QUAERITUR: During “Sede Vacante” what must priests say in the Eucharistic Prayer now that there is no Pope?

Posted on 1 March 2013 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Since the former Pope is alive - wow, that’s strange to write – priests and bishops can mention Benedict XVI’ name during the Memento of the Living in the Roman Canon.
Father might say: “Memento, Domine, famulorum famularumque tuarum, Benedicti decimi sexti, et N. … omnium circumstantium…”
Remember that the name or names inserted here are in the genitive, because of Memento.
_________
I received notes from priests asking about what they should say in the Roman Canon, now that there is no Pope. As you know, we mention his name and the name of the local bishop, during the Eucharistic Prayer.
The answer depends on where you are.
I’ll use the Roman Canon as the standard… because that’s what it is!
Most priests around the world, when there is no Pope, must say (the underlined part needs your full attention):

[...] in primis, quæ tibi offérimus pro Ecclésia tua sancta cathólica: quam pacificáre, custodíre, adunáre et régere dignéris toto orbe terrarum: et Antístite nostro N. et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

You see, before that “et Antístite nostro N.“, the part about “una cum famulo tuo Papa nostro N.” is removed. (N. is for “Nomen… Name”.)
If you are in Rome, you have to remember that the Pope is the local bishop, and so you cut out the part about the local bishop also, together with omitting the prayer for the Pope. That means, during “Sede Vacante” you drop even more text:

…in primis, quæ tibi offérimus pro Ecclésia tua sancta cathólica: quam pacificáre, custodíre, adunáre et régere dignéris toto orbe terrarum: et ómnibus orthodóxis, atque cathólicæ et apostólicæ fídei cultóribus.

See the difference?
A priest friend send me a pic of how he has used post-it notes to block out the text to be omitted. Believe me! It is very easy to plow right along and, from habit, say the former Pope’s name… even the name of some Pope from years ago. I ran into an old codger who slipped and said “for Paul, our Pope”. It happens!

UPDATE:
I saw on the site of Romanitas Press a great post about what to do in this period. It gives also directions for bishops and their recitation of the Roman Canon.
He provided some nicely formatted text which could be printed and trimmed and put in a missal or hand missal.