For the first time in 20 years the Bishop of Rome has returned to his diocese’s most important cemetery to commemorate the Feast of All Souls. Pope Francis yesterday was to celebrate an outdoor evening “Mass for the Dead” amidst the monumental tombs in Campo Verano, an early nineteenth-century memorial park adjacent to the Basilica of St Lawrence Outside the Walls. The visit revived a 14-year custom that Blessed John Paul II observed from 1979 until 1993. The Polish Pope missed only two appointments during that span due to his travels outside of the Eternal City. It’s not clear why he discontinued the practice or why Benedict XVI never even visited or presided at a liturgy in the massive cemetery during his nearly eight years as Pope. However, he did celebrate Mass