Faith

Pope Leo XIV marks All Souls' Day at Rome's Verano Cemetery: 'Our bond with the departed is not severed, but transformed'

Rome, Italy • November 2, 2026 • By Press Pass USA

Editorial illustration: mourners seen from behind among gravestones with candles and flowers in a historic Roman cemetery at dusk

Editorial illustration — Press Pass USA

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on Monday at Rome's Verano Cemetery for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, praying for the dead — especially, he had said a day earlier, for those whom no one remembers — and for families grieving loved ones lost to war.

The pope began his visit with a prayer and laid a bouquet of flowers in the Vatican colors in a silent gesture of remembrance for all the departed, Rome Reports reported. The Mass, scheduled for 4 p.m. local time, was his second consecutive All Souls' Day celebration at Verano, Rome's oldest and largest cemetery.

In his homily, drawing on the Gospel of the Beatitudes, the pope turned to the victims of today's conflicts, Rome Reports said. "At this moment, we want to pray for all those who have recently lost a loved one, especially for those from whom a loved one has been torn away by the senseless violence of war. May the tears of so many mothers, children, and elderly people touch the consciences of those who have the power to silence the weapons!"

The Associated Press, reporting from the cemetery on Monday, carried the same appeal, noting that the pope addressed a congregation gathered among graves and tombstones and condemned what he called the "senseless violence of war," urging prayers for grieving families.

The other central theme of his reflection was the communion of saints, the spiritual bond between the living faithful and those who have already died. "Faith in Christ tells us that our bond with the faithful departed is not severed, but transformed. Through our prayers for the dead, we accompany our loved ones toward full communion with the Lord, that communion which we truly experience in advance here on earth, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist," the pope said, according to Rome Reports.

At Sunday's Angelus in St. Peter's Square, the pope had invited Catholics to feel united "in the communion of saints" with those who have gone before and to "pray for the dead, especially for those whom no one remembers." Vatican News, as reported by Catholic Online, said he concluded his All Souls reflections by recalling St. Francis of Assisi and his Canticle of the Creatures, and emphasized that the souls of the just remain in God's loving care.

The Verano Mass is a tradition Pope Francis revived in 2013 and Pope John Paul II had inaugurated in 1979, Rome Reports noted. The November 2 commemoration itself dates back more than a thousand years: in 998, St. Odilo of Cluny, a Benedictine abbot, decreed that his monasteries dedicate November 2 to praying for all the deceased.

The Mass closes the pope's first days of November in Rome before a busy month ahead: he is scheduled to leave Friday, November 6, on an 11-day trip to Uruguay, Argentina and Peru, where he spent more than two decades as a missionary and bishop.

Sources: Rome Reports (Nov. 2, 2026, full text verified); Associated Press (Nov. 2, 2026, video report from Verano Cemetery); Vatican News, as reported by Catholic Online (Nov. 2, 2026); National Catholic Reporter (Oct. 28, 2026, Mass schedule).