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2024 New Year’s Day Mass with the Pope in the Vatican: times and how to watch
Pope Francis will once again address crowds in St Peter’s Square on 1 January as part of the traditional Holy Mass.
On January 1, Pope Francis will once again deliver the annual New Year’s Day message from the Vatican. Named the Mass for the Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, it will begin at 10:00am local time (4:00am EST, 1:00am PT) in the Vatican Basilica.
After the mass, the traditional Angelus blessing from Saint Peter’s Square will take place at 12:00 pm local time (6:00am EST, 3:00am PT).
As always, to watch the mass, you can tune in to the Vatican Mass YouTube Channel.
After mass the Pope will go to Peter’s Balcony to deliver his papal blessing to the watchful crowd at St Peter’s Square, weather permitting, of course. In 2020 the head of the Catholic Church was forced to give the Angelus blessing from the papal library due to poor weather.
Last year was a solemn event: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI died on New Year’s Eve at the age of 95, causing thousands of Catholics to gather in Saint Peter’s Square to remember the former leader of the Church; Pope Francis entrusted the soul of the late Benedict XVI to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Pope’s Christmas eve message laments ‘futile logic of war’
Pope Francis said in a Christmas Eve homily that “the clash of arms even today” prevents Jesus “from finding room in the world.”
Recalling Jesus’ birth in a stable in Bethlehem, the pontiff delivered a poignant message to the 6,500 people who watched on: “Our hearts are in Bethlehem, where the Prince of Peace is once more rejected by the futile logic of war”, he said, while taking time to warn against “the quest for worldly power and might, fame and glory, which measures everything in terms of success, results, numbers and figures, a world obsessed with achievement.”
‘We think of Palestine, Israel, Ukraine...’
When the Christmas Eve Mass had ended, the Pope, who has been suffered from knee ligament pain, was pushed in a wheelchair and moved down the basilica with the life-sized statue of Baby Jesus on his lap.
“We are close to our brothers and sisters suffering from war. We think of Palestine, Israel, Ukraine. We also think of those who suffer from misery, hunger, slavery,’ the 87-year-old said. “May the God who took a human heart for himself infuse humanity into the hearts of men”.