Pope Leo XIV: Attendance at Sunday Mass cannot be replaced by virtual participation

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV has urged Catholics to prioritize attending Sunday Mass, warning that active participation in the Eucharist cannot be replaced by virtual gatherings.

“I urge everyone to seek the best possible conditions so that even those who are unable to take time off work on Sundays may take part in Holy Mass,” Leo said.

In his address during his general audience at the Vatican on Aug. 12, the pontiff continued his catechesis on the Second Vatican Council’s constitution on the liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium .

As on Aug. 5 , his general audience was held inside St. Peter’s Basilica due to Rome’s high summer temperatures.

The liturgical year according to Pius XII and Prosper Guéranger Leo explained the importance of the liturgical year, referencing his predecessor Venerable Pope Pius XII as well as Servant of God Abbot Prosper Guéranger, OSB, the first abbot of Solesmes Abbey in France and a key figure in the liturgical movement.

It is “important to note that this way of referring to the cycle of Christian feasts as the ‘liturgical year’ became widespread in ecclesiastical language thanks to the work of the Servant of God, Abbot Prosper Guéranger,” Leo said…