How to Make Petitions to the Pope
A private meeting with the pope is hard to get. But petitioning the pope is easy. It can be as simple as sending a letter to the Vatican. Someone at the Vatican reads all correspondence, and usually letters and petitions are acknowledged. To get action, though, you'll likely need strength in numbers.
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Instructions
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Petitioning the Pope
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Write the petition. Figure out what you want and write it clearly and concisely. A petition to the pope should usually begin with the salutation "Your Holiness" or "Most Holy Father." From there, start with what you want the pope to do, and then give background information explaining the circumstances and why your petition is a good idea. Emphasize spiritual benefits for members of the Roman Catholic Church, if any.
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Get others to join the petition. The more people the Vatican hears from, the more likely Vatican officials are to take a petition seriously. The more seriously Vatican officials take a petition, the more likely the pope will hear about it for his consideration. If possible, get a local bishop or even a national bishops' conference to support your petition. As an example, when Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter in 2000 proclaiming St. Thomas More the patron of statesmen and politicians, he cited a recent petition he had received from political leaders and bishops with ties to various cultural interests, which he took to be "a sign of the deep and widespread interest" in the request.
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Consider consulting an expert. If your petition is straightforward, like asking the pope to name a patron saint, then a letter may do. But if your petition is likely to be contentious, like asking the pope to keep a parish open that a local bishop has ordered closed, then it needs to be presented to the correct Vatican office in the correct form. For that, you'll probably need a canon-law lawyer.
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Send the petition to the Vatican. The pope's name on one line and Vatican City on another is enough to get a letter to the Vatican. But if your petition concerns a particular congregation of the Vatican government, you may want to send it directly to the bishop who heads it. Go to the Vatican's website, vatican.va, to find out the various congregations and contact information for them. You can also send an email message to the pope at benedictxvi@vatican.va, but regular mail may make it more likely you will get a response.
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Tips & Warnings
If possible, get a bishop or a bishops' conference to send your petition to the pope. A letter is more likely to be considered relatively quickly if it comes from a bishop.
If you happen to know someone who is meeting with the pope directly, ask to see if the person will bring it up during the private audience. If an idea catches the pope's imagination, he may ask aides to speed up deliberation at lower levels.
Be prepared to wait. Italian mail is notoriously slow, and Vatican mail is slower. Moreover, the Vatican receives large quantities of mail, and Vatican officials tend to work at a deliberate pace.
