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Pope Francis’ Inauguration Homily

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HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
INAUGURATION OF THE PETRINE MINISTRY
ST PETER’S SQUARE
19 MARCH 2013

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I thank the Lord that I can celebrate this Holy Mass for the inauguration of my Petrine ministry on the solemnity of Saint Joseph, the spouse of the Virgin Mary and the patron of the universal Church. It is a significant coincidence, and it is also the name-day of my venerable predecessor: we are close to him with our prayers, full of affection and gratitude.

I offer a warm greeting to my brother cardinals and bishops, the priests, deacons, men and women religious, and all the lay faithful. I thank the representatives of the other Churches and ecclesial Communities, as well as the representatives of the Jewish community and the other religious communities, for their presence. My cordial greetings go to the Heads of State and Government, the members of the official Delegations from many countries throughout the world, and the Diplomatic Corps.

In the Gospel we heard that “Joseph did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took Mary as his wife” (Mt 1:24). These words already point to the mission which God entrusts to Joseph: he is to be the custos, the protector. The protector of whom? Of Mary and Jesus; but this protection is then extended to the Church, as Blessed John Paul II pointed out: “Just as Saint Joseph took loving care of Mary and gladly dedicated himself to Jesus Christ’s upbringing, he likewise watches over and protects Christ’s Mystical Body, the Church, of which the Virgin Mary is the exemplar and model” (Redemptoris Custos, 1).

How does Joseph exercise his role as protector? Discreetly, humbly and silently, but with an unfailing presence and utter fidelity, even when he finds it hard to understand. From the time of his betrothal to Mary until the finding of the twelve-year-old Jesus in the Temple of Jerusalem, he is there at every moment with loving care. As the spouse of Mary, he is at her side in good times and bad, on the journey to Bethlehem for the census and in the anxious and joyful hours when she gave birth; amid the drama of the flight into Egypt and during the frantic search for their child in the Temple; and later in the day-to-day life of the home of Nazareth, in the workshop where he taught his trade to Jesus.

How does Joseph respond to his calling to be the protector of Mary, Jesus and the Church? By being constantly attentive to God, open to the signs of God’s presence and receptive to God’s plans, and not simply to his own. This is what God asked of David, as we heard in the first reading. God does not want a house built by men, but faithfulness to his word, to his plan. It is God himself who builds the house, but from living stones sealed by his Spirit. Joseph is a “protector” because he is able to hear God’s voice and be guided by his will; and for this reason he is all the more sensitive to the persons entrusted to his safekeeping. He can look at things realistically, he is in touch with his surroundings, he can make truly wise decisions. In him, dear friends, we learn how to respond to God’s call, readily and willingly, but we also see the core of the Christian vocation, which is Christ! Let us protect Christ in our lives, so that we can protect others, so that we can protect creation!

The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live. It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. It means caring for one another in our families: husbands and wives first protect one another, and then, as parents, they care for their children, and children themselves, in time, protect their parents. It means building sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!

Whenever human beings fail to live up to this responsibility, whenever we fail to care for creation and for our brothers and sisters, the way is opened to destruction and hearts are hardened. Tragically, in every period of history there are “Herods” who plot death, wreak havoc, and mar the countenance of men and women.

Please, I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be “protectors” of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment. Let us not allow omens of destruction and death to accompany the advance of this world! But to be “protectors”, we also have to keep watch over ourselves! Let us not forget that hatred, envy and pride defile our lives! Being protectors, then, also means keeping watch over our emotions, over our hearts, because they are the seat of good and evil intentions: intentions that build up and tear down! We must not be afraid of goodness or even tenderness!

Here I would add one more thing: caring, protecting, demands goodness, it calls for a certain tenderness. In the Gospels, Saint Joseph appears as a strong and courageous man, a working man, yet in his heart we see great tenderness, which is not the virtue of the weak but rather a sign of strength of spirit and a capacity for concern, for compassion, for genuine openness to others, for love. We must not be afraid of goodness, of tenderness!

Today, together with the feast of Saint Joseph, we are celebrating the beginning of the ministry of the new Bishop of Rome, the Successor of Peter, which also involves a certain power. Certainly, Jesus Christ conferred power upon Peter, but what sort of power was it? Jesus’ three questions to Peter about love are followed by three commands: feed my lambs, feed my sheep. Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too, when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross. He must be inspired by the lowly, concrete and faithful service which marked Saint Joseph and, like him, he must open his arms to protect all of God’s people and embrace with tender affection the whole of humanity, especially the poorest, the weakest, the least important, those whom Matthew lists in the final judgment on love: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and those in prison (cf. Mt 25:31-46). Only those who serve with love are able to protect!

In the second reading, Saint Paul speaks of Abraham, who, “hoping against hope, believed” (Rom 4:18). Hoping against hope! Today too, amid so much darkness, we need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others. To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love, is to open up a horizon of hope; it is to let a shaft of light break through the heavy clouds; it is to bring the warmth of hope! For believers, for us Christians, like Abraham, like Saint Joseph, the hope that we bring is set against the horizon of God, which has opened up before us in Christ. It is a hope built on the rock which is God.

