Vatican Basilica Mass - Cardinal Fernández says Remember "the love of Pope Francis for Saint Joseph, that strong and humble worker” Novemdiales for Pope Francis FULL TEXT Homily
May 1st, was the sixth Novemdiales Mass in memory of Pope Francis, which falls on International Workers’ Day, Cardinal Fernández reflects on the late Pope’s emphasis on the dignity of work.
On Thursday 1 May, which is a public holiday in the Vatican as in many countries around the world, the College of Cardinals did not hold a General Congregation to prepare for the conclave.
Many members, however, did gather in St Peter's Basilica for the sixth mass of the Novemdiales, the period of mourning for the late Pope Francis.
The celebration was presided over by Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, a good friend of the late Pope’s who served under him as Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.Fernández began his homily by saying that since his death, Pope Francis had become ‘fully united with Christ’.
FULL TEXT HOMILY of his EMINENCE REVEREND
CARDINAL VĺCTOR MANUEL FERNÁNDEZ
Saint Peter's Basilica - Thursday, May 1, 2025
_______________________
This Easter, Christ tells us: “All that the Father gives me will come to me... His will is that I lose nothing of what he has given me.” How immensely sweet these words are.
Pope Francis is of Christ, he belongs to Him, and now that he has left this earth he is fully of Christ. The Lord took Jorge Bergoglio with him from his baptism, and throughout his existence. He is of Christ, who promised him the fullness of life.
You know how tenderly Pope Francis spoke of Christ, how he enjoyed the sweet name of Jesus, as a good Jesuit. He knew well that he was his, and surely Christ did not abandon him, did not lose him. This is our hope that we celebrate with Easter joy under the precious light of this Gospel today.
We cannot ignore that we are also celebrating Workers' Day, which was so dear to Pope Francis.
I remember a video that he sent some time ago for a meeting of Argentine entrepreneurs. He told them: "I will never tire of referring to the dignity of work. Someone made me say that I propose a life without effort, or that I despise the culture of work". In fact, some dishonest people said that Pope Francis defended the lazy, the drones, the delinquents, the idle.
But he insisted: "Imagine if this can be said of me, a descendant of Piedmontese, who did not come to this country with the desire to be supported but with a great desire to roll up their sleeves and build a future for their families". It is clear that they had annoyed him.
Because for Pope Francis, work expresses and nourishes the dignity of the human being, allows him to develop his abilities, helps him to grow relationships, allows him to feel like a collaborator of God to take care of and improve this world, makes him feel useful to society and in solidarity with his loved ones. This is why work, beyond the toil and difficulties, is a path of human maturation. And for this reason he stated that work "is the best help for a poor person". Moreover, "there is no poverty worse than that which deprives work and the dignity of work".
It is worth remembering his words on the trip to Genoa. There he argued that "the entire social pact is built around work" and that when there are problems with work "it is democracy that enters into crisis". Then he resumed with admiration what the Italian Constitution says in Article 1: "Italy is a democratic republic, founded on work".
Behind this love for work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of every human being, an immense dignity that must never be lost, that in no case can be ignored or forgotten.
But every person is so worthy, and must be taken so seriously, that it is not just a matter of giving them things, but of promoting them. That is, that they can develop all the good that they have within themselves, that they can earn their bread with the gifts that God has given them, that they can develop their abilities. In this way, every person is promoted in all their dignity. And this is where work becomes so important.
Now be careful, Francis said. Another thing are some false speeches about "meritocracy". Because one thing is to evaluate the merits of a person and reward their efforts. Another thing is the false "meritocracy", which leads us to think that only those who have been successful in life have merit.
Let's look at a person who was born into a good family and was able to increase his wealth, lead a good life with a nice house, car, vacations abroad. Everything is fine. He was lucky enough to grow up in the right conditions and performed meritorious deeds. Thus, with skills and time he built a very comfortable life for himself and his children.
At the same time, someone who works with his arms, with equal or greater merits due to the efforts and time he has invested, has nothing. He was not lucky enough to be born in the same context and, no matter how much he sweats, he barely manages to survive.
I will tell you a case that I cannot forget: a young man I saw several times near my house in Buenos Aires. I would find him on the street, doing his job, which was collecting cardboard boxes and bottles to feed his family. When I went to university in the morning, when I returned, yet at night I would find him working. Once I asked him: "But how many hours do you work?" He replied: "Between 12 and 15 hours a day. Because I have several children to support and I want them to have a better future than me."
Then I asked him: "But when are you with them?" And he replied: "I have to choose, either I stay with them or I bring them food." Despite this, a well-dressed person who passed by said to him:
This Easter, Christ tells us: “All that the Father gives me will come to me... His will is that I lose nothing of what he has given me.” How immensely sweet these words are.
Pope Francis is of Christ, he belongs to Him, and now that he has left this earth he is fully of Christ. The Lord took Jorge Bergoglio with him from his baptism, and throughout his existence. He is of Christ, who promised him the fullness of life.
You know how tenderly Pope Francis spoke of Christ, how he enjoyed the sweet name of Jesus, as a good Jesuit. He knew well that he was his, and surely Christ did not abandon him, did not lose him. This is our hope that we celebrate with Easter joy under the precious light of this Gospel today.
We cannot ignore that we are also celebrating Workers' Day, which was so dear to Pope Francis.
I remember a video that he sent some time ago for a meeting of Argentine entrepreneurs. He told them: "I will never tire of referring to the dignity of work. Someone made me say that I propose a life without effort, or that I despise the culture of work". In fact, some dishonest people said that Pope Francis defended the lazy, the drones, the delinquents, the idle.
