Vatican City, Jun 29, 2020 / 08:30 am (CNA).- Here is the full text of Pope Francis’ homily on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul delivered June 29, 2020 at the Basilica of St. Peter, and checked against delivery.
On the feast of the two Apostles of this city, I would like to share with you two key words: unity and prophecy.
Unity. We celebrate together two very different individuals: Peter, a fisherman who spent his days amid boats and nets, and Paul, a learned Pharisee who taught in synagogues. When they went forth on mission, Peter spoke to Jews, and Paul to pagans. And when their paths crossed, they could argue heatedly, as Paul is unashamed to admit in one of his letters (cf. Gal 2:11). In short, they were two very different people, yet they saw one another as brothers, as happens in close-knit families where there may be frequent arguments, but unfailing love. Yet the closeness that joined Peter and Paul did not come from natural inclinations, but from the Lord. He did not command us to like one another, but to love one another. He is the one who unites us, without making us all alike. He unites us in our differences.
Today’s first reading brings us to the source of this unity. It relates how the newly born Church was experiencing a moment of crisis: Herod was furious, a violent persecution had broken out, and the Apostle James had been killed. And now Peter had been arrested. The community seemed headless, everyone fearing for his life. Yet at that tragic moment no one ran away, no one thought about saving his own skin, no one abandoned the others, but all joined in prayer. From prayer they drew strength, from prayer came a unity more powerful than any threat. The text says that, “while Peter was kept in prison, the Church prayed fervently to God for him” (Acts 12:5). Unity is the fruit of prayer, for prayer allows the Holy Spirit to intervene, opening our hearts to hope, shortening distances and holding us together at times of difficulty.
Let us notice something else: at that dramatic moment, no one complained about Herod’s evil and his persecution. No one insulted Herod — and we are so used to insulting those who hold responsibility. It is pointless, even tedious, for Christians to waste their time complaining about the world, about society, about everything that is not right. Complaints change nothing. Let us remember that complaints are the second door closed to the Holy Spirit, as I said on the day of Pentecost: the first is narcissism, the second discouragement, the third pessimism. Narcissism takes you to the mirror, to continually look at yourself; discouragement to complaints; pessimism to the dark, in the dark. These are the attitudes that close the door to the Holy Spirit. Those Christians did not cast blame; they prayed. In that community, no one said: “If Peter had been more careful, we would not be in this situation.” No one. Peter, as a human, had reasons to be criticized, but no one criticized him. They did not talk about Peter; they prayed for him. They did not talk about Peter behind his back, but they spoke to God. We today can ask: “Are we protecting our unity with prayer? The unity of the Church? Are we praying for one another?” What would happen if we prayed more and complained less? … with speech that was a little more calm. The same thing that happened to Peter in prison: now as then, so many closed doors would be opened, so many chains that bind would be broken. And we would be amazed, like the girl who — seeing Peter at the gate — did not open it, but ran inside, amazed with the joy of seeing Peter. Let us ask for the grace to be able to pray for one another. Saint Paul urged Christians to pray for everyone, especially those who govern (cf. 1 Tim 2:1-3). “But this ruler is to be …,” and the descriptions are many. I will not say them because this is not the time nor the place to say the qualifications that are heard against the rulers. Let God judge them, but let us pray for those who govern. Let us pray; they need prayer. This is a task that the Lord has entrusted to us. Are we carrying it out? Or do we simply talk, criticize, and do nothing? God expects that when we pray we will also be mindful of those who do not think as we do, those who have slammed the door in our face, those whom we find it hard to forgive. Only prayer unlocks chains, only prayer paves the way to unity.
Today we bless the pallia to be bestowed on the dean of the College of Cardinals and the metropolitan archbishops named in the last year. The pallium is a sign of the unity between the sheep and the Shepherd who, like Jesus, carries the sheep on his shoulders, so as never to be separated from it. Today too, in accordance with a fine tradition, we are united in a particular way with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Peter and Andrew were brothers, and, whenever possible, we exchange fraternal visits on our respective feast days. We do so not only out of courtesy, but as a means of journeying together towards the goal that the Lord points out to us: that of full unity. Today they were unable to come due to the problem of travel due to the coronavirus, but when I went down to venerate the remains of Peter, I felt in my heart my beloved brother Bartholomew. They are here with us.
