First Addresses of Pope Francis
All booklets are published thanks to the generous support of the members of the Catholic Truth Society
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CATHOLIC TRUTH SOCIETY publishers to the holy see
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Contents Pope Francis - A Humble Man of Surprises with Love for the Poor . . 3 Urbi et Orbi (13 March 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Homily during the “Missa pro ecclesia” with the cardinal electors, 17 Audience with the College of Cardinals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Audience with the Media Representatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Homily during Holy Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Angelus Address (17 March 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Homily during the Inaugural Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Audience with representatives of the churches and ecclesial communities and of the different religions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Audience with the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See . . 49 Homily during Palm Sunday Mass, XXVIII World Youth Day . . 53 Angelus Address during Palm Sunday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Wednesday General Audience (27 March 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Homily during the Chrism Mass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 Good Friday: Way of the Cross at the Colosseum . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 Homily of Pope Francis during the Easter Vigil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 Urbi et Orbi (31 March 2013) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79 All rights reserved. First published 2013 by The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society, 40-46 Harleyford Road London SE11 5AY Tel: 020 7640 0042 Fax: 020 7640 0046. © 2013 Libreria Editrice Vaticana. This edition © 2013 The Incorporated Catholic Truth Society.
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Pope Francis - A Humble Man of Surprises with Love for the Poor By Peter Jennings “It’s white!” I exclaimed as I sat in the Vatican Press Office watching pictures on Vatican Television of the small temporary chimney that had been fixed on the roof of the Sistine Chapel a few days before. It was 7.06pm in Rome (6.06pm GMT) on Wednesday, 13th March 2013 (13.3.13) as the white smoke continued to billow for about seven minutes from the chimney into the dark night sky. The bells of St Peter’s Basilica rang out with the joyful news, confirming that the Cardinals had elected a new Pope. It was raining, it was a cold miserable evening in Rome but that did not deter the huge crowds who rushed from every direction into St Peter’s Square. The atmosphere was pulsing with excited expectation! At 8.12pm (7.12pm GMT) came the momentous words: “Habemus Papam Georgium Marium Cardinalem Bergoglio, qui sibi nomen imposuit Franciscum.” In English: “We have a Pope. Jorge Mario, Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Bergoglio, who has taken the name Francis.”
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Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, the French Cardinal protodeacon, aged sixty-nine, made the solemn announcement in Latin. Unfortunately it was difficult to hear him and at first nobody seemed clear as to who had been elected Pope. I was doing radio commentary for BBC Radio Five Live at this critical juncture. Then red curtains around the brightly lit window of the central Loggia of St Peter’s Basilica slowly parted and Pope Francis - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, Archbishop of Buenos Aires (the capital of Argentina), aged seventy-six - emerged to rapturous cheers and a joyful ovation from the rain-soaked crowds who packed St Peter’s Square. People from many nations chanted, “Francesco, Francesco”. It was an historic and deeply emotional moment. The Cardinal-Electors had made a bold and thrilling choice. It was a reverberating surprise. The 265th Successor of St Peter, the Supreme Pontiff, the Bishop of Rome, the Head of State of the Vatican City, and the leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics, smiled and waved. He wore the simple Pectoral Cross that he used as Bishop, Archbishop and Cardinal in Buenos Aires. He had on black shoes rather than red slippers - the traditional shoes of the Fisherman. Then something quite extraordinary happened. Speaking in Italian, Pope Francis asked everyone to pray for him before he gave the blessing. He said: “And now I
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would like to give the blessing, but first - first I ask a favour of you: before the Bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me.” Pope Francis bowed his head in prayer and a deep and profound hush descended on the vast crowds in the Square and the surrounding streets. Then he said: “Now I will give the Blessing to you and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will.” After imparting the apostolic blessing Pope Francis added: “Brothers and sisters, I leave you now. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me and until we meet again. We will see each other soon. Tomorrow I wish to go and pray to Our Lady, that she may watch over all of Rome. Good night and sleep well!” Captured the hearts of millions of people In that moment Pope Francis captured and captivated the hearts of those privileged to be present as well as those of millions of people watching on television, listening to radio and clicked in to the new media throughout the world. It was a God-given kairos, a privileged moment of grace. There is now unprecedented world-wide media interest in Pope Francis. He is the first Pope from Latin America. He is the first non-European Pope since Gregory III, who
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was born in modern-day Syria and elected in 731. He is the first Jesuit to be Pope. He is the first Pope to take the name Francis, after St Francis of Assisi. This Italian friar who died in 1226 is known as the patron saint of animals and the environment. Meanwhile, after his election, Pope Francis declined to take the waiting papal limousine and travelled with the Cardinals by bus to the Santa Martha, the guest house situated in the Vatican where all the Cardinal-Electors stayed during the Conclave. Thoughtfully, Pope Francis then telephoned his predecessor, Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI, aged eightyfive, at Castel Gandolfo. He also telephoned the Papal Nuncio in Buenos Aires to ask him to tell the bishops and priests to discourage people from coming to Rome for his Inaugural Mass on Tuesday, 19th March, the Feast of St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, but instead to donate the money to the poor. At 8.05am on the morning after his election Pope Francis travelled in a plain car for a visit to the Basilica of St Mary Major where he prayed and venerated the icon of Our Lady “Salus Populi Romani”. On the way back to the Vatican, he called unannounced at the Domus Internationalis “Paulus VI” near the famous Piazza Navona where he had stayed before entering the Conclave. The Pope greeted those working there, gathered his belongings, and paid his bill, an ordinary guest doing an ordinary thing.
