Vatican: Homily of Pope Francis at a consistory of 21 new cardinals of the Catholic Church

We share the full text of Pope Francis’ homily at the consistory of creation of 21 new cardinals, including five from Latin America:

Let’s think a little about history. Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. Theirs is not an ascent to the glory of this world, but to the glory of God, which involves the descent into the abyss of death.

Indeed, in the Holy City he will die on the cross to give us life again. However, James and John, who instead imagine a different destiny for their Master, present their request and ask for two places of honor: “Grant us to sit, one on your right and the other on your left, when you are in your glory” ( Mk 10,37).

The Gospel highlights this dramatic contrast: while Jesus travels an exhausting, uphill path that will lead him to Calvary, the disciples think of the flat, downhill path of the victorious Messiah. We should not be scandalized by this, but humbly realize that – to say it with Manzoni – “such are the contradictions of the human heart” (The Bride and Groom, chapter 10). It’s done like this.

This can also happen to us: that our hearts become lost, allowing themselves to be dazzled by the charm of prestige, by the seduction of power or by an all-too-human enthusiasm for our Lord.

That is why it is important to look within ourselves, place ourselves humbly before God and honestly ask ourselves: where is my heart going? Where is my heart going today? In what direction is it moving? Maybe I’m going the wrong way?

Thus Saint Augustine warns us: «What is this about going along the paths of solitude and a wandering and wandering life? Come back. Where to? To the Lord. It’s still early. Return first to your heart (…). Come back, come back to the heart (…) there is the image of God.

Return to the heart to return to the path of Jesus, this is what we need. And today, particularly to you, dear brothers who receive the cardinalate, I would like to say: be attentive to following the path of Jesus.

What does this mean? Following the path of Jesus means above all returning to Him and putting Him back at the center of everything. In the spiritual life as in the pastoral life, sometimes we run the risk of concentrating on the superfluous, forgetting the essential. Too often secondary things take the place of what is necessary, externalities prevail over what really matters, we immerse ourselves in activities that we consider urgent, but without reaching the heart.

And, on the other hand, we always need to return to the center, recover the foundation, strip off what is superfluous to put on Christ (cf. Rom 13:14). Also the word ‘cardinal’ reminds us of this, indicating the bolt into which the door is inserted. It is a firm point of support, of support. That’s right, dear brothers, Jesus is the fundamental point of support, the center of gravity of our service, the ‘cardinal point’ that guides our entire life.

Following the path of Jesus also means cultivating the passion for encounter. Jesus never walks alone, his union with the Father does not isolate him from the vicissitudes and pain of the world. On the contrary, precisely to heal man’s wounds and lighten the weight of his heart, to remove the burden of sin and break the chains of slavery, precisely for this He has come.

And so, along the way, the Lord meets the faces of people marked by suffering, becomes close to those who have lost hope, lifts up those who have fallen, heals those who are sick. The paths of Jesus are full of faces and stories and, as he passes, he wipes away the tears of those who cry, Jesus ‘heals those who are afflicted and binds up their wounds’ (Ps 147:3).

What should animate your service as cardinals is the risk of the journey, the joy of meeting others, the care of the most fragile. A great Italian clergyman, Don Primo Mazzolari, said that ‘on the road the Church began; On the roads of the world the Church continues. To enter it, it is not necessary to knock on the door or be in the waiting room. Walk and you will find it; walk and he will be with you; walk and you will be in the Church’ (cf. Tempo di credere, Bologna 2010, 80-81). Let’s not forget that being tired ruins the heart.

Following the path of Jesus also means being builders of communion and unity. While in the group of disciples the worm of competition destroys unity, the path that Jesus travels takes him to Calvary. And on the cross He fulfills the mission that was entrusted to Him: that no one is lost (cf. Jn 6:39), that the wall of enmity is finally torn down (cf. Eph 2:14) and that we can all recognize ourselves as children. of the same Father and brothers among us.

Therefore, by fixing his gaze on you, who come from different histories and cultures and represent the catholicity of the Church, the Lord calls you to be witnesses of fraternity, artisans of communion and builders of unity. And this is your mission.

Saint Paul VI, speaking precisely to a group of new cardinals, said that we, like the disciples, sometimes give in to the temptation to divide; On the other hand, ‘it is in the passion put into the search for unity that the true disciples of Christ are recognized’.

And he added: ‘We wish that everyone feels at ease in the ecclesial family, without exclusions or isolations detrimental to unity in charity, and that the predominance of some is not sought to the detriment of others. (…) We must work, pray, suffer, fight to bear witness to the Risen Christ’ (cf. Speech on the occasion of the Consistory, June 27, 1977).

Animated by this spirit, dear brothers, you will make a difference; according to the words of Jesus who, speaking of the corrosive competition of this world, tells the disciples: ‘It must not happen like this among you’ (Mk 10:43).

It is as if he were saying: come after me, follow my path, and you will be different; They will be a shining sign in a society obsessed with appearance and the search for first places. ‘Let it not be so among you,’ Jesus repeats: love one another with brotherly love and be servants of one another, servants of the Gospel. Dear brothers, in the path of Jesus, let us walk together. With humility, with amazement, with joy.