On Oct. 4, the feast day of St. Francis of Assisi, the traditional collection for Peter's Pence will take place.
The date was moved because of the pandemic. It's usually held on June 29, the feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul.
Peter's Pence is a Vatican fund sustained by the faithful to support the Holy See's activities and the pope's charitable works.
It was created in the seventh century, with the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons. As a sign of their adherence to Rome, they began sending an annual contribution to the pope. That's how “Denarius Sancti Petri,” “Alms of St. Peter,” was born. Then other European countries joined. Pius IX officially established the fund in 1871.
In 2019, it raised 53 million euros and financed a third of the pope and the Vatican Curia's activities.
It also helped set in motion works of charity, like the construction of the pediatric hospital in Bangui, Central African Republic; a donation to Ukraine requested by the pope; and financial aid for the first Catholic university in Jordan.