The second word is prophecy. Unity and prophecy. The Apostles were challenged by Jesus. Peter heard Jesus’ question: “Who do you say I am?” (cf. Mt 16:15). At that moment he realized that the Lord was not interested in what others thought, but in Peter’s personal decision to follow him. Paul’s life changed after a similar challenge from Jesus: “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” (Acts 9:4). The Lord shook Paul to the core: more than just knocking him to the ground on the road to Damascus, he shattered Paul’s illusion of being respectably religious. As a result, the proud Saul turned into Paul. Paul, a name that means “small”. These challenges and reversals are followed by prophecies: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church” (Mt 16:18); and, for Paul: “He is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel” (Acts 9:15). Prophecy is born whenever we allow ourselves to be challenged by God, not when we are concerned to keep everything quiet and under control. It doesn’t come from my thoughts, it doesn’t come from my closed heart. It is born if we allow ourselves to be challenged by God. When the Gospel overturns certainties, prophecy arises. Only someone who is open to God’s surprises can become a prophet. And there they are: Peter and Paul, prophets who look to the future. Peter is the first to proclaim that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mt 16:16). Paul, who considers his impending death: “From now on there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will award to me” (2 Tim 4:8).
Today we need prophecy, real prophecy: not fast talkers who promise the impossible, but testimonies that the Gospel is possible. What is needed are not miraculous shows — it hurts me when I hear it said: “We want a prophetic Church.” Well, what do you do for the Church to be prophetic? We need lives that show the miracle of God’s love. Not forcefulness, but forthrightness. Not palaver, but prayer. Not speeches, but service. Do you want a prophetic Church? Start serving and be silent. Not theory, but testimony. We are not to become rich, but rather to love the poor. We are not to save up for ourselves, but to spend ourselves for others. To seek not the approval of this world — that of being good with everyone — no, this is not prophecy, but we need the joy of the world to come. Not better pastoral plans that seem to have their own efficiency, as if they were sacraments, efficient pastoral projects, no, but we need pastors who offer their lives: lovers of God. That is how Peter and Paul preached Jesus, as men in love with God. At his crucifixion, Peter did not think about himself, but about his Lord, and, considering himself unworthy of dying like Jesus, asked to be crucified upside down. Before his beheading, Paul thought only of offering his life; he wrote that he wanted to be “poured out like a libation” (2 Tim 4:6). That was prophecy. Not words. That was prophecy, the prophecy that changes history.
Dear brothers and sisters, Jesus prophesied to Peter: “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church”. There is a similar prophecy for us too. It is found in the last book of the Bible, where Jesus promises his faithful witnesses “a white stone, on which a new name is written” (Rev 2:17). Just as the Lord turned Simon into Peter, so he is calling each one of us, in order to make us living stones with which to build a renewed Church and a renewed humanity. There are always those who destroy unity and stifle prophecy, yet the Lord believes in us and he asks you: “You, do you want to be a builder of unity? Do you want to be a prophet of my heaven on earth?” Brothers and Sisters, let us be challenged by Jesus, and find the courage to say to him: “Yes, I do!”
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““We focus on sex and then we do not give weight to social injustice, slander, gossip and lies.”
We focus on sex becaust at the moment that is the sin that is being pushed most, with claims tha sexual sin is not evil and that we must be “tolerant.”
“Have you never seen young priests all stiff in black cassocks and hats in the shape of the planet Saturn on their heads? Behind all the rigid clericalism there are serious problems.””
There are a lot fewer problems with them, I suspect, than with the young priests who are schlepping around in lay clothes being just one of the guys. The ones in the cassocks and with the hats are at least remembering that they are priests.
More often than not..one of the GAY guys.
Whats a BILLION babies murdered by abortion to this Pope….just a chance to bash Catholics who take the faith seriously.
As we have come to endure, Pope Francis makes one good point by unmaking another. No, clericalism is NOT a “fixation on sexual morality”…
Instead, clericalism–as the collared form of domination–is rooted in lust. The height of clericalism in all its forms is to appropriate what is not our own.
From St. Paul: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own” (1 Cor 6:19). And this from St. Augustine who, from early personal experience, surely knew what he was talking about:
“But to return to the word ‘lust’. As lust for revenge is called anger, so lust for money is avarice, lust to win at any price is obstinacy, lust for bragging is vanity. And there are still many other kinds of lust, some with names and some without. For example, it would be difficult to find a specific name for that lust for domination [clericalism!]which plays such havoc with the souls of the ambitious soldiers and comes to light in every civil war” (Book XIV, Ch. 15).
The Church itself is now in civil war–betrayed by the lust of an evasive “clericalism” that would enable and normalize the homosexual subculture even within the Church! There’s also the insight, maybe from a former pope, that while perhaps overrated in itself, sexual failing is nevertheless an open door to all of the other fatal vices, including those now flagged by Pope Francis (“social injustice, slander, gossip, lies”).
