(Vatican Radio) The newly-elected Pope Francis celebrated Mass with the College of
Cardinals on Thursday, in the Sistine Chapel. As the clock struck 5 in the afternoon,
the choir in the Sistine began to intone the Tu es Petrus, and the new Bishop of Rome
processed into the chapel, preceded by the College that the evening before elected
him Peter’s Successor. The first reading was from the Book of the Prophet, Isaiah:
“And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the
top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow
unto it.” Listen:
The Responsorial
Psalm was taken from Psalm 97: “Let us sing to the LORD a new song”. The Second Reading
was from the 1st Letter of St Peter: “you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation.” The Gospel reading was from St Matthew: “You are Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it.” In his Homily, Pope Francis noted the common theme of movement that ties
the three readings together: moving forward, building, professing.
“We walk
in the light of the Lord,” said Pope Francis. “Our lives are a journey – when we stop,
there is something wrong.” He went on to say that, in our task of building up the
Church, Christ is and must be for us the cornerstone. Pope Francis then spoke of the
fundamental need to proclaim Christ crucified, saying that, if we walk without the
Cross, if we build without the Cross, if we proclaim Christ without the Cross, then
we are not disciples of Jesus.