Pope Francis, pictured here in Dublin in 2018.Getty Images
A package of almost 4,000 Mass cards from Irish people has been dispatched for direct delivery to the Vatican, An Post announced on June 1.
“We have been in touch with our counterparts in the Vatican Post Office so they will be expecting this special package from Ireland," an An Post spokesperson said in an update on June 1.
"So many customers were pleased to be able to express their sympathy and respect for the late Pope Francis and know that their cards will be delivered safely.
"We’ve even received cards from across the world to be included in the despatch from Ireland.”
An Post, Ireland's national provider of post services, had earlier announced on April 24 that it would be delivering Mass cards to the Vatican free-of-charge until May 14 following the death of Pope Francis on April 21.
Welcoming An Post’s special arrangement for customers, Ireland’s Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Luis Mariano Montemayor said: “To post a card is very often to post a thought, a feeling, a part of ourselves.
"That is what I see in this beautiful initiative, facilitated by An Post, to send your Mass Cards to Rome. They are more than a gesture of remembrance.
"They are a sign of attachment to a person who had a special place in many Irish hearts. They carry with them your prayers for Pope Francis, but they carry, too, your love and appreciation of what he meant in your lives.
"May God bless all those who have participated!”
The death of Pope Francis, 88, was formally announced on Monday, April 21, by Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Apostolic Chamber.
According to Vatican News, over a quarter of a million people gathered in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, April 26, for the Requiem Mass for Pope Francis. Among them were Ireland's President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina, Taoiseach Micheál Martin, and Tánaiste Simon Harris, as well as Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill.
On Thursday, May 8, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, a native of Chicago, was elected as the 267th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. He has taken the name Pope Leo XIV.