A priest friend of Pope Leo XIV shares memories of him in Peru

Pope Francis at the Jubilee of the Sick in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, April 6, 2025, wearing nasal cannulas for supplemental oxygen as he continues recovering from bilateral pneumonia. / Credit: Daniel Ibañez/EWTN News

CNA Newsroom, Apr 6, 2025 / 07:32 am (CNA).

Still recovering from bilateral pneumonia that hospitalized him for nearly 40 days, Pope Francis made a surprise appearance in St. Peter’s Square on Sunday for the Jubilee of the Sick, sharing profound reflections on suffering, care, and the transformative power of illness.

Wearing nasal cannulas that provide supplemental oxygen, Pope Francis arrived in a wheelchair accompanied by a nurse.

Hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square on April 6, receiving him enthusiastically around 11:45 a.m. local time.

In his homily for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers, which was read aloud by Archbishop Rino Fisichella as the pope continues his recovery, Francis drew inspiration from the prophet Isaiah and the day’s Gospel reading to explore the spiritual dimensions of illness and healing.

The pontiff said that “the sickbed can become a ‘holy place’ of salvation and redemption, both for the sick and for those who care for them.”

“I have much in common with you at this time of my life, dear brothers and sisters who are sick: the experience of illness, of weakness, of having to depend on others in so many things, and of needing their support,” the pope told his audience.

“This is not always easy, but it is a school in which we learn each day to love and to let ourselves be loved, without being demanding or pushing back, without regrets and without despair, but rather with gratitude to God and to our brothers and sisters for the kindness we receive, looking toward the future with acceptance and trust.”

The 88-year-old pontiff invited the faithful to contemplate the Israelites’ situation in exile, as Isaiah described. “It seemed that all was lost,” Francis noted, but added that it was precisely in this moment of trial that “a new people was being born.” He connected this biblical experience to the woman in the day’s Gospel reading who had been condemned and ostracized for her sins.

Her accusers, ready to cast the first stone, were halted by the quiet authority of Jesus, the pope’s homily explained.

In comparing these stories, Pope Francis emphasized that God does not wait for our lives to be perfect before intervening.

“Illness is certainly one of the harshest and most difficult of life’s trials, when we experience in our own flesh our common human frailty. It can make us feel like the people in exile, or like the woman in the Gospel: deprived of hope for the future,” the pontiff’s homily said.

“Yet that is not the case. Even in these times, God does not leave us alone, and if we surrender our lives to him, precisely when our strength fails, we will be able to experience the consolation of his presence. By becoming man, he wanted to share our weakness in everything.”

Pope Francis thanked all health care workers for their service in a particularly moving passage: “Dear doctors, nurses, and health care workers, in caring for your patients, especially the most vulnerable among them, the Lord constantly affords you an opportunity to renew your lives through gratitude, mercy, and hope.”

The pontiff encouraged them to receive every patient as an opportunity to renew their sense of humanity. His words acknowledged the challenges facing medical workers, including inadequate working conditions and even instances of aggression against them.

Bringing his address to a close, the pontiff recalled the encyclical Spe Salvi of Pope Benedict XVI, who reminded the Church that “the true measure of humanity is determined in relation to suffering.” Francis warned, with the words of his predecessor, that “a society unable to accept its suffering members is a cruel and inhuman society.”

The Holy Father urged all present to resist the temptation to marginalize and forget the elderly, ill, or those weighed down by life’s hardships: “Dear friends, let us not exclude from our lives those who are frail, as at times, sadly, a certain mentality does today.”

‘I feel the finger of God’

In his brief Angelus remarks following the Mass, the pope shared his personal experience: “Dear friends, as during my hospitalization, even now in my convalescence I feel the ‘finger of God’ and experience his caring touch.”

The pope also called for prayers for all who suffer and for health care professionals, urging investment in necessary resources for care and research, so that health care systems may be inclusive and attend to the most fragile and poor.

Pope Francis concluded with a plea for peace in conflict zones, including Ukraine, Gaza, the Middle East, Sudan, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, and Haiti.

The Holy See has not yet commented on whether Pope Francis will participate in Holy Week ceremonies, with the Vatican press office indicating that “it is premature to discuss this” and assuring that further details will be provided later.

