Vatican City, Mar 28, 2018 / 05:00 am (CNA/EWTN News).- On Wednesday Pope Francis said the Easter Triduum is the most important time of year for Christians, and stressed that those who truly allows themselves to be transformed by Jesus’ resurrection, while still being sinners, cannot be corrupt.
“A Christian, if he truly allows himself to be washed by Christ, if he truly lets himself be stripped of the ‘old man’ to walk in a new life, even while remaining a sinner, he cannot be corrupt,” the Pope said March 28. “He can no longer live with death in the soul, nor can he be the cause of death.”
The justification Jesus offered by dying on the cross “saves us from corruption,” he said, stressing, as he often has, that while everyone is a sinner, Christians must never be corrupt.
Francis said it is “sad and painful” to see “fake Christians” who claim to be walking according to the path given by Jesus after his resurrection, but who, in reality, are living a corrupt life.
“These fake-Christians will end poorly,” he said, adding that “a Christian, I repeat, is a sinner, we all are, I am, but we have the certainty that when we ask for forgiveness the Lord will forgive us. The fake Christian pretends to ask for forgiveness, but in their heart is rotten.”
He then asked pilgrims to join him in praying for these “mafia-Christians,” who say they follow Christ, but in reality harm themselves and others. “Let us pray for them,” he said, “that the Lord would touch their heart and soul.”
Pope Francis spoke to pilgrims gathered for his weekly general audience in St Peter’s Square. He dedicated his catechesis to the Easter Triduum, which he said are “the most important days in the liturgical year,” and signify “the fundamental phases of our faith and of our vocation in the world.”
All Christians, he said, “are called to live the three holy days as, so to speak, the ‘matrix’ of their personal and community lives.”
He pointed to St. Paul’s assertion in the Second Book of Corinthians that “the old has passed away, behold, the new has come.” Later, in his letter to the Romans, Paul describes the Easter transformation in a different way, saying Christ “was put to death for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”
“The only, the only one that justifies you, the only one that makes you born again is Jesus Christ, no one else!” the Pope said in off-the-cuff remarks, adding that “this is the greatness of the love of Jesus: he gave his life to make us holy, to renew us, to forgive us. And this is precisely the core of the paschal mystery.”
In the Triduum, the memory of Christ’s death and resurrection is celebrated and at the same time renews in those who are baptized during the liturgy “the meaning of their new condition,” he said.
This is why there are always people who are baptized during the Easter vigil, Francis explained, noting that during this week’s vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica he will baptize eight people “who will begin their Christian life” in the Church.
Easter is also a time for solidarity with those who suffer, he said, noting that Christians can see the face of Christ in the vulnerable and those experiencing pain, and are able to love them with the same love Jesus offered through his sacrifice on the cross.
In another aside, Francis noted how in many countries, including Argentina, mothers will take their children to wash their face and eyes on Easter morning as a symbol of being able to see “in a new way, to see things in the way of Jesus.”
He encouraged everyone with children to try this, seeing it as a concrete “sign of how to see Jesus risen.”
Pope Francis closed his speech by asking that Mary would accompany everyone as the Triduum begins, that they may be “more deeply inserted into the mystery of Christ, his death and resurrection for us.”
Mary “followed Jesus in his Passion, was present and united to him on the Cross, and received in her maternal heart the immense joy of the resurrection,” he said, and prayed that she would obtain for all “the grace of being internally moved by the celebrations of the coming days, so that our heart and our lives will truly be transformed.”
After his speech, Pope Francis greeted pilgrims in different languages from around the world. In his greeting to Spanish-speaking pilgrims, he encouraged them to “have the courage to go to confession in these days, make a good confession!”
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TO THOSE IN CHARGE OF THE VATICAN: This is what happens when you open your borders and allow free-access to “migrants.” Pope Leo ought to just consider this miscreant a “migrant.”
Why drag migrants into this?
Simply because this person illegally trespassed upon sacred ground. Please note that the Vatican police FORCIBLY removed him from the premises. However, according to Leonine Doctrine, this intruder should have been welcomed as Christ and permitted to do whatever he wanted to do since he “migrated” to that area of the sanctuary. Why didnt Leo treat him as a guest like he counsels our government to do? Please, dear Br. Jaques, let us know what the Vatican authorities did with this individual. Did they throw him in jail? Will they prosecute him? Maybe just give him a cupful of leftover ice and send him on his way? He’s a migrant simply because he went where he was not supposed to be (that is, unless Leo tells us otherwise).
It would seem the far greater desecration made than these mindless crazies was the Jubilee Celebration parade into St Peter’s Basilica homosexuals flaunting their ‘life choices’ [Pope Leo’s terminology] insulting Catholic doctrine with an expletive, and receiving the Holy Eucharist.
Leo XIV had to be informed beforehand to permit Fr James Martin SJ to arrange this depravity spectacle. Since his elevation to the papacy Leo XIV has made it consistently clear where he stands. Who would have conceived this occurring during Benedict’s or John Paul’s pontificates? This is a time for reparation and strengthening of faith in Christ.
I was thinking the same thing, Fr. Morello. It seems as if something very evil is at work over there and this last episode is just one more outward or blatant instance of it. It makes one cry. Francis of Assisi, pray for the Church that once you rebuilt; Anthony of Padua, pray for the Church that you so well helped once.
