Pope Leo XIV says "the mystery of death is linked to prayer for the dead, which the Church has practised from her earliest beginnings" at Mass for Deceased Cardinals - FULL TEXT Homily

HOLY MASS FOR THE CARDINALS AND BISHOPS WHO HAVE DIED OVER THE PAST YEAR


PAPAL MASS

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV

St. Peter’s Basilica
Thursday, 5 November 2026


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“If anyone serves me, they must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also” (Jn 12:26).


These words of Jesus speak directly to our hearts, calling us to follow him along the path that he himself has walked: the path to glory through the cross. Along this journey — on which trials and sufferings are not spared us — we are guided and sustained by a promise: that of a communion over which death has no power. Indeed, whoever follows Christ becomes his servant and will always be where he is, precisely because they have followed his path. Hence Saint Paul affirms: “If we have died with him, we will also live with him” (2 Tim 2:11). Dear friends, this certainty of faith and hope inspires our celebration for the repose of the souls of the Cardinals and Bishops who have left us during the past year. We wish to pray to the Lord for them, that he may reward his faithful servants.

Our prayerful remembrance invites us to reflect on the spiritual value of memory. As she was taking leave of her sons, Augustine and Navigius, shortly before her death, Saint Monica said: “One thing only I ask of you, that you remember me at the altar of the Lord, wherever you may be” (Saint Augustine, Confessions, IX, 11, 27). Here the mystery of death is linked to prayer for the dead, which the Church has practised from her earliest beginnings as one of her fundamental duties.

In the light of the word of God, then, we can briefly reflect on two truths that illuminate our prayer for the deceased: hope in the resurrection and the communion of saints.

The account of Judas Maccabeus that we heard in the first reading (2 Macc 12:43-46) helps us reflect on the resurrection. After some of his companions, who had been guilty of idolatry, fell in battle, Judas entrusted them to God’s mercy and arranged for a sin offering to be made on their behalf, so that they might be absolved of their sin. This action rests on the certainty that the communion we experience with one another on earth, despite its limitations and failings, does not come to an end when it is placed in God’s hands. The testimony of the Maccabees thus anticipates what is found in fulfilment in the Christian liturgy. For our remembrance of our departed brothers and sisters at the altar of the Lord is founded on the promise that our life, in Christ, is not lost, because it has been redeemed.

Judas’s action is first and foremost an act of faith, because he offered his sacrifice “in the firm hope that those who had died would rise again” (v. 44). In the light of Jesus, who is himself the author of the resurrection, we too pray for our departed in virtue of the great hope bestowed upon us in the Paschal Mystery. For, as Scripture emphasizes, if there were no resurrection, it would be futile to pray for the dead (cf. v. 44). The Apostle Paul likewise issues this earnest declaration: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain” (1 Cor 15:13-14).

Dear friends, to pray for the repose of the dead is to celebrate life — firstly the risen life of Christ the Lord, and then, by his grace, our own life, which rises again in him. The Eucharistic sacrifice is the memorial of his passover, through which he saved us by giving himself for us. Let us not, therefore, allow the remembrance of the dead to become mere nostalgia. In faith, let us contemplate the mystery of death without fear, because the Lord is alive, awaits us and has already prepared a place for us in his Father’s house (cf. Jn 14:2-3).

The Church celebrates this act of entrustment and hope within the communion of saints. When we pray for the dead, we do so not only for them, but also with them, drawn into a reciprocity that the Holy Spirit brings to life in our hearts. The Church is the mystery of communion between Christ, the head, and us, his members: from him we receive life. This communion unites the blessed spirits who already contemplate the face of God with all those who, in heaven or on earth, are journeying toward that radiant goal.

Dear friends, in Christ, death does not dissolve our bonds. Rather, it transfigures them into a new dimension, which can be understood only in the mystery of his love, given to the very end on the cross and poured out after his paschal victory. By welcoming the charity of the risen Lord in the holy Eucharist, let us therefore preserve and nurture this communion throughout our journey, so that when our own hour comes, we too may receive the prayers of our brothers and sisters still on pilgrimage and rejoice with all the saints in the joy of our heavenly homeland.

Source: Vatican News Bulletin