Pope Leo XIV on Monday presided over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in suffrage for the late Pope Francis and for deceased cardinals and bishops.
One day after celebrating Mass for all the faithful departed at Verano Cemetery in Rome, the Holy Father led the Church’s commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year.
In the presence of members of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholic faithful, the pope said his first Mass commemorating the Church’s deceased cardinals and bishops had the “savor of Christian hope” because their ministry had guided many “on the path of the Gospel.”
“Dear friends, our beloved Pope Francis and our brother cardinals and bishops for whom we offer the Eucharistic sacrifice today have lived, witnessed, and taught this new paschal hope the Lord called them to,” Leo said in his Nov. 3 homily.
“The Lord called them and established them as shepherds of his Church,” he said. “Through their ministry they — to use the language of the Book of Daniel — have led many to righteousness.”
Though saddened by their deaths, Leo said their guidance and teaching helped transmit Christ’s “wisdom, justice, sanctification, and redemption” to the Church’s faithful spread throughout the world.
“We are saddened, of course, when a loved one leaves us,” he told the congregation. “As Christians, we are called to bear with Christ the weight of these crosses.”
“But we are not saddened like those without hope, because even the most tragic death cannot prevent Our Lord from welcoming our soul into his arms and transforming our mortal body, even the most disfigured, into the image of his glorious body,” he said.
Entrusting the souls of Pope Francis and the deceased prelates to God, Leo prayed for their intercession and “spiritual encouragement” for Christians “who are still pilgrims on earth.”
Using the Book of Psalms, Leo at the end of his homily prayed: “Hope in God; I will still praise him, the salvation of my face and my God.”
This article was originally published by CNA.
