Pope Francis went to a parish and allowed a lamb to be put over his shoulders.
Is there is a better way to smell like the sheep than that?
What I want to know is whether or not Pope Francis blessed lambs today, as Popes do, on the Feast of St. Agnes, so beloved of the people of the Roman diocese.
As you know, the lambs’ wool is eventually shorn and used in the making of the archespiscopal pallia distributed to Metropolitans in the Vatican Basilica on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.
VIS says that the lambs were “presented” to the Pope. HERE Zenit says they were blessed at at the Basilica on the Via Nomentana, but that doesn’t mean Francis couldn’t do it. HERE
I have no photo of Francis blessing lambs today … yet… so here is Pope Benedict:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXVWg1qfGYw&feature=player_embedded
Meanwhile…
Ant. Stans a dextris eius Agnus: nive candidiorChristus sibi sponsam et martyrem consecravit.
℣. Adiutorium nostrum in nomine Domini.
℟. Qui fecit coelum et terram.
℣. Dominus vobiscum.
℟. Et cum spiritu tuo.Oremus.
Omnipotens et misericors Deus qui per Moysem famulum tuum Pontificibus tabernaculos servientibus, indumenta instituisti: et per sanctos Apostolos tuos Sacerdotibus et Pontificibus Evangelicis vestimenta sacra providisti: effunde tuam sanctam Benedictionem + super hos Agnos, de quorum vellere sacra Pallia pro Summis Pontificibus, Patriarchis, et Archiepiscopis conficienda sunt: ut qui eis utuntur una cum plebe sibi commissa per intercessionem B. V. et M. Agnetis (super cuius tumbam oramus) ad æternam benedictionem perducantur: Per Christum Dominum nostrum. Amen.
Oremus.
Deus qui infirma mundi eligis ut fortia quæque confundas; concede propitius ut qui Beatæ Agnetis Virginis et Martyris tuæ solemnia colimus eius apud te patrocinia sentiamus. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum Filium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus, per omnia sæcula sæculorum. Amen.
UPDATE:
There are some photos of Francis with the lambs. Some visual indication that he may have blessed them (there is a book). HERE
He sure knows how to make an occasion seems special, no?
And from a Belgian site HERE
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