Thursday 28th February marked an historic day in the life of the Church when, for the first time in 600 years, the Pope stood down from office.
And so it was the a good number of parishioners and others were able to gather, at short notice, on Thursday evening for a Mass of Thanksgiving for the Papal ministry of Benedict XVI. This pontificate has not been great in length but has proved great in many other ways. Fr Loughran, in his brief homily, highlighted eight hallmarks of Benedict's pontificate amongst which were: reaching out to Muslims, forming the Ordinariate for former Anglicans, his ability to teach in a clear, straight forward and engaging manner and his humility.
The people present prayed fervently for the retired Pope and also invoked the Holy Spirit upon the Church to guide the selection of a new Pope.