Pope’s schedule until November

The apostolic visit to Cuba and the United States starting next weekend, the Synod on the Family and a canonization ceremony next month and the commemoration of the dead and his first pastoral visit to Africa in Nov. are the highlights of the schedule of Pope Francis in the coming days and two months.  Msgr. Guido Marini, the Pope’s master of liturgical ceremonies on Saturday released the schedule of the Holy Father for the rest of September until November. 

The Pope will be on a busy apostolic visit September 19-28  to Cuba and the US.  On Oct. 3, the eve of the 14th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in the Vatican, the Pope will lead a prayer service in St. Peter’s Square.  ‎The Oct. ‎‎4-25 Synod will be on the "the vocation and the mission of the family in the church and in the ‎contemporary world."  ‎ During the synod, the Pope will also celebrate a canonization Mass in St. Peter’s Square on Oct. 18, to declare two men and two women saints.  Among them are Ludovico Martin and Maria Azelia Guerin, the parents of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, also known as Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus and the Little Flower of Jesus.  The Pope will conclude the synod with a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 25.

The Holy Father will observe the various liturgies to commemorate the dead, Nov. 1-5.   And he will conclude the month of November with a pastoral visit to Kenya, Uganda and the Central African Republic, Nov. 25-30.