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Later, during his thought-provoking homily at 5pm (4pm GMT) Mass “For The Church”, in the Sistine Chapel, that he celebrated with the Cardinals who had participated in the Conclave, Pope Francis stressed: “We can walk as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not confess Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord.” The name of Cardinal Bergoglio had not featured prominently, in fact scarcely at all, on the lists of likely candidates to succeed Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. On Monday, 11th February 2013, Pope Benedict had unexpectedly announced his resignation in a speech in Latin to the Cardinals, citing a “lack of strength of mind and body” due to his advanced age. His resignation took effect on the evening of Thursday, 28th February 2013. He is the first Pope to step down since Celestine V in 1294. Pope Francis speaks Italian, Spanish, and German and a little English, French and Portuguese. As a young boy he played football with his friends on the streets. Pope Francis enjoys football and supports San Lorenzo de Almagro, a Premier Division side based in the Boedo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. Jorge Mario Bergoglio was born on 17th December 1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, one of five children of Mario, an Italian railway worker, who together with his wife Regina, had emigrated from Piedmont in northwestern Italy after Mussolini came to power in 1922.
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The Vatican confirmed newspaper reports that Pope Francis breathes with one lung as the other had to be partially removed due to an infection when he was a youth. Pope Francis studied philosophy at the Catholic University of Buenos Aires and has a master’s degree in chemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. He was ordained for the Jesuits on 13th December 1969. He was their Provincial for Argentina from 1973 to 1979. He was a teacher of literature, psychology, philosophy and theology before his appointment as Bishop of Auca and Auxiliary of Buenos Aires, by Pope, now Blessed, John Paul II, on 20th May 1992. He was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Buenos Aires and succeeded Cardinal Antonio Quarracino on 28th February 1998. He also served as Ordinary for Eastern-rite faithful in Argentina who lack an Ordinary of their own rite. He lived a simple life and identified with the poor As Archbishop in Buenos Aires he lived a simple life and identified with the poor. He used public transport and travelled on buses rather than taxis or a chauffeured car. He lived in a small flat and cooked his own meals rather than using his luxurious official residence. He was created a Cardinal by Pope John Paul II in the Consistory of 21st February 2001. Cardinal Bergoglio was Adjunct Relator General for the 10th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops in Rome
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during October 2001. He served as President of the Bishops’ Conference of Argentina from 8th November 2005 until 8th November 2011. Pope Francis is informal, relaxed and enjoys talking to ordinary people from every background. During his first few days in office Pope Francis put behind him some of the unnecessary Vatican pomp. His spontaneity and unpredictability were a delight to watch. The election of Pope Francis, the Cardinal from far away Buenos Aires, was without doubt as dramatic and unexpected as the day - 25th January 1959 - that Pope, now Blessed John XXIII, took the world by surprise and announced his intention to convene a Council of the Church. Pope John XIII solemnly opened the Second Vatican Council, the Twenty-First Ecumenical Council in the history of the Church, in St Peter’s Basilica on 11th October 1962, attended by more than two thousand bishops from all over the world. The shutters of the Vatican, closed for centuries, were thrown wide-open with far-reaching consequences for the Church! During the intervening years there have been those at every level in the Roman Curia who have attempted to close the shutters. A thorough reform of the Curia is a top priority for Pope Francis. Interestingly, instead of reappointing the Heads and members of the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia, as well as their Secretaries, within twenty-four hours of
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his election, the Holy See announced on Saturday, 16th March, that Pope Francis had decided that they should continue, provisionally, in their respective positions. The statement added: “The Holy Father wishes to reserve time for reflection, prayer, and dialogue before any final appointment or confirmation.� Pope Francis has not worked in the Roman Curia, and has spent most of his life working among the poor in Argentina, something that greatly appealed to the Cardinal-Electors who voted for him during the Conclave. Pope Francis starts his Pontificate with a blank sheet of paper when he comes to make far-reaching new appointments. Once he has made up his mind what needs to be done for the good of the Church Pope Francis is expected to move very decisively. An early indication of the exciting new era Pope Francis has ushered in will be the Cardinal he names as his Secretary of State, the Vatican Foreign Minister and effectively CEO of the Catholic Church. During one of his helpful daily 1pm Media Briefings, Fr Federico Lombardi, SJ, Director of the Vatican Press Office, revealed that he had spoken on the telephone to the Papal Nuncio in Buenos Aires, who told him that Catholics who had been away from the Church were going to confession for the first time in years. The question many people asked me in the days following the Conclave was: How did the Cardinals come
