Vatican Basilica Mass - Cardinal Artime says "Praying for the dead means, therefore, loving those who have died and this is what we are doing now for Pope Francis" Novemdiales for the Pope FULL TEXT Homily
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Eucharistic Celebration on the Eighth Day of the Novendiali, 05/03/2025
At 5:00 PM this afternoon, in the Vatican Basilica, the Eucharistic Celebration in suffrage of the Roman Pontiff Francis took place, on the VIII day of the Novendiali.
The Concelebration was presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., former Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Transcript of the homily that His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., gave during the Holy Mass:
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori teaches that praying for the dead is the greatest work of charity. When we help our neighbors materially, we share ephemeral goods, but when we pray for them we do so with eternal goods. The Holy Curé of Ars, universal patron of priests, lived in a similar way.
Praying for the dead means, therefore, loving those who have died and this is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the People of God, together with the pastors and in a special way this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women.
The Holy Father Francis felt very much loved by the People of God and knew that those belonging to the different expressions of consecrated life also loved him; they prayed for his ministry, for the person of the Pope, for the Church, for the world.
On this third Sunday of Easter everything invites us to rejoice, to exult. The reason is given by the Risen Lord and by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Saint Athanasius affirms that the risen Jesus Christ makes man's life a continuous celebration. And this is why the Apostles - and Peter first among them - are not afraid of prison, nor of threats nor of being persecuted again. And in fact they declare with courage and frankness: "of these things we are witnesses as is the Holy Spirit whom God has sent to those who obey him".
I ask myself - said Pope Francis, in one of his catecheses on this same passage - where the first disciples find the strength for their testimony. Not only that, but where did the joy and courage of the proclamation come from in them despite the obstacles and violence?”
It is clear that only the presence, with them, of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain this fact. Their faith was based on such a strong and personal experience of Christ, dead and risen, that they were not afraid of anything or anyone. “Today, as yesterday, the men and women of the present generation have a great need to encounter the Lord and his liberating message of salvation,” said Saint John Paul II, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life on 2 February 2000, addressing the men and women religious of the whole world, and added: “I have been able to realize the value of your prophetic presence for the entire Christian people and I willingly acknowledge, also in this circumstance, the example of generous evangelical dedication offered by countless of your brothers and sisters who often work in difficult situations. They spend themselves without reserve in the name of Christ in the service of the poor, the marginalized and the least”.
Brothers and sisters, it is true that all of us, this entire assembly as baptized, are called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, dead and risen. But it is equally true that we, consecrated men and women, have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to bear witness to the primacy of God with our whole life. This mission is particularly important when – as today in many parts of the world – we experience the absence of God or forget his centrality too easily. Then we can take up and make our own the program of Saint Benedict Abbot, summarized in the maxim “put nothing before the love of Christ”.
It was the Holy Father Benedict XVI who challenged us in this way: within the People of God, consecrated persons are like sentinels who perceive and announce the new life already present in our history.
We are called, by reason of our Baptism and by our religious profession, to bear witness that only God gives fullness to human existence and that, consequently, our life must be an eloquent sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God for today's world.
We are, therefore, called to be in the world a credible and luminous sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes. Without conforming to the mentality of this century, but transforming ourselves and continually renewing our commitment.
In the Gospel we heard that the Risen Lord was waiting for his disciples on the seashore. The story says that when everything seemed over, failed, the Lord made himself present, he went to meet his disciples, who – full of joy – were able to exclaim through the mouth of the disciple whom Jesus loved: “It is the Lord”. In this expression we perceive the enthusiasm of Easter faith, full of joy and wonder, which contrasts strongly with the confusion, discouragement, sense of impotence that had been present in the souls of the disciples until then.
It is only the presence of the Risen Jesus that transforms everything: darkness is conquered by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of tiredness and abandonment gives way to a new impetus and the certainty that He is with us.
What happened to the first and privileged witnesses of the Lord can and must become a life program for all of us.
Pope Francis said in the Year of Consecrated Life: “I expect you to wake up the world, because the note that characterizes consecrated life is prophecy”. And he asked us to be witnesses of the Lord like Peter and the Apostles, even in the face of the incomprehension of the Sanhedrin of the past or of the godless Areopagi of today. He asked us to be like the sentinel who watches during the night and knows when the dawn arrives. He asked us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded, because in them is the Lord and so that with our passion for God, for the Kingdom and for humanity, we will be able, like Peter, to respond to the Lord: “Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you”.
May Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us all the grace to be missionary disciples today, witnesses of Her Son in this Church of His that – under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – lives in hope, because the Risen Lord is with us until the end of time. Amen
At 5:00 PM this afternoon, in the Vatican Basilica, the Eucharistic Celebration in suffrage of the Roman Pontiff Francis took place, on the VIII day of the Novendiali.
