Papal Notes - "God Bless You"

"In most English-speaking countries, it is polite to respond to another person's sneeze by saying "God bless you." Though incantations of good luck have accompanied sneezes across disparate cultures for thousands of years (all largely tied to the belief that sneezes expelled evil spirits), our particular custom began in the sixth century A.D. by explicit order of Pope Gregory the Great.

A terrible pestilence was spreading through Italy at the time. The first symptom was severe, chronic sneezing, and this was often

quickly followed by death.

Pope Gregory urged the healthy to pray for the sick, and ordered that light-hearted responses to sneezes such as "May you enjoy good health" be replaced by the more urgent "God bless you!" If a person sneezed when alone, the Pope recommended that they say a prayer for themselves in the form of "God help me!" LiveScience

Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro;

and went up, and stretched himself upon him:

and the child sneezed seven times,

and the child opened his eyes.

2 Kings 4:35

..No record here of saying "God Bless You" in Scripture due to a sneeze