"praying for the pope's intentions"

[Instaurare omnia]

This is an element of the requirements for many Catholic devotions, and I don't know how to deal with it in the current circumstances.

Without getting into the minefield of the question of what this particular pope's intentions are (except to acknowledge that these are likely less than holy), I ask for some perspective from those of you with many more years of prayer experience under various papacies. Does one get it over with despite the queasiness, or does one finesse by praying for the intentions of a more sanctified though generic once-and-future pope? Or some other approach? With thanks.

[Miriam_M]

I have had and continue to have the same problem as you.  For me, "[this] pope's intentions" could be anything, including One World Gov't, One World Ecumenical Religion, Gaia as equal with Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Democratic Party in the U.S., the Communist party in take-your-pick country on any continent, and so on. 

In what way can I trust that "the pope's intentions" are even Catholic intentions (never mind traditional Catholic)?  I didn't care for JP2's publicity stunts or BXVI's dry, detached approach to Scripture and his intellectually dishonest (while not necessarily morally dishonest) "hermeneutic of continuity," but at least I wasn't as worried that they were Catholic outside of publicity stunts and illogical arguments.

There must be a way to pray 'with' a Pope without compromising one's own Catholic integrity or essentially using prayer to lie to God.  (!)  I think our poster Lynne may have insight into how to suspend our personal anxieties about that without being insincere, but I welcome ideas from anywhere, from anyone who struggles with this as well.

[Bernadette]

I remember finding a list of general papal intentions in Fr. Lasance's The Prisoner of Love. Those are the intentions I pray for. I remember one being the spread of the Catholic faith. Can't remember the others off the top of my head.

[Stubborn]

I remember finding a list of general papal intentions in Fr. Lasance's The Prisoner of Love. Those are the intentions I pray for. I remember one being the spread of the Catholic faith. Can't remember the others off the top of my head.

I also remember something like this - I do not know, but I am pretty sure those intentions are long gone. Here is a list of his intentions for 2022.

Fwiw, for 50 years I've replaced "for the intentions of our holy father the pope" with "for the conversion of our holy father the pope" when I say my morning offering.

[AlNg]

At Latin Masses that I have attended, there is a declaration (or prayer) of being "una cum" (one with) Pope Francis.

[The Curt Jester]

I just pray for the pope.

[Prayerful]

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians.

His August prayer intention cannot be faulted. Perhaps this prayer of the apostleship of prayer is from the side of Francis who prays his Office with an old Latin breviary.

His talk with the video was the usual:

As a consequence of the pandemic and the wars, the world is facing a grave socio-economic crisis. We still don't realize it!
And among those most affected are small and medium-sized businesses.
Stores, workshops, cleaning businesses, transportation businesses, and so many others.
The ones that don't appear on the world's richest and most powerful lists, and despite the difficulties, they create jobs, fulfilling their social responsibility.
The ones that invest in the common good instead of hiding their money in tax havens.
They all dedicate an immense creative capacity to changing things from the bottom up, from where the best creativity always comes from.
With courage, with effort, with sacrifice, they invest in life, creating wellbeing, opportunities, and work.
Let us pray for small and medium-sized businesses, hard hit by the economic and social crisis, so they may find ways to continue operating, and serving their communities.

The Vatican was and is, via the IOW, a tax haven. I suspect given the words of Francis against the mafia, the legitimate businessmen (maybe the 'Ndrangheta of Calabria who are said to import much of Europe's cocaine), probably are still welcome to do business there. That's how hypocrites work. That being said, any responsible medium to high net worth individual will make every effort to organise their affair in a tax efficient manner.

The traditional intentions are always good:

The Exaltation of the Church
The Propagation of the Faith
The Extirpation of Heresy
The Conversion of Sinners
The Concord between Christian Princes
The Further Welfare of the Christian People

A prayer for Francis to cease scandal, for him generally, cannot be wrong. We are meant to pray for our persecutors, even if it be so hard.

[Lynne]

I pray for the "objective intentions" of the pope,

https://fatima.org/news-views/catholic-apologetics-9/

By offering our prayers for the intentions of the Holy Father we are not praying for the personal intentions of Pope Francis but rather for the six objective intentions of the Holy Father as the Church Herself teaches.

What are the 6 intentions of the Pope? The 6 objective intentions of the Holy Father are as follows:

The Exaltation of the Church
The Propagation of the Faith
The Extirpation of Heresy
The Conversion of Sinners
The Concord between Christian Princes
The Further Welfare of the Christian People

[Julio]

The Pope being tempted by the demon is not strange, and here is the fact:

"Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, "God forbid, Lord! No such thing shall ever happen to you." He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are an obstacle to me. You are thinking not as God does, but as human beings do." (Matthew 16: 22 and 23)

Maybe Pope Francis is undergoing the same situation when he thinks more about pleasing humans that he describe to be the importance of brotherhood and himself acting and portraying the role of the good pastor at the expense of the will of God. We must be one with him as the steward of the sit of St. Peter. Not on his issues of pachamama and the likes of them.

[EastWest7]

In the Morning Offering, I pray for the CATHOLIC intentions of the Pope.

[Elizabeth]

You are not alone; this kicked up in me again; I recoil at photos of the present Co-Pope.   But we are not abandoned, and should be very firm in our minds and hearts about what the holy intentions of whomever N is in the Missal.

But we have to do it in order to gain indulgences...

[Michael Wilson]

In some of the older prayer books it states one of the conditions for gaining a Plenary Indulgence, is "for the intentions of the Holy See"; and it goes on to name a few, such as: "The Propagation of the faith"; the "extirpation of heresies"; the "conversion of sinners" etc. etc. 

[Greg]

I pray for my intentions for the Pope.