Pope Francis: 'popes of 20th century' witness, teach of God's mercy
(Vatican Radio) The Catholic Church's two newest saints were "popes of the twentieth
century" and "were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Christ," said Pope Francis
on Sunday.
"They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they
were not overwhelmed by them," Pope Francis said in his homily (offered below).
"For them, God was more powerful; faith was more powerful -- faith in Jesus Christ
the Redeemer of man and the Lord of history."
Earlier in the Mass, also attended
by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, Pope Francis read the formal proclamation of sainthood
during the canonization rite. The crowd roared with applause upon hearing their names
read in Latin in the official proclamation.
Hundreds of thousands of people
from around the world have gathered in and around St Peter's Square for the canonization
Mass for Saints John XXIII and John Paul II. Thousands more pilgrims gathered in squares
around the city to watch the Mass on big screens. Some 100 heads of state and governments
were also in attendance.
Pope Francis described Saint John XXIII as "the pope
of openness to the Spirit" and Saint John Paul II as "the pope of the family", each
description followed by applause.
Pope Francis also underlined the deep faith
of his two predecessors: "These were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia
of the Holy Spirit, and they bore witness before the Church and the world to God’s
goodness and mercy."
The two new saints "teach us to enter ever more deeply
into the mystery of divine mercy," he concluded.
At the time of publication,
the Mass was ongoing. Updates to follow.
Read the full text of Pope
Francis' homily below:
Homily of His Holiness Pope Francis Mass
of Canonization, 27 April 2014
At the heart of this Sunday, which concludes
the Octave of Easter and which John Paul II wished to dedicate to Divine Mercy, are
the glorious wounds of the risen Jesus.
He had already shown those wounds
when he first appeared to the Apostles on the very evening of that day following the
Sabbath, the day of the resurrection. But, as we heard, Thomas was not there that
evening, and when the others told him that they had seen the Lord, he replied that
unless he himself saw and touched those wounds, he would not believe. A week later,
Jesus appeared once more to the disciples gathered in the Upper Room, and Thomas was
present; Jesus turned to him and told him to touch his wounds. Whereupon that man,
so straightforward and accustomed to testing everything personally, knelt before Jesus
with the words: “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:28).
The wounds of Jesus are
a scandal, a stumbling block for faith, yet they are also the test of faith. That
is why on the body of the risen Christ the wounds never pass away: they remain, for
those wounds are the enduring sign of God’s love for us. They are essential for believing
in God. Not for believing that God exists, but for believing that God is love, mercy
and faithfulness. Saint Peter, quoting Isaiah, writes to Christians: “by his wounds
you have been healed” (1 Pet 2:24, cf. Is 53:5).
Saint John XXIII and Saint
John Paul II were not afraid to look upon the wounds of Jesus, to touch his torn hands
and his pierced side. They were not ashamed of the flesh of Christ, they were not
scandalized by him, by his cross; they did not despise the flesh of their brother
(cf. Is 58:7), because they saw Jesus in every person who suffers and struggles. These
were two men of courage, filled with the parrhesia of the Holy Spirit, and they bore
witness before the Church and the world to God’s goodness and mercy.
They were
priests, bishops and popes of the twentieth century. They lived through the tragic
events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more
powerful; faith was more powerful – faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer of man and
the Lord of history; the mercy of God, shown by those five wounds, was more powerful;
and more powerful too was the closeness of Mary our Mother.
In these two men,
who looked upon the wounds of Christ and bore witness to his mercy, there dwelt a
living hope and an indescribable and glorious joy (1 Pet 1:3,8). The hope and the
joy which the risen Christ bestows on his disciples, the hope and the joy which nothing
and no one can take from them. The hope and joy of Easter, forged in the crucible
of self-denial, self-emptying, utter identification with sinners, even to the point
of disgust at the bitterness of that chalice. Such were the hope and the joy which
these two holy popes had received as a gift from the risen Lord and which they in
turn bestowed in abundance upon the People of God, meriting our eternal gratitude.
This hope and this joy were palpable in the earliest community of believers,
in Jerusalem, as we read in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 2:42-47), as we heard in
the second reading. It was a community which lived the heart of the Gospel, love and
mercy, in simplicity and fraternity.
This is also the image of the Church
which the Second Vatican Council set before us. John XXIII and John Paul II cooperated
with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her pristine
features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries.
Let us not forget that it is the saints who give direction and growth to the Church.
In convening the Council, John XXIII showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit.
He let himself be led and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader, led by
the Spirit. This was his great service to the Church; he was the pope of openness
to the Spirit.
In his own service to the People of God, John Paul II was the
pope of the family. He himself once said that he wanted to be remembered as the pope
of the family. I am particularly happy to point this out as we are in the process
of journeying with families towards the Synod on the family. It is surely a journey
which, from his place in heaven, he guides and sustains.
May these two new
saints and shepherds of God’s people intercede for the Church, so that during this
two-year journey toward the Synod she may be open to the Holy Spirit in pastoral service
to the family. May both of them teach us not to be scandalized by the wounds of Christ
and to enter ever more deeply into the mystery of divine mercy, which always hopes
and always forgives, because it always loves.