Pope Francis affirmed that, to achieve renewal in the Catholic Church, it is necessary to be willing to “demolish what is no longer useful in order to build anew,” when receiving this morning the participants of the pilgrimage of the Theatine Clerics Regular, in the fifth centenary of its foundation.
In the audience held in St. Peter’s Basilica, the place where Saint Gaetano da Thiene and his first companions made their solemn profession on September 14, 1524, the Pontiff highlighted that at that time the Theatines were preparing to “reform the Church by through the reform of themselves, following the model of the first apostolic community.”
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As reported by the Vatican Press OfficePope Francis then offered a reflection on three aspects: renewal, communion and service.
1. The renewal
After recalling that in 1524 St. Peter’s Basilica was not finished and “the old Constantinian building” was being demolished because “it no longer responded to the needs of the people of God,” the Pontiff highlighted that this image “helps us reflect on the need, to remain faithful to our mission, to undertake courageous paths of renewal.”
“There cannot be a fidelity that is not renewed, remaining founded on what is old, if at the same time we are not willing to demolish what is no longer useful to build anew, docile to the Holy Spirit and trusting in Providence. This is the renewal,” he stressed.
2. Communion
“The second thing, communion. As we know, many have worked in San Pedro: famous artists, skilled artisans and a multitude of workers and laborers, men and women, engaged in the most humble tasks, united in the same fatigue to give life to the new building.
“And this is also an important sign: a welcoming house, in fact, is not built alone but together, in community, valuing everyone’s contribution,” added the Holy Father.
3. The service
Pope Francis then indicated that “the most beautiful projects would have come to nothing if people, rolling up their sleeves, had not gotten to work. “Good intentions remain sterile if they are not concretely put at the service of one another, with humility, good will and a spirit of sacrifice.”
“Saint Gaetano has shown us this, with the many works of charity that he has promoted, some still alive today, but Jesus taught us this before anyone else, that he did not come to be served, but to serve and give his life.”
After pointing out how beautiful St. Peter’s Basilica is now, Pope Francis specified that it is also “a symbol: the reality is us, personally and in community.”
“500 years ago – Francis stressed – your founders did not consecrate their lives to many bricks and marble, but to living stones. “They consecrated their lives to the Church with a capital I, the Church, wife of Christ, people of God and mystical body of the Lord.”
Walter Sanchez Silva
I have been a husband since 2008. My wife and I have three children here and one who went to heaven in 2023, before he was born. Since I joined ACI Prensa in 2005, I have had the opportunity to cover various events of the Catholic Church. Among them, the World Youth Days in Cologne, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro and the apostolic trips of Pope Benedict XVI to Mexico and of Pope Francis to South Korea. I have been sent to the Vatican to cover the Family synods, in 2015; of the Amazon, in 2019 and that of Synodality, in 2023. I closely follow the situation of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, which suffers persecution from the dictatorship of Daniel Ortega, as well as current ecclesiastical events in the region.