Final Memorial Vatican Basilica Mass - Cardinal Mamberti says Pope Francis Often Recalled Eucharistic "Adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and the life of the faithful" Novemdiales FULL TEXT Homily
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HOLY MASS ON THE IX DAY OF THE NOVENDIALI
HOMILY OF HIS MOST REVEREND EMINENCE
CARDINAL DOMINIQUE MAMBERTI
HOMILY OF HIS MOST REVEREND EMINENCE
CARDINAL DOMINIQUE MAMBERTI
On Sunday afternoon, 4 May, the Third Sunday of Easter, Cardinal Protodeacon Dominique Mamberti, Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, presided over the ninth and final Novemdiale Mass in Saint Peter’s Basilica in suffrage for Pope Francis, with the participation of the College of Cardinals. He recalled that Peter’s mission is love expressed through service to the Church and all humanity.
Basilica of Saint Peter on the 3rd Sunday of Easter, 4 May 2025
Basilica of Saint Peter on the 3rd Sunday of Easter, 4 May 2025
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Venerated Cardinal Fathers,
dear brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
dear brothers and sisters,
The Liturgy of the Paola of this last novendiale in suffrage of Pope Francis is that of the day, the third Sunday of Easter and the page of the Gospel of John just proclaimed presents us with the encounter of the resurrected Jesus with some Apostles and disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, which concludes with the Mission entrusted to Peter by the Lord and the command of Jesus, “follow me!”
The episode recalls that of the first miraculous catch of fish, narrated by Luke, when Jesus had called Simon, James and John, announcing to Simon that he would become a fisherman of men. From that moment, Peter had followed him, sometimes in misunderstanding and even in betrayal, but in today's meeting, the last before Christ's return to the Father, Peter receives from him the task of tending his flock.
Love is the key word in this Gospel page. The first to recognize Jesus is "the disciple whom Jesus loved", John, who exclaims "it is the Lord!", and Peter immediately throws himself into the sea to reach the Master. After they had shared the food, which will have ignited the memory of the Last Supper in the hearts of the Apostles, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter begins, the triple question of the Lord and the triple response of Peter.
The first two times, Jesus uses the verb to love, a strong word, while Peter, mindful of the betrayal, responds with the less demanding expression “to love”, and the third time Jesus himself uses the expression to love, adapting to the weakness of the Apostle. Pope Benedict XVI noted in commenting on this dialogue. “Simon understands that his poor love is enough for Jesus, the only love he is capable of. (…) It is precisely this divine adaptation that gives hope to the disciple, who has known the suffering of infidelity. (…) From that day on, Peter “followed” the Master with the precise awareness of his own fragility; but this awareness did not discourage him. He knew in fact that he could count on the presence of the Risen One beside him (…) and thus he also shows us the way”. [1]
In his homily at the Mass for the 25th anniversary of his Pontificate, Saint John Paul II confided: “Today, dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to share with you an experience that has now lasted a quarter of a century. Every day the same dialogue between Jesus and Peter takes place within my heart. In my spirit, I fix my gaze on the benevolent gaze of the risen Christ. He, while aware of my human frailty, encourages me to respond with trust like Peter: ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you’ (Jn 21:17). And then he invites me to assume the responsibilities that he himself has entrusted to me.” [2]
This Mission is love itself, which becomes a service to the Church and to all humanity. Peter and the Apostles took it up immediately, with the strength of the Spirit they had received at Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our Fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him at his right hand, as leader and Savior”.
We have all admired how Pope Francis, animated by the love of the Lord and carried by His grace, was faithful to his Mission to the extreme consumption of his strength. He warned the powerful that we must obey God rather than men and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, the Merciful Father, Christ the Savior. He did so in his Magisterium, in his travels, in his gestures, in his lifestyle. I was close to him on Easter day, in the blessing loggia of this Basilica, witness to his suffering, but above all to his courage and his determination to serve the People of God until the end.
In the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, we heard the praise that the whole universe addresses to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb: “praise, honor, glory and power, for ever and ever.” And the four living creatures said, “Amen.” And the elders fell down in adoration.”
Adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and the life of the faithful. Pope Francis often recalled this, as for example in his homily for the feast of the Epiphany last year: “The Magi have their hearts prostrated in adoration. (…) They arrived in Bethlehem and, when they saw the Child, ‘they fell down and worshiped him’ (Mt 2:11). (…) A king who came to serve us, a God who became man. Before this mystery, we are called to bend our hearts and knees to adore: to adore the God who comes in smallness, who inhabits the normality of our homes, who dies for love. (…) Brothers and sisters, we have lost the habit of worshiping, we have lost this capacity that adoration gives us. Let us rediscover the taste of the prayer of adoration. (…). Adoration is missing among us today.” [3]
This capacity that adoration gives was not difficult to recognize in Pope Francis. His intense pastoral life, his countless meetings, were based on the long moments of prayer that the Ignatian discipline had imprinted in him. Many times he reminded us that contemplation is "a dynamism of love" that "raises us to God not to detach us from the earth, but to make us dwell in it in depth." [4] And everything he did, he did under the gaze of Mary. His one hundred and twenty-six stops before the Salus Populi Romani will remain in our memory and in our hearts. And now that he rests near the beloved Image, we entrust him with gratitude and trust to the intercession of the Mother of the Lord and our Mother.