“Have you never seen young priests all stiff in black cassocks and hats in the shape of the planet Saturn on their heads? Behind all the rigid clericalism there are serious problems.” Truly, the hatefulness of this man knows no bounds. He sees modesty and virtue, devotion and piety, self-effacement and discipline with a jaundiced and sickly eye!
Francis is preparing the soil for what comes out of the German Synod.
I am very touched by Pope Francis humanity. He is wonderful gift to the church and the word. A true shepherd.
Marxists are always probing for weaknesses in the society they wish to destroy. Extreme poverty is inexcusable but Marxism draws its diabolical strength from envy. Sexual immorality leads to poverty of unwed mothers or abandoned wives and children, AIDS and other STDs and abortion. Sexual immorality has destroyed western civilization.
And yet, so much of the focus on sexual immorality concerns homosexuality rather than adultery or straight up fornication. No woman was ever left an unwed mother due to homosexual activity.
No woman was ever left an unwed mother due to homosexual activity.
You conveniently omitted the caveat “that I know of.”
And yet, so much of the focus on sexual immorality concerns homosexuality rather than adultery or straight up fornication.
80%+ of abuse committed by sexual deviants masquerading as Catholic Priests involves homosexual ephebophilia. The Pontiff might be capable of multitasking – although that remains in doubt – but he needs to first purge the seminaries, consecrated religious and Priesthood of homosexuals before he can have any credibility judging the sinful behavior of adulterers and fornicators.
OMG!
A true shepherd.
A true shepherd wouldn’t cultivate schism.
Pope Francis is The best pope we have had in my lifetime and I was born 15 yrs before the death of Pius XII.
“We focus on sex and then we do not give weight to social injustice, slander, gossip and lies. The Church today needs a profound conversion in this area,” the pope said. Most of the young priests in cassocks coming out of the seminaries unscathed by those clerics that the clericalists won’t remove are in fact well balanced in morality, liturgy, and charity. If things can be said of a priest who does not know his flock, what should be said of a Pope who does not know his priests.
Pope Francis is right, fundamentalism and Catholic fundamentalists spend way too much focus on sexuality and ignore the worst sins going on in the world! it’s time for people to reread what Jesus had to say about what’s really important
Blaise Cupich, is that you?
At least we have a clue as to why PF did nothing about McCarrick, did not respond to the Dubia, protected his abusive friend Bishops in South America, and told the American Bishops to take a hike when they tried to convene to do something about the 2018 summer of shame clerical sexual abuses. He just doesn’t see Greed and Lust as being that bad at all, despite them still being on the list of capital sins.
Based on the Pope’s statements, I guess that he must regard Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, and all the virgin saints as being too sexually rigid. By his non-standards their chastity must be completely unacceptable to the modernist wing of the Church.
The millions of lives lost to abortion and the millions more ruined by the sexual revolution (which includes persons sexually abused by Priests who have betrayed their vow of celibacy) are far more important and a far more immediate threat to the world than climate change or migrants.
“… Have you never seen young priests all stiff in black cassocks and hats in the shape of the planet Saturn on their heads? Behind all the rigid clericalism there are serious problems.”
The Pontiff’s tendency to utter foolish, nonbinding, prudential statements and his well documented apathy and indifference to the heretics polluting the clerical state are legitimate, serious problems not the traditional head gear and clerical attire worn by faithful Priests.
ACTION ITEM! SATURNOS FOR CLERICS!
“We focus on sex and then we do not give weight to social injustice, slander, gossip and lies”. Unless the Pontiff has discovered a new sanctification for the Christian and for all persons historically personal holiness is what initiates authentic compassion for the underprivileged and the environment evidenced in Medieval Catholicism’s initiating hospital care for the poor, monastic advancements in agricultural development, care of animals Francis of Assisi a prime example. The dearth of effective response in the world at present is due precisely to secularist global organizations and their benefactors who persistently foster a political agenda of unprincipled morality in guise of freedom [Catholicism has been verbally attacked by senior UN officials for being against contraception and abortion – although some Catholic agencies have succumbed especially in support of tho Pontiff]. It is reducible to conversion to a secular humanist vision that inhibits convincing response. What viable impact has the ‘brotherhood’ of secular socialists had? George Soros a prime example who had said he is like God. Because Pope Francis follows his bidding in principle. Certainly there is evidence of parallel interests and known monetary support to Church social justice programs and nominal Catholic political candidates. Abortion on the demand focus off traditional family structure acceptance of where you’re at morally. Except if you’re rigid wear a cassock teach the truth on sexual morality – not the gravest yet the most prolific sin the likely major cause for eternal condemnation.