Castel Gandolfo: Pope Leo XIV to resume papal summer vacation tradition in lakeside town

Pope Francis at the Divine Mercy Sunday Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on April 24, 2022. / Vatican Media

Denver Newsroom, Apr 24, 2022 / 06:14 am (CNA).

Pope Francis in his homily for Divine Mercy Sunday encouraged everyone, especially priests, to remember the moments in their lives when they have experienced God’s forgiveness, and the joy and peace that God’s forgiveness brings.

“The joy God gives is indeed born of forgiveness. It bestows peace. It is a joy that raises us up without humiliating us,” Pope Francis said during his homily at the Mass celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“Brothers and sisters, let us think of all those times when we received the pardon and peace of Jesus. Each one of us has received them; each one of us has had that experience. It is good for us to remember those moments. Let us put the memory of God’s warm embrace before the memory of our own mistakes and failings. In this way, we will grow in joy.”

The pope urged meditation on the three times in the Gospels when Jesus uses the greeting: “Peace be with you,” the first of which being Jesus’ first encounter with his disciples following his resurrection.

When Jesus’ disciples first encounter the risen Jesus, they react joyfully, despite having abandoned their master during his Passion and death. Despite courageously following Jesus in the past, “They had good reason to feel not only afraid, but useless; they had failed,” the pope said.

“In this climate, they hear for the first time, ‘Peace be with you!’ The disciples ought to have felt shame, yet they rejoice. Why? Because seeing his face and hearing his greeting turned their attention away from themselves and towards Jesus,” Pope Francis said.

“They were distracted from themselves and their failures and attracted by his gaze, that brimmed not with severity but with mercy. Christ did not reproach them for what they had done, but showed them his usual kindness. And this revives them, fills their hearts with the peace they had lost and makes them new persons, purified by a forgiveness that is utterly unmerited.”

The forgiveness that Jesus shows to his disciples in the Gospels is the same forgiveness He extends through the sacrament of Confession, the pope said.

The second time Jesus says “Peace be with you” is when he gives his disciples the Holy Spirit, giving them the ability to forgive sins and thus making them “dispensers of the mercy that they themselves received.”

Speaking to priests, the pope told them to they must first accept God’s forgiveness if they are to extend that forgiveness to others.

“I am now speaking to you, missionaries of mercy: if you do not feel forgiven, do not carry out your service as a missionary of mercy until you feel that forgiveness,” the pope said.

“The mercy that we have received enables us to dispense a great deal of mercy and forgiveness. Today and every day, in the Church forgiveness must be received in this same way, through the humble goodness of a merciful confessor who sees himself not as the holder of some power but as a channel of mercy, who pours out upon others the forgiveness that he himself first received. From this arises the ability to forgive everything because God always forgives everything.”

There is no need to “torment” the faithful when they come to Confession, the pope said.

“It is necessary to understand their situation, to listen, to forgive and to offer good counsel so that they can move forward. God forgives everything and we must not close that door to people,” he said.

Finally, the pope noted, Jesus says “Peace be with you” to the Apostle Thomas, who doubted the Lord’s resurrection until he was able to put his hand in Jesus’ wounds.

“There are times of difficulty when life seems to belie faith, moments of crisis when we need to touch and see. Like Thomas, it is precisely in those moments that we rediscover the heart of Christ, the Lord’s mercy,” Pope Francis said.

“In those situations, Jesus does not approach us in triumph and with overwhelming proofs. He does not perform earth-shattering miracles, but instead offers us heartwarming signs of his mercy. He comforts us in the same way he did in today’s Gospel: he offers us his wounds. We must not forget this fact. In response to our sin, the Lord is always present offering us his wounds.”

God’s mercy often makes us more aware of our neighbors’ wounds, the pope said, encouraging everyone to seek to help those suffering in mind or body, to bring peace to those suffering spiritually or physically, and to listen and bring comfort to another person. For in doing such things we “encounter Jesus,” the pope said.

“We think that we are experiencing unbearable pain and situations of suffering, and we suddenly discover that others around us are silently enduring even worse things. If we care for the wounds of our neighbour and pour upon them the balm of mercy, we find being reborn within us a hope that comforts us in our weariness,” the pope said.

Divine Mercy Sunday, celebrated the Sunday after Easter each year, was instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 2000.

St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, a 20th-century Polish nun who received prophetic messages from Christ, received revelations about the infinite mercy of God – coined the “Divine Mercy” – and her obligation to spread the message to the world, as recorded in her diary, “Divine Mercy in my soul.”

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Pope Francis prays at the general audience in Paul VI Hall on Feb. 16, 2022. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Vatican City, Feb 19, 2022 / 09:30 am (CNA).
Pope Francis is praying for the victims of cyclones in Madagascar, which have displaced thousands and … […]

Vatican City, Jun 29, 2017 / 11:49 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Newly-appointed metropolitan archbishops from around the world received the traditional woolen vestment called a pallium during a special Mass with Pope Francis on Thursday.

For the three new metropolitan archbishops of American sees, the experience was a reminder of their mission as shepherds of their local Churches, called to follow God and lead others to him.

The Mass, celebrated on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, was significant for Archbishop Paul Etienne of Anchorage, who told CNA June 29 he was “very mindful of the accompanying presence of these great saints.”

