In this majestic square of San Pietro, in which Pope Francis has many times celebrated the Eucharist and chaired great encounters over the course of these 12 years, we are collected in prayer around his mortal remains with the sad heart, but supported by the certainties of the faith, which assures us that human existence does not end in the grave, but in the father’s house in a life of happiness that will not know sunset.
On behalf of the College of Cardinals I cordially thank everyone for your presence. With the intensity of feeling I address a deferent greeting and lively thanks to the heads of state, to the heads of government and to the official delegations that came from numerous countries to express affection, veneration and esteem for the pope who left us.
The plebiscite of manifestations of affection and participation, which we have seen in these days after its transition from this land to eternity, tells us how Pope Francis’ intense pontificate touched the minds and hearts. His last image, which will remain in our eyes and in our hearts, is that of last Sunday, solemnity of Easter, when Pope Francis, despite the serious health problems, wanted to give us the blessing from the balcony of the Basilica of San Pietro and then went down to this square to greet the whole large crowd for the Easter Mass from the Papamobile discovery.
With our prayer we now want to entrust the soul of the beloved pontiff to God, because he grant him the eternal happiness in the bright and glorious horizon of his immense love. He illuminates and guides us the page of the Gospel, in which the very voice of Christ was resounded, who appealed the first of the apostles: “Pietro, do you love me more than these?”. And Peter’s answer had been ready and sincere: «Lord, you know everything; You know that I love you! ». And Jesus entrusted him with the great mission: “Pasci my sheep”. This will be the constant task of Pietro and his successors, a love of love in the wake of the master and Lord Christ who “had not come to be served, but to serve and give his life in redemption for everyone” (Mc.10,45).
Despite his ending fragility and suffering, Pope Francis has chosen to travel this path of donation until the last day of his earthly life. He followed in the footsteps of his Lord, the good shepherd, who loved his sheep until he gives them his own life. And he did it with force and serenity, close to his flock, the Church of God, mindful of the phrase of Jesus cited by the apostle Paul: “There is more joy in giving than in receiving” (acts, 20.35).
When Card. Bergoglio, on March 13, 2013, was elected by the Conclave to succeed Pope Benedict XVI, had the years of religious life behind Jesus and above all was enriched by the experience of 21 years of pastoral ministry in the archdiocese of Buenos Aires, first as auxiliary, then as a coadjutor and later, above all, as Archbishop. The decision to take the name Francesco immediately appeared as the choice of a program and a style on which he wanted to set up his pontificate, trying to be inspired by the spirit of St. Francis of Assisi. He retained his temperament and his form of pastoral guide, and immediately gave the imprint of his strong personality in the government of the Church, establishing direct contact with individual people and with populations, eager to be close to everyone, with strong attention to people in difficulty, spending themselves without measure, in particular for the last of the earth, the marginalized.
He was a pope in the midst of people with an open heart to everyone. He was also a Pope attentive to the new that emerged in society and how much the Holy Spirit aroused in the Church. With the vocabulary that was characteristic of him and with his language full of images and metaphors, he has always tried to illuminate the problems of our time with the wisdom of the Gospel, offering an answer to the light of faith and encouraging to live the challenges and contradictions of these years of changes from Christians, who loved to qualify “change of era”. He had great spontaneity and an informal way of contacting everyone, even to people far from the Church.
Rich in human warmth and deeply sensitive to today’s dramas, Pope Francis really shared the anxieties, suffering and hopes of our time of globalization, and has donated to comfort and encourage with a message capable of reaching the hearts of people directly and immediately. His charisma of welcome and listening, combined with a way of behaving proper to the sensitivity of the day today, has touched hearts, trying to awaken moral and spiritual energies.
The primacy of evangelization was the guidance of his pontificate, spreading, with a clear missionary imprint, the joy of the Gospel, which was the title of his first apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium”. A joy that full of trust and hope the heart of all those who rely on God. The guiding thread of his mission was also the belief that the Church is a house for everyone; A house with always open doors. He has repeatedly resorted to the image of the Church as a “field hospital” after a battle in which there were many injured; A church eager to take care with determination of the problems of people and great worries that tear the contemporary world; A church capable of bending over every man, beyond all creeds or condition, taking care of the wounds.
Countless are his gestures and exhortations in favor of refugees and refugees. The insistence in operating in favor of the poor was also constant. It is significant that Pope Francis’ first trip was the one in Lampedusa, an island symbol of the drama of emigration with thousands of people drowned at sea. In the same line was also the trip to Lesbo, together with the ecumenical patriarch and the archbishop of Athens, as well as the celebration of a mass on the border between Mexico and the United States, on the occasion of his trip to Mexico. Of his 47 tiring apostolic journeys he will remain in history in particular that in Iraq in 2021, completed by challenging all risk. That difficult apostolic visit was a conditioner on the open wounds of the Iraqi population, which had suffered so much for the inhuman work of ISIS. This was an important journey also for interreligious dialogue, another relevant dimension of his pastoral work. With the Apostolic Visit of 2024 to four nations of Asia-Oceania, the Pope reached “the most peripheral suburbs in the world”.
Pope Francis has always put the Gospel of Mercy in the center, repeatedly emphasizing that God does not get tired of forgiving us: he always forgives whatever the situation of those who ask for forgiveness and returns to the straight path. He wanted the extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy, highlighting that mercy is “the heart of the Gospel”. Mercy and joy of the Gospel are two keywords of Pope Francis. In contrast to what he called “the culture of waste”, he spoke of the culture of the meeting and solidarity. The theme of fraternity has crossed all its pontificate with vibrant tones. In the encyclical letter “Brothers all” wanted to revive a world aspiration to the fraternity, because all children of the same father who is in heaven. Strength has often remembered that we all belong to the same human family.
In 2019, during the journey to the United Arab Emirates, Pope Francis signed a document on the “human brotherhood for world peace and common coexistence”, recalling the common authorship of God. By addressing men and women around the world, with the encyclical letter “Laudato yes'” has drawn attention to duties and on the co -responsibility towards the common house. “Nobody saves himself.” Faced with the infuriating of the many wars of these years, with inhuman horrors and with countless deaths and destruction, Pope Francis has incessantly raised his voice by implementing peace and inviting to reasonableness, to the honest negotiation to find possible solutions, because the war – he said – is only the death of people, destruction of houses, hospitals and schools. The war always leaves the worst world of how previously it was: it is always a painful and tragic defeat for everyone. “Building bridges and non -walls” is an exhortation that he has repeatedly repeated and the service of faith as successor of the apostle Pietro has always been joined to the service of man in all its dimensions.
In spiritual union with all Christianity we are numerous here to pray for Pope Francis so that God welcomes him in the immensity of his love. Pope Francis used to conclude his speeches and meetings saying: “Don’t forget to pray for me”. Dear Pope Francis, now we ask you to pray for us and that from the sky you bless the Church, blessing Rome, bless the whole world, like last Sunday you did from the balcony of this basilica in a last embrace with all the people of God, but ideally also with humanity who seeks truth with a sincere heart and keeps the torch of hope high.
