Jacksonville, Fla. – Bishop Felipe J. Estévez of the Diocese of St. Augustine, will celebrate a special Mass on Friday, Feb. 22 at 7 a.m. in the Cathedral Basilica, 38 Cathedral Place, St. Augustine. The Mass will be in thanksgiving for the papal ministry of Pope Benedict XVI who announced his resignation as Supreme Pontiff on Feb. 11.
“February 22 is the feast of the Chair of St. Peter in the Catholic Church,” Bishop Estévez said. “Since the feast focuses on the ministry of the successor of Peter the Apostle, it is a most appropriate day for the faithful of North Florida to gather and give thanks to God for Benedict’s leadership of the church over the past eight years.”
His Holiness, Pope Benedict, resigned as spiritual head of the world’s more than 1 billion Catholics on Monday. He will officially step down on Feb. 28. The process to elect his successor is expected to begin in mid-March.
The feast of the Chair of St. Peter dates back to the 4th century of Christianity. It commemorates the biblical passage in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus symbolically bestows the “keys of the kingdom” to Peter. The Catholic Church holds that those who have held the papal office in an unbroken line of succession through the centuries, continue the mission that Christ gave to St. Peter.