Missa pro populo (Latin: "Mass for the people") is a term used in liturgical texts and rules of the Western Catholic Church. It refers to the requirement of all ordained pastors to say Mass for the people entrusted to them.
Each celebration of Mass can be dedicated (the technical term is 'applied') for a particular intention.[1] The intention can be for the well-being of a living person or group of persons, or for the purification of one or more souls who have died. This is an ancient tradition for which there is evidence dating back to the second and third centuries of the Christian Era.[2]
Under the current (1983) Code of Canon Law,[3] [4] both Diocesan Bishops and Parish Priests are required to apply one Mass for all the people entrusted to them on each Sunday and each Holy Day of Obligation. However, the cleric is able to fulfil this obligation by shifting the celebration of this Mass intention to another day, or by delegating the responsibility to another cleric.
The Missa pro populo is historically linked with, but distinct from, the former concept of the Parochial Mass, as described in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopaedia: