Pope Francis prays for pandemic-hit Amazon region at Regina Coeli

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Vatican City, Nov 2, 2021 / 14:30 pm (CNA).
Nestled in Rome just outside the Vatican, a small unassuming museum dedicated to the souls in Purgatory displays simple items such as prayer books and clothing…. […]

Pope Francis prays during the Easter Vigil Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on April 8, 2023. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 8, 2023 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ Easter Vigil homily, delivered on April 8 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

The night is drawing to a close and the first light of dawn is appearing upon the horizon as the women set out toward Jesus’ tomb. They make their way forward, bewildered and dismayed, their hearts overwhelmed with grief at the death that took away their Beloved. Yet upon arriving and seeing the empty tomb, they turn around and retrace their steps. They leave the tomb behind and run to the disciples to proclaim a change of course: Jesus is risen and awaits them in Galilee. In their lives, those women experienced Easter as a Pasch, a passage. They pass from walking sorrowfully towards the tomb to running back with joy to the disciples to tell them not only that the Lord is risen, but also that they are to set out immediately to reach a destination, Galilee. There they will meet the Risen Lord; that is where the resurrection leads them. The rebirth of the disciples, the resurrection of their hearts, passes through Galilee. Let us enter into this journey of the disciples from the tomb to Galilee.

The Gospel tells us that the women went “to see the tomb” (Mt 28:1). They think that they will find Jesus in the place of death and that everything is over, forever. Sometimes we too may think that the joy of our encounter with Jesus is something belonging to the past, whereas the present consists mostly of sealed tombs: tombs of disappointment, bitterness, and distrust, of the dismay of thinking that “nothing more can be done”, “things will never change”, “better to live for today”, since “there is no certainty about tomorrow”. If we are prey to sorrow, burdened by sadness, laid low by sin, embittered by failure, or troubled by some problem, we also know the bitter taste of weariness and the absence of joy.

At times, we may simply feel weary about our daily routine, tired of taking risks in a cold, hard world where only the clever and the strong seem to get ahead. At other times, we may feel helpless and discouraged before the power of evil, the conflicts that tear relationships apart, the attitudes of calculation and indifference that seem to prevail in society, the cancer of corruption … the spread of injustice, the icy winds of war. Then too, we may have come face to face with death, because it robbed us of the presence of our loved ones or because we brushed up against it in illness or a serious setback. Then it is easy to yield to disillusionment, once the wellspring of hope has dried up. In these or similar situations … our paths come to a halt before a row of tombs, and we stand there, filled with sorrow and regret, alone and powerless, repeating the question, “Why?” … The women at Easter, however, do not stand frozen before the tomb; rather, the Gospel tells us, “They went away quickly from the tomb, fearful yet overjoyed … and ran to announce this to his disciples” (v. 8). They bring the news that will change life and history forever: Christ is risen! (v. 6). At the same time, they remember to convey the Lord’s summons to the disciples to go to Galilee, for there they will see him (cf. v. 7). Brothers and sisters, what does it mean to go to Galilee? Two things: on the one hand, to leave the enclosure of the Upper Room and go to the land of the Gentiles (cf. Mt 4:15), to come forth from hiding and to open themselves up to mission, to leave fear behind and to set out for the future. On the other hand–-and this is very good—to return to the origins, for it was precisely in Galilee that everything began. There the Lord had met and first called the disciples. So, to go to Galilee means to return to the grace of the beginnings, to regain the memory that regenerates hope, the “memory of the future” bestowed on us by the Risen One.

This, then, is what the Pasch of the Lord accomplishes: it motivates us to move forward, to leave behind our sense of defeat, to roll away the stone of the tombs in which we often imprison our hope, and to look with confidence to the future, for Christ is risen and has changed the direction of history. Yet, to do this, the Pasch of the Lord takes us back to the grace of our own past; it brings us back to Galilee, where our love story with Jesus began. Where was that first call? In other words, it asks us to relive that moment, that situation, that experience in which we met the Lord, experienced his love, and received a radiantly new way of seeing ourselves … the world around us, and the mystery of life itself. To rise again, to start anew, to take up the journey, we always need to return to Galilee, that is, to go back, not to an abstract or ideal Jesus, but to the living, concrete, and palpable memory of our first encounter with him. Yes, brothers and sisters, to go forward we need to go back, to remember; to have hope, we need to revive our memory. This is what we are asked to do: to remember and go forward! If you recover that first love, the wonder and joy of your encounter with God, you will keep advancing. So remember, and keep moving forward. Remember, and keep moving forward.

Remember your own Galilee and walk towards it, for it is the “place” where you came to know Jesus personally, where he stopped being just another personage from a distant past, but a living person: not some distant God but the God who is at your side, who more than anyone else knows you and loves you. Brother, sister, remember Galilee, your Galilee, and your call. Remember the Word of God who at a precise moment spoke directly to you. Remember that powerful experience of the Spirit; that great joy of forgiveness experienced after that one confession; that intense and unforgettable moment of prayer; that light that was kindled within you and changed your life; that encounter, that pilgrimage. … Each of us knows the place of his or her interior resurrection, that beginning and foundation, the place where things changed. We cannot leave this in the past; the Risen Lord invites us to return there to celebrate Easter. … Remember your Galilee. Remind yourself.