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to elect Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, SJ? In essence the answer is simple. The Cardinals of all ages took part in ten General Congregations held in the Paul VI Audience Hall, between Monday, 4th March and Monday, 11th March 2013. A reform of the Roman Curia is a top priority Fr Lombardi, SJ, who was under the same oath of secrecy as the Cardinals, could not go into specific details but he disclosed that there were 161 interventions - some Cardinals speaking more than once - on a wide range of issues including the New Evangelization, reform of the Curia, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, Ecumenism, Interreligious Dialogue and many others. Fr Lombardi emphasised that the meetings were “frank and open.” On Sunday, 17th March, a few days after the election of Pope Francis, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, Emeritus Archbishop of Westminster, aged eighty, who knows Pope Francis well - they were created Cardinals by Pope John Paul II on the same day, 21st February 2001 - told me that during the General Congregations it was clear that the Cardinals wanted someone different as the new Pope. During the Conclave in the Sistine Chapel, the older Cardinal-Electors, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, ensured that his name emerged as a strong contender to be the new Pope.
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It may be strongly inferred that he had received a critical level of support by the third ballot on Wednesday morning. In the fourth ballot, after lunch, Cardinal Bergoglio must have consolidated this position and by the fifth ballot the Argentinian reached and surpassed the necessary seventy-seven votes - two-thirds - and was elected Pope. The scenario that the name of Cardinal Bergoglio “emerged” was confirmed to me on Thursday evening, 14th March, during a reception hosted by H E John McCarthy, the Australian Ambassador to the Holy See, at the Australian Embassy to the Holy See. The name of Cardinal Bergoglio emerged I had the opportunity to speak to Cardinal Óscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, SDB, Archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, aged seventy, who knows Pope Francis well and was created a Cardinal on the same day. Asked, if he was able to say, without breaking his oath of secrecy, when the Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel decided to vote for a Cardinal from Latin America he replied that there had been a scattering of names during the first and second ballots but that the name of Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, SJ, then “emerged”. Meanwhile, on the morning of Tuesday, 12th March, after the Cardinals had celebrated the Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, I spoke to Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Archbishop
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of Abuja, Nigeria, aged sixty-nine, a Cardinal-Elector, in St Peter’s Square. I suggested that the Cardinals might be in the Sistine Chapel all week. He smiled and replied: “I think we have done enough work.” Shortly afterwards I spoke to Cardinal Christian Tumi, Emeritus Archbishop of Douala, Cameroon, aged eightythree and asked him when he thought the Cardinals would elect the new Pope. Cardinal Tumi replied without hesitation: “It will be tomorrow” (Wednesday). And so it proved. The first major public Audience given by Pope Francis at the start of his Pontificate was to members of the world’s media. At 11am on the morning of Saturday, 16th March, more than six thousand accredited media personnel, in Rome permanently or just there for the Conclave, stood as one and warmly applauded Pope Francis as he entered the Paul VI Audience Hall. These included hardened hacks, often so critical, negative and dismissive of the Catholic Church. During his address Pope Francis explained why he had chosen the name Francis of Assisi and added: “How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!” Some media outlets have already carried stories about accusations made against Pope Francis while he was Jesuit Provincial in Argentina during rule of the military junta from 1976 to 1983, that he was complicit in the kidnapping and torture of two Jesuit priests. Fr Lombardi, SJ, gave