He is inspired by their great love for Christ and the Church, he said, and by the courage with which they went out into the world after encountering the Risen Lord.

“I just ask for as much of that same grace in my life and in ministry, that I can joyfully serve the Lord and present him to the world in a fashion that will be received.”

Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis told CNA he knows he has a lot to learn and get to know in his new role, but he’s looking forward to serving God and serving the people of God as the shepherd of the local Church.

After the Mass, each archbishop has an opportunity to greet the Pope. For Archbishop Thompson, this was his first personal encounter with Francis. Though the meeting was brief, Pope Francis “had a glow, had a great smile on his face,” he said.

“It really made me think about the joy of the Gospel and talking about having the joy of bringing people to Christ. Even though there’s also an awesome responsibility that I feel in this appointment, I just sense that the smile on his face was to do with joy.”

“Don’t let it overwhelm you. Trust in the Holy Spirit. Trust that God gives you the grace to fulfill this mission. And I’m banking on that, because I’m the least worthy of anybody here,” he said.

Archbishop Etienne said that it was “a great privilege and a great honor” to receive the pallium from Pope Francis.

He was grateful for the Pope’s homily, which reminded him that they aren’t in this for themselves, but that they are “servants of the Lord.”

“Our life is to be giving a confession, our own witness to Christ, and we should not be surprised when the trials and the persecutions come our way; and the best way to get through it is to pray,” he said, recalling the Pope’s words. “So those are all three pretty good points that he made.”

For Cardinal Joseph Tobin of Newark, this was his second time receiving the pallium, the first being when he was appointed Archbishop of Indianapolis in 2012.

“It’s always a very moving moment to be with the Holy Father, to feel the connection with bishops from around the world and to deepen what it means to be a bishop,” he told CNA.

He explained that out of all the vestments he has to wear, his favorite is the pallium, which is a stole made from white wool and adorned with six black silk crosses. The wearing of the pallium by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops symbolizes authority as well as unity with the Holy See.

One significant thing about the pallium, Cardinal Tobin said, is the symbolism found in how it is worn: around the shoulders.

It shows “the obligation of the bishop to look for the one who’s lost, and carry that one back on his shoulders. So that’s why when I put it on my shoulders, I remember that,” he said.

It is traditional for the Pope to bestow the stole on new archbishops June 29 each year. The rite is a sign of communion with the See of Peter. It also serves as a symbol of the metropolitan archbishop’s jurisdiction in his own diocese as well as the other dioceses within his ecclesiastical province.

However, as a sign of “synodality” with local Churches, Pope Francis decided in 2015 that new metropolitan archbishops will officially be imposed with the pallium in their home diocese, rather than the Vatican.

So while the new archbishops still journey to Rome to receive the pallium during the liturgy with the Pope, the official imposition ceremony is in their home diocese, allowing more faithful and bishops in dioceses under the archbishop’s jurisdiction to attend the event.

Archbishop Thompson, whose installation as Archbishop of Indianapolis will be held July 28, has the unique privilege of being imposed with the pallium at the same Mass as his installation, which he said will be “a great symbol.”

Archbishop Etienne was installed as Archbishop of Anchorage on Nov. 9, 2016, so he’s had a few months to begin settling in. “The people in Alaska count winters, so I’ve been in Anchorage one winter now,” he laughed.

Though the weather is cold, the people there are warm, he said, noting that they have all been grateful he accepted the appointment, since it isn’t easy to live in Alaska.

“It’s a very diverse Church,” he explained, but the people have been wonderful, “helping me to understand their ways and to embrace that new territory and all the people that are a part of it.”

Both Archbishop Etienne and Archbishop Thompson said that learning about their new appointments came as quite a surprise.

“It’s a shock anytime you get one of those phone calls,” Archbishop Etienne said.

Moving to Anchorage was not something he expected, but “after a prayerful night, it became clear that if this is where Mother Church has asked me to go and where the Lord is leading, I promised him years ago I would follow. So Alaska’s my home now.”

Archbishop Thompson, who only received his appointment June 3, said the last few weeks have been “a whirlwind,” especially having to plan so quickly for a trip to Rome.

When he received the phone call, he had just returned home from saying an ordination Mass for new priests in his diocese, Evansville. In his homily that day, he said he had preached about missionary discipleship and how one cannot be comfortable or complacent in an assignment, but must be prepared to go out to the people, since it’s the Lord who calls us and sends us.

“So when I got this phone call, I got off the phone and thought, ‘Who was I preaching to this morning?'”

In Newark, Cardinal Tobin said there are so many people his work can be “daunting” at times, though it’s also “wonderful.”

“I would say it certainly gets me on my knees, to pray for wisdom and light, and to pray for the people and all their needs,” he said.

During his time, Cardinal Tobin has come out strongly about the issue of immigration in the U.S., in May issuing a call for Catholic and political leaders to work in defense of immigrants.

“I think it’s a very delicate moment in our history,” he said, both for the many immigrants in the U.S. and for the American soul in general. “Because I think that there are so many things that brutalize the American soul, beginning with abortion, proposals for euthanasia,” he said.

“The rounding up of immigrants, and the completely callous nature toward their suffering, I think, is just another thing that deadens our hearts. I think as spiritual leaders we have to be concerned about it.” 

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