Today, relive that memory. Return to that first encounter. Think back on what it was like, and reconstruct the context, time, and place. Remember the emotions and sensations; see the colors and savor the taste of it. For, you know, it is when you forgot that first love when you failed to remember that first encounter, that the dust began to settle on your heart. That is when you experienced sorrow and, like the disciples, you saw the future as empty, like a tomb with a stone sealing off all hope. Yet today, brothers and sisters, the power of Easter summons you to roll away every stone of disappointment and mistrust. The Lord is an expert in rolling back the stones of sin and fear. He wants to illuminate your sacred memory, your most beautiful memory, and to make you relive your first encounter with him. Remember and keep moving forward. Return to him and rediscover the grace of God’s resurrection within you …

Dear brothers and sisters, let us follow Jesus to Galilee, encounter him, and worship him there, where he is waiting for each of us. Let us revive the beauty of that moment when we realized that he is alive and we made him the Lord of our lives. Let us return to Galilee. … Let each of us return to his or her own Galilee, to the place where we first encountered him. Let us rise to new life!

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President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference Cardinal Matteo Maria Zuppi (center) attends the consistory for the creation of new cardinals at St. Peter’s Basilica on Aug. 27, 2022, in Vatican City. / Photo by Franco Origlia/Getty Images

Rome Newsroom, Oct 31, 2022 / 10:00 am (CNA).

The head of the Italian bishops’ conference, Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, presided over Vespers on Friday for an annual Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) pilgrimage to Rome.

The pilgrimage is named after Pope Benedict XVI’s 2007 apostolic letter Summorum Pontificum, which acknowledged the right of all priests to offer Mass according to the 1962 Roman Missal, which is in Latin.

The Traditional Latin Mass pilgrimage, organized by the People of Summorum Pontificum, is in its 11th year. 

In other words, it predates the recent restrictions and changes decreed by Pope Francis, and Zuppi made it clear: There are no special “signs” to be interpreted by his attendance. 

Zuppi, 67, said he had received an invitation to participate before he was appointed president of the Italian Bishops’ Conference. He agreed to it, “not thinking there was anything wrong.” 

Nonetheless, Zuppi’s participation in the pilgrimage, which brings to Rome thousands of pilgrims who favor the Traditional Latin Mass, had a particular, if not surprising, impact.

The pilgrimage over the years has seen several cardinals and archbishops celebrate for the numerous pilgrims. 

Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera celebrated with the pilgrims in 2012 in St. Peter’s Basilica when he was prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship.

Yet, Cañizares — who recently retired as archbishop of Valencia, Spain — was among those who practically applied Pope Francis’ motu proprio Traditionis Custodes to the letter, suspending the celebration of the TLM in his archdiocese.

Traditionis custodes is the July 16, 2021, motu proprio in which Pope Francis placed sweeping restrictions on the celebration of Mass using the 1962 Roman Missal, known variously as the extraordinary form of the Roman Rite, the Tridentine Mass, and the Traditional Latin Mass. (You can read a further explanation of the document here.)

While some bishops, such as Cañizares, applied the restrictions to the letter, Zuppi, in his archdiocese of Bologna, found a pragmatic solution. 

The cleric, who has a reputation as the “bicycling cardinal,” also took into account the particular sensitivity of the faithful of the diocese.

In a decree, Zuppi noted that a traditional community had immediately started in Bologna after Summorum Pontificum and that this celebration had already met the requirements of Traditionis Custodes. 

So the cardinal decided to keep everything as it was — except to find another non-parish church — allowing the faithful to attend the Traditional Latin Mass.

Indeed, Zuppi emphasized that “the liturgical tradition has given an unmistakable mark to our local Church. It is a garden to be cultivated with renewed love and passion without ever resigning ourselves to weariness and laziness, which — even when they do not degenerate into abuses — end up weakening the formidable strength of the liturgy from which the Church is born and always is built.”

Zuppi’s decision should not come as a surprise, considering that as a bishop, he also accepted invitations to celebrate the TLM.

His participation in this year’s Summorum Pontificum pilgrimage was to be expected.

Recently, Zuppi also visited the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) in Gricigliano, near Florence. 

The ICKSP also celebrates the Traditional Latin Mass, and Zuppi was reportedly impressed by the many seminarians.

While an experienced pastor and much-respected bishop, Zuppi is not considered a “traditionalist” or “conservative” and is known for his active support of the Community of Sant’Egidio.

His tendency to act as a builder of bridges is also noticeable in a fragmented College of Cardinals. 

Pope Francis appointed Zuppi as a member of the Dicastery of the Eastern Churches. He is already a member of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The archbishop of Bologna, therefore, increases his duties in the Curia, becoming a member of a very important dicastery.

Do all these moves make Zuppi a candidate for the succession of Pope Francis? That is idle speculation. How the cardinal-electors might decide in a possible conclave remains to be seen.

The only tangible fact is that Zuppi does not want to be divisive. Instead, he is building bridges — which might yet prove to be an essential role in a Church marred by tensions and divisions.

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