Oscar, you allude to what may well be the marker for “something very evil is at work over there”. I’ve referred to it elsewhere as the cultic Pachamama idolatry ceremonies that occurred at the Vatican under Francis I. Since that time there’ve been a chain of controversial events, allegedly contrary to Apostolic tradition.
In remarks regarding these altar desecrations Bishop Athanasius Schneider believes they are not as serious as those Pachamama worship ceremonies, which were violations of the first commandment. Sins of idolatry are more egregious than what followed. My opinion is that the Pachamama idolatry was the source of what has followed.
It doesn’t appear that there was a exorcism ritual [the formal blessing of a house is an exorcism ritual] to correct that idolatry due to the involvement and respect given to Pope Francis.
Fr Peter you are right that from a point of view of dates – Pachamama Ceremony was October 4 2019 – all the evil flows from that date onwards. The subsequent dessecrations are all also post Traditionis Custodes 16.07.2021. So, two major dates.
The sanctification of daily TLM on the side altars of “the panting heart of Rome” – as the priests loudly beat their chests – was axed by application of Traditionis Custodes brutally ending those daily masses which were calling down graces to the heart of the Church’s tresury.
Dessecration is the consequence of the dessacrilisation of St Peter’s: the application of Traditionis Custodes by Churchmen. It is an unprecedented punishment. The message is clearly a call back to faith of the fathers, as the Church continues to persecute thriving faithful parishes for the crime of TLM.
Holy father, hear the cry from the formerly panting heart of Rome: Bergoglioism is not the Faith of our Fathers.
Just when you think humans can’t possibly do anything more disgusting, along comes a story like this.
I am hopeful this guy will do a VERY long stint in jail. And personally, I am tired of hearing “by reason of insanity” used as a way to get people exempted from the punishment they so richly deserve. Jail for a bunch of years, and then throw him into a mental hospital when the prison term expires.
The steward who was forgiven?
As all catholics know, forgiveness does not mean you are exempt from punishment for your sins when you are judged. Why should you be exempt in this world? Further, is there a point in offering forgiveness when there has been no sign of repentance?
I am a little more than tired of what I call the “tyranny of nice”. That is, the way in which too much of secular society views sin, violence and and immorality. Which means everything is all ok, no matter what heinous crime you commit. Because no one wants anyone to “feel bad” by speaking the truth about what someone has done. Apparently, thats worse than the crime itself in some circles. Sorry, but I think the fact that we do not hold people accountable for bad behavior is part of the reason civil society is on the brink of dissolving.
Mill stone around the neck?? Jesus advised forgiveness. He never said the sins didnt matter.
LJ, you get my nomination for Pope. You get it!
“This is what happens when you open your borders and allow free-access to “migrants.”
No, this is what happens when the Church fails to repent for abuse. It also happens when the Church herself allows/invites “the abomination of desolation” into her buildings and her heart, and becomes a whore instead of a bride. One needs only to refer to the Old Testament to see that.
In a sense, a man urinated on the altar of St Peter’s gave a physical expression of a rapidly escalating spiritual abuse which has been dealt to Our Lord and to His Bride, the Church, by the hands of her hierarchy. Recently we saw “f*ck the rules” and other phenomena (invited in by the Vatican) exactly in the same place; St Peter’s was desecrated already.
Attention not deserved. As much as possible, do not broadcast. Do the purification without broadcast.
Clergy, abandon the adolescent mentality fixation with media.
One could also argue that loving and accepting ALL of God’s children as Pope Leo is doing is in line with reparation and strengthening faith in Christ.
It was reported elsewhere that a penitential rite was performed. My question: Was a penitential rite done after Bergoglio desecrated the Basilica with the worship of the Pachamama demon within its sacred walls?
The man is clearly not well. What happened is awful, but if he’s mentally ill he’s not responsible for his actions. He should get help, we should pray for that man, the altar should be cleaned and re-consecrated and we should move on. We shouldn’t make more out of this than needed.
Unless these people are crazy enough to think a person is a tree, they know what they are doing. This “mentally ill” plea is just a convenient way for those on the left to excuse uncivil behavior. Its said that many of those who are jailed have some level of emotional problem. That doesnt make them innocent. That does nothing to negate the crime they have committed or help heal their victims. “Mentally ill” gets the criminal off the hook and free to commit violence again. I am doubtful you or anyone else would think its ok to “move on” if your spouse were killed by a DWI driver, or some other violent crime was committed against a loved one. People like this seldom commit one crime. As long as they are not incarcerated, the record shows they commit crimes over and over again. Often violent crimes. Much like the young Ukrainian woman who was stabbed to death on the train recently in an unprovoked attack. She could have been any one of us. Being a Christian does not require you to cheerfully be a victim.
Psychosis is a whole different thing from an emotional trouble.
I have no idea what the man in this situation suffers from but I agree that the seriously mentally ill need better care and that can include commitment in psychiatric facilities.
Years ago an unbalanced man tried to burn down our cathedral. It wasn’t his first attempt at destroying a church.
Psychiatric hospitals have a place.
💯 percent. I say this as a therapist. Mental illness is an overused excuse for criminal behavior. It’s a ploy used to excuse even the most heinous crimes and puts repeat offenders back on the streets. If the insanity plea is used the criminal should be committed to a mental institution indefinitely and held there until they no longer pose a threat to the public according to stringent standards.
As to the Gospel of Nice? It has not saved one single soul.