During the homily, the dean of the College of Cardinals highlighted the main aspects of Francis’s work and personality.

On Saturday, faithful from around the world gathered in St. Peter’s Square to bid farewell to Pope Francis. At 10:00 a.m., Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re began the funeral Mass in a ceremony marked by simplicity and closeness, faithful to the Pontiff’s legacy.

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The Italian cardinal, who is the current dean of the College of Cardinals, highlighted the main aspects of Pope Francis’s work and personality. The full text of the homily is presented below.

“In this majestic St. Peter’s Square, where Pope Francis celebrated the Eucharist so many times and presided over great gatherings throughout these twelve years, we are gathered in prayer around his mortal remains with saddened hearts, yet sustained by the certainties of faith, which assure us that human existence does not end in the tomb but in the Father’s house, in a life of happiness that will know no end.

On behalf of the College of Cardinals, I sincerely thank you all for your presence. With great intensity of feeling, I extend a respectful greeting and profound gratitude to the Heads of State, Heads of Government, and official delegations who have come from numerous countries to express their affection, veneration, and esteem for the Pope who has left us.

The massive outpouring of affection and participation we have witnessed in these days, following his passing from this earth to eternity, shows us how deeply Pope Francis’s intense pontificate touched minds and hearts.

The last image we have of him, which will remain in our eyes and hearts, is from this past Sunday, Easter Sunday, when Pope Francis, despite serious health issues, wished to impart his blessing from the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, and then descended into the square to greet the great multitude gathered for the Easter Mass from the open popemobile.

Through our prayer, we now wish to entrust the soul of our beloved Pontiff to God, that He may grant him eternal happiness in the bright and glorious horizon of His immense love.

We are illuminated and guided by the Gospel passage in which the very voice of Christ resounds as He questions the first of the Apostles: “Peter, do you love me more than these?” Peter’s response was immediate and sincere: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” And Jesus entrusted him with the great mission: “Feed my sheep” (cf. Jn 21:16-17). This has been the constant task of Peter and his successors, a service of love modeled after Christ, the Lord and Master, who “came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mk 10:45).

Despite his final frailty and suffering, Pope Francis chose to walk this path of self-giving until the last day of his earthly life. He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the Good Shepherd, who loved His sheep to the point of laying down His own life for them. He did so with strength and serenity, remaining close to his flock, the Church of God, and recalling Jesus’ words quoted by the Apostle Paul: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

When Cardinal Bergoglio, on March 13, 2013, was elected by the Conclave to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, he carried on his shoulders years of religious life within the Society of Jesus and, above all, was enriched by 21 years of pastoral ministry in the Archdiocese of Buenos Aires, first as Auxiliary Bishop, then as Coadjutor, and later, especially, as Archbishop.

The decision to take the name Francis immediately appeared to be a programmatic and stylistic choice, with which he wished to project his Pontificate, drawing inspiration from the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi.

He preserved his temperament and pastoral leadership style and immediately imprinted the governance of the Church with his strong personality, establishing direct contact with people and nations, desiring to be close to everyone, with special attention to those in difficulty, giving himself without measure, particularly for the least of the earth, the marginalized.

He was a Pope among the people with a heart open to all. Furthermore, he was a Pope attentive to the new realities emerging in society and to the stirrings of the Holy Spirit within the Church.

With his characteristic vocabulary and language rich in images and metaphors, he always sought to illuminate the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel, offering answers in the light of faith and encouraging Christians to live through the challenges and contradictions of these changing times, which he often described as a “change of epoch.”

He was spontaneous and informal in addressing everyone, even those distant from the Church. Filled with human warmth and profoundly sensitive to the dramas of today’s world, Pope Francis truly shared in the concerns, sufferings, and hopes of our era of globalization, seeking to console and encourage with a message capable of reaching people’s hearts in a direct and immediate way.

His charisma of welcome and attentiveness, combined with a way of acting attuned to today’s sensitivities, touched hearts, seeking to awaken moral and spiritual energies.

The primacy of evangelization was the guide of his Pontificate, spreading the joy of the Gospel — the title of his first Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium — with a clear missionary imprint. A joy that fills the hearts of all those who trust in God with confidence and hope.

The underlying thread of his mission was also the conviction that the Church is a house for all — a house whose doors are always open. He often invoked the image of the Church as a “field hospital” after battle, with many wounded; a Church determined and eager to take charge of people’s problems and the great evils that tear apart the contemporary world; a Church able to stoop down before every person, regardless of creed or condition, to heal their wounds.

Countless were his gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and displaced persons. His insistence on acting on behalf of the poor was also constant.

It is significant that Pope Francis’s first trip was to Lampedusa, the island symbolizing the drama of migration with thousands of people drowned at sea. In the same spirit were his trip to Lesbos, alongside the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Archbishop of Athens, and the celebration of Mass at the Mexico–United States border during his trip to Mexico.

Of his 47 exhausting apostolic journeys, his 2021 visit to Iraq will stand out in history — a journey made despite every risk. That difficult apostolic visit was a balm on the open wounds of the Iraqi people, who had suffered so greatly from the inhuman actions of ISIS. It was also an important journey for interreligious dialogue, another significant dimension of his pastoral work. With his 2024 apostolic journey to four countries in Asia-Oceania, Pope Francis reached “the most remote periphery of the world.”

Pope Francis always placed at the center the Gospel of mercy, constantly emphasizing that God never tires of forgiving us: He forgives always, regardless of the situation of the one who asks forgiveness and returns to the right path.

He wanted an Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, underlining that mercy “is the heart of the Gospel.” Mercy and the joy of the Gospel are two key concepts of Pope Francis.

In contrast to what he called “the culture of waste,” he spoke of a culture of encounter and solidarity. The theme of fraternity ran vibrantly throughout his Pontificate. In the Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, he sought to rekindle a worldwide aspiration to fraternity, because we are all children of the same Father who is in heaven. He strongly and often reminded us that we all belong to the same human family.

In 2019, during his trip to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis signed a document on “Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together,” affirming the common fatherhood of God.

Addressing men and women around the world, with the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, he drew attention to our duties and shared responsibility for our common home. “No one is saved alone.”

In the face of the outbreak of so many wars over these years, with inhuman horrors and countless deaths and destructions, Pope Francis continuously raised his voice, imploring peace and inviting reason, honest negotiation to find possible solutions, because war, he said, is nothing but death for people, destruction of homes, hospitals, and schools. War always leaves the world worse than it was before: it is a painful and tragic defeat for all.

“Build bridges, not walls” — an exhortation he repeated many times — and his service to the faith as the successor of the Apostle Peter was always inseparably linked to service to humanity in all its dimensions.

In spiritual union with all of Christendom, we are here, numerous, to pray for Pope Francis, that God may welcome him into the immensity of His love.

Pope Francis would often conclude his speeches and encounters by saying: “Please do not forget to pray for me.”

Dear Pope Francis, now we ask you to pray for us and to bless the Church, bless Rome, bless the whole world from heaven, as you did this past Sunday from the balcony of this Basilica in one final embrace of the People of God — and ideally, of all humanity seeking the truth with a sincere heart and keeping high the torch of hope.”

teleSUR/ JF

Source: EFE – Vatican News – WioNews

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