Nearly six million people took part in various encounters at the Vatican with Pope Francis during 2014, the Vatican disclosed today.
According to a communique by the Prefecture of the Papal Household, more than 5,900,000 faithful participated in the various encounters with Pope Francis since the start of 2014.
These comprised General Audiences (1,199,000), private audiences (567,100), liturgical celebrations in the Vatican Basilica and in St. Peter’s Square (1,110,700), and Angelus addresses (3,040,000).
April, May, and October were the busiest months, during which numbers at general audiences and liturgical celebrations were visibly higher than other months. For example, for liturgical celebrations, given Easter in April, 730,000 faithful flocked for liturgical celebrations. The second-ranking month for the number of faithful drawn for liturgical celebrations was October at 140,000.
Last year, the prefecture said that since Pope Francis was elected on March 13, more than 6,600,000 faithful participated in the various encounters with Pope Francis. These comprised general audiences (1,548,500), private audiences (87,400), liturgical celebrations in the Vatican Basilica and in St. Peter’s Square (2,282,000), and Angelus and Regina Coeli (2,706,000).
The year before that, with Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican said 2.3 million pilgrims and visitors joined the now Pope Emeritus for an audience, liturgy or prayer at the Vatican.