[…]

Vatican City, May 6, 2017 / 10:46 am (CNA/EWTN News).- As 40 new Swiss Guards take an oath to defend and protect Pope Francis, their commander has emphasized that their role is not only to be a security force, but has a spiritual aspect as well.

“If someone in the (job) interview only talks about security and doesn’t know who they are giving security for…for me he is not a candidate,” Christoph Graf, Commander of the Swiss Guard, told journalists May 5. 

“For me a candidate must have a foundation in the faith, to be a practicing Catholic” who goes to Mass and prays, he said, adding that if a young man knows nothing of the faith, “I don’t know what he’s looking for (in the Swiss Guard).”

Because of the army’s ties to the Pope and to the Church, he said having a solid faith life is “fundamental,” and explained that it’s even possible “to help some on the path of faith” if they have only a minimal knowledge.

In addition to being a line of defense for the Bishop of Rome, the Guard must also be “missionary,” he said, saying they must protect the Pope “with weapons, but also the faith. With prayer.”

Graf, who has served as the 35th Commander of the Pontifical Swiss Guard since 2015, spoke at a press conference a day ahead of the official swearing-in of 40 new Swiss Guards, who take a special oath to defend and protect the Pope. 

With roughly 100 applicants for 30-35 spots each year, competition to be a Swiss Guard is tough, Graf said – there is a process of filtering the candidates in order to ween the list down to 40 or 50 people, who come to him for a final interview. 

After speaking with each of them for 15-20 minutes, “you know” who the real candidates are, he said. 

Those who are accepted serve for a minimum of two years, but can also stay in service for an additional year or two, which was the case for many guards during last year’s Jubilee of Mercy.

With a motto of “Courage and Loyalty,” the Pontifical Swiss Guard currently has just over 110 members, making it the smallest, though oldest army in the world.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”><p lang=”es” dir=”ltr”><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Vaticano?src=hash”>#Vaticano</a>. <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/GuardiasSuizos?src=hash”>#GuardiasSuizos</a> preparándose para su ceremonia dónde jurarán fidelidad al Papa. Fotos: <a href=”https://twitter.com/aciprensa”>@aciprensa</a> <a href=”https://t.co/Cx3bO3wMjZ”>pic.twitter.com/Cx3bO3wMjZ</a></p>&mdash; Daniel Ibáñez (@dibanezgut) <a href=”https://twitter.com/dibanezgut/status/860865593112711168″>May 6, 2017</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

The official swearing-in ceremony takes place each year on the anniversary of the May 6, 1527 battle that has come to be known as the Sack of Rome, and which was the most significant and deadly event in the history of the Swiss Guard.

In the course of the battle, 147 guards lost their lives while fighting the army of the mutinous Holy Roman Empire in defense of Clement VII, who was able to escape through a secret passageway leading from the Vatican to Castel Sant’Angelo, which sits next to the Tiber River.

As part of the schedule this year, the family members of the new guards prayed Vespers the evening of May 5 in the church of Santa Maria della Pieta in the Vatican’s Teutonic College. Later, the “deposition of the crown” ceremony took place in commemoration of the guards who died during the Sack of Rome.

Before taking their official oath in the afternoon, the guards had 7:30 a.m. Mass with Cardinal Gerhard Muller, Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter’s Basilica. 

They then met with Pope Francis before getting ready for the swearing-in ceremony, which took place in the San Damasco courtyard of the apostolic palace and was attended by Graf and representatives of the Swiss Army and the Swiss government, as well as the Bishops Conference of Switzerland. 

During the event, each new recruit approaches the flag of the Swiss Guard when his name is called out. Firmly grasping the banner with his left hand, the new guard raises his right hand and opens three fingers as a sign of his faith in the Holy Trinity.

As he holds up his fingers, the guard proclaims this oath: “I, (name), swear diligently and faithfully to abide by all that has just been read out to me, so grant me God and so help me his saints.”

