Rome Newsroom, Mar 10, 2022 / 12:00 pm
The first Catholic Mass in nearly 500 years was celebrated at a cathedral in Geneva, Switzerland, last week for the vigil of the First Sunday of Lent.
The last Mass celebrated at St. Pierre Cathedral took place in 1535. After the Reformation, the building was taken over by John Calvin’s Reformed Protestant Church, which destroyed the cathedral’s statues and paintings, and banned Catholic worship.
The Mass took place on March 5, having been postponed for two years because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Around 1,500 people attended the Mass. The main celebrant was Father Pascal Desthieux, the episcopal vicar of Geneva.