Q: Is it absolutely necessary during Benediction for the presider to wear a cope or use the humeral veil? Thank you.
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A: The official ritual is found in the book Holy Communion and Worship of the Eucharist Outside Mass, beginning at paragraph 82.
Paragraph 92 says this: “The minister, if he is a priest or deacon, should vest in an alb, or a surplice over a cassock, and a stole…. The priest or deacon should wear a white cope and humeral veil to give the blessing at the end of adoration, when the exposition takes place with the monstrance.”