In English, the full oath reads: “I swear I will faithfully, loyally and honorably serve the Supreme Pontiff Francis and his legitimate successors, and also dedicate myself to them with all my strength, sacrificing if necessary also my life to defend them. I assume this same commitment with regard to the Sacred College of Cardinals whenever the see is vacant. Furthermore, I promise to the Commanding Captain and my other superiors respect, fidelity and obedience. This I swear! May God and our Holy Patrons assist me!”

In comments to CNA, one of the new guards, Filippo Inches, spoke of the connection between his service and the faith, saying that “without doubt my faith has increased and has been fortified.” 

“Because living 24/7 in this environment, in the context of the Vatican, surrounded by all these monsignors, archbishops and the Pope himself; participating at least one or twice a week in one of his events, listening to his preaching – inevitably and involuntarily something sticks,” he said.

Inches, who has served as a Swiss Guard for the past 11 months, is from the small Swiss town of Vacallo, which sits on the border with Italy, just 37 miles north of Milan. He took his official oath to protect and defend Pope Francis alongside 39 other guards this year.

By serving in the small army, “you also realize increasingly how important the role of the Church is as an institution,” he said, suggesting that while the Church is often criticized from the outside, being on the inside shows a different story. 

“On the inside, you are aware of how many efforts are made to seek for dialogue, and peaceful solution to the various controversies and conflicts, whether on a political level, an economic level, cultural with different forums and also at the scientific level,” Inches said.

The guard explained that he had wanted to join ever since he was young. He traveled to Rome often as a child, where he always noticed the Swiss Guard, but it wasn’t until he was studying humanities in university that he decided to jump into the “adventure” of becoming one. 

He said that for him, defending the Pope means “being a part of history” given the army’s ancient roots. 

“So belonging to this corps I am very proud,” he said, “you see the universality, both of the Church and of history.”

Inches said he has had the opportunity to see the Pope and speak with him on several occasions during events or while standing guard outside his room.

“It can happen that he greets you, extending his hand and exchanging some joke,” he said, adding that what moves him most is when he sees the Pope coming in and out of his room, because “he gives this look like there is always a certain familiarity between him and the guards.”

In his speech to the guards and their families before the official swearing-in ceremony, Pope Francis told the guards that while they might not be called to give their lives like the 127 who died during the Sack of Rome, they are called “to another sacrifice no less arduous: to serve the power of faith.”

“This is a true barrier to resist the various strengths and powers of this world and above all he who is the ‘prince of this world’,” the Pope said, telling the guards they are called to be “strong and valorous, sustained by faith in Christ and by his Word of salvation.”

He invited them to live their time in Rome with “sincere brotherhood,” supporting each other in an exemplary Christian life that is “motivated and supported by your faith.” 

“I’m sure that the strongest push to come to Rome to fulfill this service was given to you precisely by your faith,” he said, explaining that their mission comes primarily from their baptism, which allows them to bear witness to their faith in Christ. 

He urged them to practice charitable service toward one another, being “missionary disciples” in the daily tasks which might seem repetitive, but to which “it is important to always give new meaning.”

During his speech at the swearing-in, Graf noted that this year marks the 600th anniversary of the birth of one of the patron saints of the Swiss Guard, St. Nicholas of Flue, known as the “defensor Pacis et pater patriate,” or, “the defender of peace and the father of our country.” Other patron saints are St. Martin and St. Sebastian.

Graf encouraged the guards to look to Scripture and the lives of the saints for examples of how to give their lives generously and with humility, saying “whoever wants to successfully guide must first learn how to love people.”

He pointed to various economic and political crises taking place throughout Europe, including those of poverty, unemployment, terrorism, migration and “a growing Islamophobia,” which are causing “a certain sense of impotence and disorientation.”

“Must not a cause for this crisis also be sought in the growing disappearance of faith, in the growing lack of God?” he asked.

“Wake up, dear Christians!” he said. “The present world has a new need for examples, especially in our Europe.”

“The present world needs simple and humble people who live and bear witness to the faith. People who carry out their daily duties with love, who pray and do penance,” he said, asking for both prayer and fasting, saying “you will be surprised at what you can do with that.”
 

[…]

Pilgrims cross the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican on Dec. 25, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/EWTN News

Vatican City, Jan 7, 2025 / 11:00 am (CNA).
More than half a million people have passed through the Holy Door of St. Peter’s… […]