Pope Francis at Mass: I weep for Christians still crucified today
(Vatican Radio) In his homily at morning Mass in Casa Santa Martha Friday, Pope Francis
lamented that in today’s world there are still "masters of conscience" [thought police
– ed] and in some countries you can still go to jail for possessing a Gospel or wearing
a Crucifix. He also confessed to those present that he has wept at the news that
some Christians were crucified, because still today there are people who kill others
in God’s name. Emer McCarthy reports:
The Pope's
homily drew from the Gospel of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the
reading from the Acts of the Apostles, in which Christ’s disciples are flogged by
the Sanhedrin. Pope Francis proposed three icons: the first is Jesus’ love for people,
his attention to peoples’ problems. He said the Lord is not concerned with how many
people follow him, he would “never even thinks of taking a census" to see if "the
Church has grown ... no! He speaks, preaches, loves, accompanies, travels on the path
with people, meek and humble". He speaks with authority, that is, with "the power
of love".
The second icon is the "jealousy" of the religious authorities of
the time: "They couldn’t stand the fact that people followed Jesus! They couldn’t
stand it! They were jealous. This is a really bad attitude to have. Jealousy and envy,
and we know that the father of envy" is "the devil". It was through his envy that
evil came into the world". Pope Francis continued: "These people knew who Jesus was:
they knew! These people were the same who had paid the guard to say that the disciples
had stolen Christ’s body!".
"They had paid to silence the truth. People
can be really evil sometimes! Because when we pay to hide the truth, we are [committing]
a very great evil. And that's why people knew who they were. They would not follow
them, but they had to tolerate them because they had authority: the authority of the
cult, the authority of the ecclesiastical discipline at that time, the authority of
the people ... and the people followed. Jesus said that they weighed people down with
oppressive weights and made them carry them on their shoulders. These people cannot
tolerate the meekness of Jesus, they cannot tolerate the meekness of the Gospel, they
cannot tolerate love. And they pay out of envy, out of hate".
During the
gathering of the Sanhedrin there is a "wise man", Gamaliel, who asks the religious
leaders to free the apostles. Thus, the Pope insists, there are these first two icons:
Jesus who is moved to see people "without a shepherd" and the religious authorities
...
"These, with their political maneuvering, with their ecclesiastical
maneuvers to continue to dominate the people ... And so, they bring forth the apostles,
after this wise man had spoken, the called the apostles and had them flogged and ordered
them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Then they freed them. ‘We have to do something,
we will give them a sound hiding and send them on their way! . Unjust! but they did
it. They were the masters of conscience [thought police], and felt they had the power
to do so. Masters of conscience ... Even in today's world , there are so many".
Then
Pope Francis confessed: “I cried when I saw reports on the news of Christians crucified
in a certain country, that is not Christian. Still today - he pointed out – there
are these people who kill and persecute, in the name of God. Still today, "we see
many who" like the apostles “rejoice that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor
in Christ’s name". This - he said - "is the third icon today. The Joy of witness".
"First icon: Jesus with people, his love, the path that He has taught us,
which we should follow. The second icon: the hypocrisy of these religious leaders
of the people, who had people imprisoned with these many commandments, with this cold,
hard legality, and who also paid to hide the truth. Third icon: the joy of the Christian
martyrs, the joy of so many of our brothers and sisters who have felt this joy in
history, this joy that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Christ’s name.
And today there are still so many! Just think that in some countries, you can go to
jail for just carrying a Gospel. You may not wear a crucifix or you will be fined.
But the heart rejoices. The three icons: let us look at them today. This is part of
our history of salvation".