear, because the Lord is alive; he awaits us and has already prepared a place for us in the house of his Father."

The second truth, he said, is rooted in hope in the communion of saints. "When we pray for the deceased, we pray both for them but also with them," Leo taught. "In Christ, death does not dissolve our bonds. Rather, it transfigures them into a new dimension."

In the Prayer of the Faithful, petitions were offered for civil and social leaders, that they pursue "projects of justice and peace for the good of the entire human family," and that the dead be welcomed into the "paternal embrace" of the merciful Father.

After Mass, Pope Leo visited the Vatican grottoes under St. Peter's Basilica to pray at the tombs of some of his papal predecessors, including St. Paul VI, Venerable Pius XII, and Benedict XVI, who died on December 31, 2022.

The Mass comes the day before the pope departs on his first trip to Latin America as pontiff, an 11-day journey to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru beginning Friday, November 6.

Sources: National Catholic Register, "Pope Leo XIV: Let Us Not Allow the Memory of the Deceased to Be Reduced to Mere Nostalgia" (Nov. 5, 2026, full text verified); CathoNews, "Pope Leo XIV Prays for 143 Departed Cardinals and Bishops" (Nov. 5, 2026, full text verified); Rome Reports, "The Pope Prays for the Deceased Cardinals: 'Let us not reduce their memory to mere nostalgia'" (Nov. 5, 2026). Event date verified: Mass celebrated Thursday, November 5, 2026. Distinct from the November 4 note on the pope's upcoming Latin America trip.