_____________________________________________________
[1] General Audience, May 24, 2006.
[2] Homily of the Holy Mass, October 16, 2003.
[3] Homily of the Holy Mass, January 6, 2024.
[4] Audience with the Delegates of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns, April 18, 2024.
Venerated Cardinal Fathers,
dear brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
dear brothers and sisters,
The Liturgy of the Paola of this last novendiale in suffrage of Pope Francis is that of the day, the third Sunday of Easter and the page of the Gospel of John just proclaimed presents us with the encounter of the resurrected Jesus with some Apostles and disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, which concludes with the Mission entrusted to Peter by the Lord and the command of Jesus, “follow me!”
The episode recalls that of the first miraculous catch of fish, narrated by Luke, when Jesus had called Simon, James and John, announcing to Simon that he would become a fisherman of men. From that moment, Peter had followed him, sometimes in misunderstanding and even in betrayal, but in today's meeting, the last before Christ's return to the Father, Peter receives from him the task of tending his flock.
Love is the key word in this Gospel page. The first to recognize Jesus is "the disciple whom Jesus loved", John, who exclaims "it is the Lord!", and Peter immediately throws himself into the sea to reach the Master. After they had shared the food, which will have ignited the memory of the Last Supper in the hearts of the Apostles, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter begins, the triple question of the Lord and the triple response of Peter.
The first two times, Jesus uses the verb to love, a strong word, while Peter, mindful of the betrayal, responds with the less demanding expression “to love”, and the third time Jesus himself uses the expression to love, adapting to the weakness of the Apostle. Pope Benedict XVI noted in commenting on this dialogue. “Simon understands that his poor love is enough for Jesus, the only love he is capable of. (…) It is precisely this divine adaptation that gives hope to the disciple, who has known the suffering of infidelity. (…) From that day on, Peter “followed” the Master with the precise awareness of his own fragility; but this awareness did not discourage him. He knew in fact that he could count on the presence of the Risen One beside him (…) and thus he also shows us the way”. [1]
In his homily at the Mass for the 25th anniversary of his Pontificate, Saint John Paul II confided: “Today, dear brothers and sisters, I am pleased to share with you an experience that has now lasted a quarter of a century. Every day the same dialogue between Jesus and Peter takes place within my heart. In my spirit, I fix my gaze on the benevolent gaze of the risen Christ. He, while aware of my human frailty, encourages me to respond with trust like Peter: ‘Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you’ (Jn 21:17). And then he invites me to assume the responsibilities that he himself has entrusted to me.” [2]
This Mission is love itself, which becomes a service to the Church and to all humanity. Peter and the Apostles took it up immediately, with the strength of the Spirit they had received at Pentecost, as we heard in the first reading: “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our Fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him at his right hand, as leader and Savior”.
We have all admired how Pope Francis, animated by the love of the Lord and carried by His grace, was faithful to his Mission to the extreme consumption of his strength. He warned the powerful that we must obey God rather than men and proclaimed to all humanity the joy of the Gospel, the Merciful Father, Christ the Savior. He did so in his Magisterium, in his travels, in his gestures, in his lifestyle. I was close to him on Easter day, in the blessing loggia of this Basilica, witness to his suffering, but above all to his courage and his determination to serve the People of God until the end.
In the second reading, taken from the Book of Revelation, we heard the praise that the whole universe addresses to the One who sits on the throne and to the Lamb: “praise, honor, glory and power, for ever and ever.” And the four living creatures said, “Amen.” And the elders fell down in adoration.”
Adoration is an essential dimension of the Church’s mission and the life of the faithful. Pope Francis often recalled this, as for example in his homily for the feast of the Epiphany last year: “The Magi have their hearts prostrated in adoration. (…) They arrived in Bethlehem and, when they saw the Child, ‘they fell down and worshiped him’ (Mt 2:11). (…) A king who came to serve us, a God who became man. Before this mystery, we are called to bend our hearts and knees to adore: to adore the God who comes in smallness, who inhabits the normality of our homes, who dies for love. (…) Brothers and sisters, we have lost the habit of worshiping, we have lost this capacity that adoration gives us. Let us rediscover the taste of the prayer of adoration. (…). Adoration is missing among us today.” [3]
This capacity that adoration gives was not difficult to recognize in Pope Francis. His intense pastoral life, his countless meetings, were based on the long moments of prayer that the Ignatian discipline had imprinted in him. Many times he reminded us that contemplation is "a dynamism of love" that "raises us to God not to detach us from the earth, but to make us dwell in it in depth." [4] And everything he did, he did under the gaze of Mary. His one hundred and twenty-six stops before the Salus Populi Romani will remain in our memory and in our hearts. And now that he rests near the beloved Image, we entrust him with gratitude and trust to the intercession of the Mother of the Lord and our Mother.
_____________________________________________________
[1] General Audience, May 24, 2006.
[2] Homily of the Holy Mass, October 16, 2003.
[3] Homily of the Holy Mass, January 6, 2024.
[4] Audience with the Delegates of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns, April 18, 2024.
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