Solemnity of Saints Peter and Saint Paul 2024: Homily of Pope Francis

We share the complete homily of Pope Francis, at the Mass of the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Saints Paul 2024, this Saturday, June 29.

The Holy Father presided over the Eucharist in St. Peter’s Basilica and included the blessing of the palliums of the 42 metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year.

Next, the homily of the Holy Father:

Let’s look at the two Apostles Peter and Paul: the fisherman from Galilee whom Jesus made a fisher of men; the Pharisee persecutor of the Church transformed by Grace into an evangelizer of the nations. In the light of the Word of God, let us be inspired by his story, by the apostolic zeal that has marked the path of his life. Upon meeting the Lord, they lived a true Easter experience: they were liberated and, before them, the doors of a new life were opened.

Brothers and sisters, on the eve of the jubilee year, let us dwell precisely on the image of the door. The Jubilee, in fact, will be a time of grace in which we will open the Holy Door, so that everyone can cross the threshold of that living sanctuary that is Jesus and, in Him, live the experience of the love of God that strengthens hope and renews joy. And also in the story of Peter and Paul there are doors that open.

The first Reading has told us the story of Peter’s release from prison; This story has many images that remind us of the Passover experience: the episode takes place during the Unleavened Feast; Herod evokes the figure of the pharaoh of Egypt; deliverance occurs at night as for the Israelites; The angel gives Peter the same instructions that were given to Israel: get up quickly, gird yourself, put on your sandals (cf. Acts 12:8; Ex 12:11). What we are told, then, is a new exodus. God frees the Church from him, frees the people from him who are chained, and once again shows himself as the God of mercy who sustains his path.

And on that night of liberation, first the prison doors miraculously open; Then, of Peter and the angel accompanying him, it is said that they found themselves before “the iron gate that leads to the city; the gate opened of itself before them” (Acts 12:10). They are not the ones who open the door, it opens on its own. It is God who opens the doors, it is He who liberates and paves the way. To Peter, as we have heard in the Gospel, Jesus had entrusted the keys to the Kingdom; But he experiences that the one who opens the doors is the Lord first, He always precedes us. And a curious fact is: the doors of the prison were opened by the strength of the Lord, but Peter will later have difficulty entering the house of the Christian community: whoever goes to the door thinks he is a ghost and does not open it ( cf. Acts 12:12-17). How many times do communities not learn this wisdom of opening the doors!

Also the path of the Apostle Paul is above all an Easter experience. In fact, he is first transformed by the Risen Lord on the road to Damascus and then, in the continuous contemplation of Christ Crucified, he discovers the grace of weakness: when we are weak – he affirms – it is actually then when we are strong, because we no longer We cling to ourselves, but to Christ (cf. 2 Cor 12:10). Captured by the Lord and crucified with Him, Paul writes: “It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). But the end of all this is not an intimate and consoling religiosity – as some movements in the Church present to us today: a salon spirituality –; On the contrary, the encounter with the Lord kindled zeal for evangelization in Paul’s life. As we heard in the Second Reading, at the end of his life he declared: “The Lord was at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and heard by all the Gentiles” (2 Tim 4, 17).

Precisely when telling how the Lord has given him so many opportunities to announce the Gospel, Paul uses the image of open doors. Thus, of his arrival in Antioch with Barnabas, it is said that “when they arrived, they gathered the Church and related everything that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles” (Acts 14 ,27). Likewise, addressing the Corinthian community he says: “A great and prosperous door has been opened to me” (1 Cor 16:9); and writing to the Colossians he exhorts them thus: “Pray also for us, so that God will open to us the door of the Word to announce the mystery of Christ” (Col 4:3).

Brothers and sisters, the two Apostles Peter and Paul have had this experience of grace. They have touched with their hands the work of God, who has opened the doors of their inner prison and also of the royal prisons where they were locked up because of the Gospel. And, furthermore, he has opened before them the doors of evangelization, so that they could experience the joy of encountering the brothers and sisters of the nascent communities and could bring the hope of the Gospel to everyone.

And this year we are also preparing to open the Holy Door.

Brothers and sisters, today the Metropolitan Archbishops appointed in the last year receive the Palio. In communion with Peter and following the example of Christ, door of the sheep (cf. Jn 10:7), they are called to be zealous shepherds, who open the doors of the Gospel and who, with their ministry, contribute to building a Church and an open door society.

And I want to give, with fraternal affection, my greeting to the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate: thank you for having come to express the common desire for full communion between our Churches. I send a cordial and heartfelt greeting to my brother, my dear brother Bartolomé.

Saints Peter and Paul help us open the door of our lives to the Lord Jesus, intercede for us, for the city of Rome and for the entire world. Amen.