To protect Jesus with Mary, to protect the whole of creation, to protect each person, especially the poorest, to protect ourselves: this is a service that the Bishop of Rome is called to carry out, yet one to which all of us are called, so that the star of hope will shine brightly. Let us protect with love all that God has given us!

I implore the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, Saints Peter and Paul, and Saint Francis, that the Holy Spirit may accompany my ministry, and I ask all of you to pray for me! Amen.

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Meeting Pope Francis

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So, where were you when you heard the news? The white smoke billowed from the Sistine’s chimney. Hundreds of thousands filled the piazza of St Peter’s. Bells ringing. The announcement: “Habemus Papam!” We have a Pope! The buzz of anticipation…who would it be? Almost everybody was wrong, as usual, including this scribe. Finally, a roar goes up from the crowd as the crimson curtains open…and there he is! Pope Francis!

I was in the Philadelphia airport. By God’s grace, I happened to have a one-hour stopover before boarding a connecting flight. It just so happened that during that time, the terminal TV, tuned to CNN, showed the white smoke, signalling the happy news…and I had just enough time to see Pope Francis emerge onto the balcony and make his first remarks as Pontiff before catching my next flight.

It was very interesting to overhear the comments being made by folks gathered around the screen at Gate 44. Some of them made snide remarks about the Church. Some appeared to be believers who were genuinely excited about the news. Others were just plain curious. But everybody was watching. It goes without saying that every major news network and media outlet interrupted all programming to report live from the Vatican. So much for the Church being irrelevant in the modern world. It was the story – the only story – at that moment on planet Earth.

There were a gaggle of pilots, stewardesses, and US Airways personnel watching. As the accoutrements – the papal banner, etc. were being laid out over the balcony railing, one pilot remarked: “What’s with all this stuff? Jesus never would have had all this fuss about him, as he walked the dusty roads of Galilee.” A common enough complaint about the ceremonial nature of the papacy. There is, of course, an answer for that, but that’s another article for another day. But the best response was provided by humble Pope Francis himself.

The Legend of Pope Francis was only beginning then. By now, you know most, if not all, of what I’m about to tell you. But, at that moment, most of us watching were discovering in real-time that: 1) As Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Mario Bergoglio had sold the opulent Archbishop’s palace and given it to a cash-strapped order of nuns; 2) He had moved himself into a simple flat, and, having fired the Archbishop’s cook, made his own simple meals; 3) He had canned the Archbishop’s limo and driver, opting instead to take the bus to work. Anyone in Buenos Aires who wanted to meet their Cardinal Archbishop only had to hop onto public transit to obtain a rolling, face-to-face meeting; 4) He would venture into the most depressing, drug-addled slums of the city, and sip mate tea with the residents from a common straw; 5) God began to call him to the priesthood after his childhood sweetheart broke his heart; and on and on one could go.

As Pope, Francis has already managed to drive his security detail batty, by wading into the waiting crowds outside after celebrating Mass, eschewing papal limousines in favor of – you guessed it – riding the bus with the cardinals, or even walking to his next appointment, as he did before greeting all the journalists in Rome at the Paul VI auditorium the other day. Some of his friends in Argentina noticed his shoes were in rough shape before the conclave and bought him a new pair. Good thing. He’s still wearing them, eschewing the red and brown pairs that were available for him in the “room of tears”, where he changed into the white cassock for the first time. He decided not to don a golden pectoral cross reserved for the Bishop of Rome, rather keeping the iron cross he had worn as archbishop (and he will need that kind of “mettle” for the battles ahead). He had purchased a return ticket to Buenos Aires before the conclave began, not at all anticipating that he would be the chosen one. He insisted on paying his own hotel bill, out of his own pocket, and collecting his own things. A Pope who runs his own errands. His white dress shirt can be seen partially untucked underneath his cassock. This is a Pope who will never see the word “clericalism” written beside his name!

Indeed, his humility was apparent, even palpable, to all as he stood on the balcony last Wednesday at St Peter’s (The Pope Emeritus was plenty humble, too, lest we forget. No one willingly gives up the papacy unless he is detached from everything except Christ himself). I had never seen Jorge Mario Bergoglio before, except in pictures. Up until that moment, I suppose in a sense I had been looking at this conclave in a bit of a clinical manner, having been asked to comment on it for various news outlets. Of course, intellectually, I knew that I, along with all Catholics, would love the new Holy Father, whoever he might be, as much as we had Benedict and John Paul II. But I couldn’t help getting choked up as I saw Pope Francis on the balcony – just standing there. No wild waving to the crowd (although that would have been fine). Just standing there. Instantly, one could sense his deep sense of inner peace, and his humility. As he remarked to the gathered journalist in the Paul VI hall on Saturday, “Christ is the centre, not the successor of Peter”. He knew that, ultimately, the reason those multitudes were there to greet him was because they are seeking Christ – as is every person, wether they know it or not. And Christ has given us his Vicar, the Pope, to help us find him.

Long live Pope Francis. Viva il Papa!

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