The Concelebration was presided over by His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., former Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Transcript of the homily that His Eminence Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., gave during the Holy Mass:
Dear Sisters and Brothers,
Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori teaches that praying for the dead is the greatest work of charity. When we help our neighbors materially, we share ephemeral goods, but when we pray for them we do so with eternal goods. The Holy Curé of Ars, universal patron of priests, lived in a similar way.
Praying for the dead means, therefore, loving those who have died and this is what we are doing now for Pope Francis, gathered as the People of God, together with the pastors and in a special way this evening with a very significant presence of consecrated men and women.
The Holy Father Francis felt very much loved by the People of God and knew that those belonging to the different expressions of consecrated life also loved him; they prayed for his ministry, for the person of the Pope, for the Church, for the world.
On this third Sunday of Easter everything invites us to rejoice, to exult. The reason is given by the Risen Lord and by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Saint Athanasius affirms that the risen Jesus Christ makes man's life a continuous celebration. And this is why the Apostles - and Peter first among them - are not afraid of prison, nor of threats nor of being persecuted again. And in fact they declare with courage and frankness: "of these things we are witnesses as is the Holy Spirit whom God has sent to those who obey him".
I ask myself - said Pope Francis, in one of his catecheses on this same passage - where the first disciples find the strength for their testimony. Not only that, but where did the joy and courage of the proclamation come from in them despite the obstacles and violence?”
It is clear that only the presence, with them, of the Risen Lord and the action of the Holy Spirit can explain this fact. Their faith was based on such a strong and personal experience of Christ, dead and risen, that they were not afraid of anything or anyone. “Today, as yesterday, the men and women of the present generation have a great need to encounter the Lord and his liberating message of salvation,” said Saint John Paul II, on the occasion of the Jubilee of Consecrated Life on 2 February 2000, addressing the men and women religious of the whole world, and added: “I have been able to realize the value of your prophetic presence for the entire Christian people and I willingly acknowledge, also in this circumstance, the example of generous evangelical dedication offered by countless of your brothers and sisters who often work in difficult situations. They spend themselves without reserve in the name of Christ in the service of the poor, the marginalized and the least”.
Brothers and sisters, it is true that all of us, this entire assembly as baptized, are called to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus, dead and risen. But it is equally true that we, consecrated men and women, have received this vocation, this call to discipleship that asks us to bear witness to the primacy of God with our whole life. This mission is particularly important when – as today in many parts of the world – we experience the absence of God or forget his centrality too easily. Then we can take up and make our own the program of Saint Benedict Abbot, summarized in the maxim “put nothing before the love of Christ”.
It was the Holy Father Benedict XVI who challenged us in this way: within the People of God, consecrated persons are like sentinels who perceive and announce the new life already present in our history.
We are called, by reason of our Baptism and by our religious profession, to bear witness that only God gives fullness to human existence and that, consequently, our life must be an eloquent sign of the presence of the Kingdom of God for today's world.
We are, therefore, called to be in the world a credible and luminous sign of the Gospel and its paradoxes. Without conforming to the mentality of this century, but transforming ourselves and continually renewing our commitment.
In the Gospel we heard that the Risen Lord was waiting for his disciples on the seashore. The story says that when everything seemed over, failed, the Lord made himself present, he went to meet his disciples, who – full of joy – were able to exclaim through the mouth of the disciple whom Jesus loved: “It is the Lord”. In this expression we perceive the enthusiasm of Easter faith, full of joy and wonder, which contrasts strongly with the confusion, discouragement, sense of impotence that had been present in the souls of the disciples until then.
It is only the presence of the Risen Jesus that transforms everything: darkness is conquered by light; useless work becomes fruitful and promising again; the sense of tiredness and abandonment gives way to a new impetus and the certainty that He is with us.
What happened to the first and privileged witnesses of the Lord can and must become a life program for all of us.
Pope Francis said in the Year of Consecrated Life: “I expect you to wake up the world, because the note that characterizes consecrated life is prophecy”. And he asked us to be witnesses of the Lord like Peter and the Apostles, even in the face of the incomprehension of the Sanhedrin of the past or of the godless Areopagi of today. He asked us to be like the sentinel who watches during the night and knows when the dawn arrives. He asked us to have a heart and a spirit pure and free enough to recognize the women and men of today, our brothers and sisters, especially the poorest, the last, the discarded, because in them is the Lord and so that with our passion for God, for the Kingdom and for humanity, we will be able, like Peter, to respond to the Lord: “Lord, you know everything! You know that I love you”.
May Mary, Mother of the Church, grant us all the grace to be missionary disciples today, witnesses of Her Son in this Church of His that – under the guidance of the Holy Spirit – lives in hope, because the Risen Lord is with us until the end of time. Amen
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