Courtney Mares

By Courtney Mares

Vatican City, Oct 4, 2023 / 13:15 pm

St. Peter’s Basilica has extended its usual hours of daily Eucharistic adoration this month as the Synod on Synodality assembly meets at the Vatican. 

The Vatican announced on Oct. 4 that the basilica will hold an additional hour of adoration in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays to offer the synod delegates and the faithful the chance to pray during the XVI Ordinary Synod of Bishops Oct. 4–29.

St. Peter’s Basilica will also host weekly candlelight rosary processions at 9 p.m. each Saturday in the month of October, a month traditionally dedicated to the prayer of the rosary, as it did in May. 

Cardinal Mario Grech, the general secretary of the synod, will preside over the month’s first candlelight rosary procession on Oct. 7, the feast of the Holy Rosary. Synod delegates have been invited to take part in the processions, which will include prayers for the synod assembly.

According to St. Peter’s Basilica, the Eucharistic Holy Hours and Masses scheduled for the synod delegates in St. Peter’s Basilica are open to the general public. The synod Masses will take place in the basilica on Oct. 9, 13, 18, and 23 at 8:45 a.m.

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Any Catholics who wish to attend Masses, adoration, or confession in St. Peter’s Basilica can skip the line to enter the basilica using the new prayer entrance. 

St. Peter’s Basilica usually offers continuous Eucharistic adoration in the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament from Monday to Saturday from about 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., as well as 10 daily Masses on most weekdays. 

Courtney Mares
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees. She is the author of “Blessed Carlo Acutis: A Saint in Sneakers” (Ignatius, 2023), https://ignatius.com/carlo-acutis-sscap/.