But he insisted: "Imagine if this can be said of me, a descendant of Piedmontese, who did not come to this country with the desire to be supported but with a great desire to roll up their sleeves and build a future for their families". It is clear that they had annoyed him.
Because for Pope Francis, work expresses and nourishes the dignity of the human being, allows him to develop his abilities, helps him to grow relationships, allows him to feel like a collaborator of God to take care of and improve this world, makes him feel useful to society and in solidarity with his loved ones. This is why work, beyond the toil and difficulties, is a path of human maturation. And for this reason he stated that work "is the best help for a poor person". Moreover, "there is no poverty worse than that which deprives work and the dignity of work".
It is worth remembering his words on the trip to Genoa. There he argued that "the entire social pact is built around work" and that when there are problems with work "it is democracy that enters into crisis". Then he resumed with admiration what the Italian Constitution says in Article 1: "Italy is a democratic republic, founded on work".
Behind this love for work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of every human being, an immense dignity that must never be lost, that in no case can be ignored or forgotten.
But every person is so worthy, and must be taken so seriously, that it is not just a matter of giving them things, but of promoting them. That is, that they can develop all the good that they have within themselves, that they can earn their bread with the gifts that God has given them, that they can develop their abilities. In this way, every person is promoted in all their dignity. And this is where work becomes so important.
Now be careful, Francis said. Another thing are some false speeches about "meritocracy". Because one thing is to evaluate the merits of a person and reward their efforts. Another thing is the false "meritocracy", which leads us to think that only those who have been successful in life have merit.
Let's look at a person who was born into a good family and was able to increase his wealth, lead a good life with a nice house, car, vacations abroad. Everything is fine. He was lucky enough to grow up in the right conditions and performed meritorious deeds. Thus, with skills and time he built a very comfortable life for himself and his children.
At the same time, someone who works with his arms, with equal or greater merits due to the efforts and time he has invested, has nothing. He was not lucky enough to be born in the same context and, no matter how much he sweats, he barely manages to survive.
I will tell you a case that I cannot forget: a young man I saw several times near my house in Buenos Aires. I would find him on the street, doing his job, which was collecting cardboard boxes and bottles to feed his family. When I went to university in the morning, when I returned, yet at night I would find him working. Once I asked him: "But how many hours do you work?" He replied: "Between 12 and 15 hours a day. Because I have several children to support and I want them to have a better future than me."
Then I asked him: "But when are you with them?" And he replied: "I have to choose, either I stay with them or I bring them food." Despite this, a well-dressed person who passed by said to him:
So I asked him: "But when are you with them?" And he replied: "I have to choose, either I stay with them or I bring them food". Despite this, a well-dressed person who was passing by said to him: "Go work, you lazy man!". These words seemed to me to be horrendously cruel and vain. But those words are also hidden behind other more elegant speeches.
Pope Francis launched a prophetic cry against this false idea. And in several conversations he pointed out to me: look, they lead us to think that most of the poor are so because they have no "merits". It seems that the one who has inherited many goods is more worthy than the one who has done hard work all his life without managing to save anything or even buy a small house.
That is why he stated in Evangelii Gaudium that in this model "it does not seem to make sense to invest so that those who are left behind, the weak or the less gifted can make their way in life" (EG 209).
The question that comes up is always the same: are the less gifted not human people? Don't the weak have the same dignity as us? Do those born with fewer possibilities just have to limit themselves to surviving? Isn't there a chance for them to have a job that allows them to grow, develop, create something better for their children? The value of our society depends on the answer we give to these questions.
But allow me to also present Pope Francis as a worker. He not only spoke about the value of work, but throughout his life he was someone who lived his mission with great effort, passion and commitment. For me it has always been a mystery to understand how he could tolerate, even being a grown man with several illnesses, such a demanding work rhythm. He not only worked in the morning with several meetings, audiences, celebrations and encounters, but also all afternoon. And it seemed truly heroic to me that with the very few strengths he had in his last days he made himself strong to visit a prison.
It's not that we can take him as an example, because he never took a few days off. In Buenos Aires, in the summer, if you didn't find a priest you certainly found him. When he was in Argentina he never went out to dinner, to the theater, for a walk or to see a movie, he never took a day off completely. Instead, we, normal beings, could not resist. But his life is an incentive to live our work generously.
What I want to show, however, is to what extent he understood that his work was his mission, his daily work was his response to God's love, it was the expression of his concern for the good of others. And for these reasons, work itself was his joy, his nourishment, his rest. He experienced what the first reading we heard says: "none of us lives for himself".
We ask for all workers, who sometimes have to work in unpleasant conditions, that they may find a way to live their work with dignity and hope, and that they receive compensation that allows them to look forward with hope.
But in this Mass, with the presence of the Vatican Curia, let us take into account that we in the Curia also work. Indeed, we are workers who respect a schedule, who carry out the tasks assigned to us, who must be responsible and make an effort and sacrifice in our commitments.
The responsibility of work is also for us in the Curia a path of maturation and fulfillment as Christians.
Finally, let me remember the love of Pope Francis for Saint Joseph, that strong and humble worker, that carpenter from a small forgotten village, who with his work took care of Mary and Jesus.
And let us also remember that when Pope Francis had a big problem, he put a piece of paper with a plea under the image of Saint Joseph. Then let us ask Saint Joseph to give a strong embrace to our dear Pope Francis in heaven.
Comments