Typically the Pope gives mass on the last Sunday of the month. Does anyone know how to find out if he will or will not? Is there a schedule? My husband and I will be in Rome on July 31st and would be thrilled if that were the case.

I'm not sure where you got the idea that the Pope celebrates a public Mass on the last Sunday of the month, but unless it is a special feast day or he is naming new saints or beatifieds, he won't be conducting a public Mass. On every Sunday at noon, the Pope blesses the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square from his window in the Papal Palace. Pope Benedict XVI did that for the first time today.

The Pope doesn't celebrate public Masses very often. If he is 'at home' on a Sunday, he normally says Mass in his private chapel for the Vatican household. As Grinisa sys, he only celebrates publicly on certain occasions: major feasts and special gatherings, such as canonisations, beatifications and consistories (appointing new cardinals). You need tickets to attend all these Masses, and as you might expect they are hard to get, but if it's outdoors, there is standing room at the back of the piazza for those who queue up early enough. The service is usually relayed on giant screens.
Vatican site www.vatican.va usually gives Pope's diary under 'Liturgy'.

Check the santasusanna.org site. Maybe you can get tix for the papal audience given Wednesday mornings, if that Sunday does not work outfor you.

There's an article in today's Boston Globe that says that it appears that the Pope Benedict is going to continue with tradition started by Pope John Paul and appear at his window to bless the crowd in St. Peter's Square on Sundays. He did so yesterday.

http://www.boston.com/news/world/eur...are_tradition/