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an immediate and forthright rebuttal, and stressed that the accusations were “clearly and firmly denied.� The Catholic Church faces many difficult challenges in the weeks, months and years ahead. There will be storms as well as moments of great joy and calm but things will never be the same again. Pope Francis has consistently spoken out with passion on behalf of the poor, the outcasts and the voiceless in society. In the first few days of his Pontificate he has already encouraged Catholics to live the Gospel message of love for the poor rather than just talking about it. This is going to change us, as individuals, families and communities. With the prayers, support, encouragement and goodwill of millions of ordinary Catholics throughout the world, the Holy Father, Pope Francis, the simple Shepherd chosen by God, will lead and teach us to embrace the New Evangelization and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ with humility and boldness in a way that is relevant and personally involving to those searching for real meaning and purpose in their lives today. Rome, Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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Urbi et Orbi St Peter’s Square 13 March 2013
Brothers and sisters, good evening! You know that it was the duty of the Conclave to give Rome a Bishop. It seems that my brother Cardinals have gone to the ends of the earth to get one... but here we are... I thank you for your welcome. The diocesan community of Rome now has its Bishop. Thank you! And first of all, I would like to offer a prayer for our Bishop Emeritus, Benedict XVI. Let us pray together for him, that the Lord may bless him and that Our Lady may keep him. Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory Be... And now, we take up this journey: Bishop and People. This journey of the Church of Rome which presides in charity over all the Churches. A journey of fraternity, of love, of trust among us. Let us always pray for one another. Let us pray for the whole world, that there may be a great spirit of fraternity. It is my hope for you that this journey of the Church, which we start today, and in which my
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Cardinal Vicar, here present, will assist me, will be fruitful for the evangelisation of this most beautiful city. And now I would like to give the blessing, but first - first I ask a favour of you: before the Bishop blesses his people, I ask you to pray to the Lord that he will bless me: the prayer of the people asking the blessing for their Bishop. Let us make, in silence, this prayer: your prayer over me. [...] Now I will give the Blessing to you and to the whole world, to all men and women of good will. Blessing Brothers and sisters, I leave you now. Thank you for your welcome. Pray for me and until we meet again. We will see each other soon. Tomorrow I wish to go and pray to Our Lady, that she may watch over all of Rome. Good night and sleep well!
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Homily during the “Missa pro ecclesia” with the cardinal electors Sistine Chapel 14 March 2013
In these three readings, I see a common element: that of movement. In the first reading, it is the movement of a journey; in the second reading, the movement of building the Church; in the third, in the Gospel, the movement involved in professing the faith. Journeying, building, professing. Journeying. “O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord” (Is 2:5). This is the first thing that God said to Abraham: Walk in my presence and live blamelessly. Journeying: our life is a journey, and when we stop moving, things go wrong. Always journeying, in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with the blamelessness that God asked of Abraham in his promise. Building. Building the Church. We speak of stones: stones are solid; but living stones, stones anointed by the Holy Spirit. Building the Church, the Bride of Christ, on the cornerstone that is the Lord himself. This is another kind of movement in our lives: building.
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Thirdly, professing. We can walk as much as we want, we can build many things, but if we do not profess Jesus Christ, things go wrong. We may become a charitable NGO, but not the Church, the Bride of the Lord. When we are not walking, we stop moving. When we are not building on the stones, what happens? The same thing that happens to children on the beach when they build sandcastles: everything is swept away, there is no solidity. When we do not profess Jesus Christ, the saying of Léon Bloy comes to mind: “Anyone who does not pray to the Lord prays to the devil.” When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness. Journeying, building, professing. But things are not so straightforward, because in journeying, building, professing, there can sometimes be jolts, movements that are not properly part of the journey: movements that pull us back. We cannot progress without the Cross This Gospel continues with a situation of a particular kind. The same Peter who professed Jesus Christ, now says to him: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. I will follow you, but let us not speak of the Cross. That has nothing to do with it. I will follow you on other terms, but without the Cross. When we journey without the Cross, when we build without the Cross, when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord, we are
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