Roman Catholics have many more benedictions , usually with many candles ( even poor churches have at least ten ) , than Protestants , who only have a few simple benedictions . Such benedictions have been regularly practiced both in the Christian East and West . At the time of the Reformation , Protestants abandoned many of the benedictions of the Roman Catholic Church , including the Apostolic Benediction made by the Pope and his delegates , the `` last blessing '' of the dying , and virtually all benedictions of inanimate objects .