Read Kate’s latest for The Tablet – Singing the Regina caeli
When our new Pope came out on to the balcony for the first time to address us all, he also took the opportunity to praise the Queen of Heaven, and ask for her prayers. It was a touching and simple gesture, in which many of the crowd in St Peter’s square happily joined. The conclave took place after all in the month of May, Mary’s month.
Since Easter we have been saying the Regina caeli instead of the usual Hail Mary at the end of the Bidding Prayers, but we have it written out on the newsletter because it’s less familiar, and not everyone knows it, or at least not well enough to recite without book. It is something that marks out Eastertide from the rest of the year, so the Regina caeli was definitely already on our current Catholic radar, but Pope Leo gave it a great boost.
