"Even if our faith journey is imperfect, we can ask Saints Peter and Paul to teach us how to always increase our trust in the Lord and grow closer to Him" Pope Francis
“What can we do together, as Church, to make the world in which we live more humane, just and solidarity, more open to God and to fraternity among men? Surely, we must not retreat into our ecclesial circles and remain pinned to some of our fruitless debates,” Pope Francis said during the Angelus, following Mass in St Peter’s Basilica, as he reflected on Saints Peter and Paul on their 29 June feast day.
The Holy Father pointed out the two Apostles experienced an ‘apprenticeship’ of faith, a journey many faithful likewise face.
“We too believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God, but it takes time, patience, and much humility for our way of thinking and acting to fully adhere to the Gospel.”
To illustrate, Pope Francis recalled that Peter, just after having declared his faith to the Lord, rejects the idea that Jesus will have to suffer and be condemned to death, provoking Jesus to turn and say to him: ‘Get behind me, Satan!”
The Apostle Paul also went through a slow maturation of faith, experiencing moments of uncertainty and doubt.
The apparition of the Risen One on the road to Damascus, the Pope said, turned him from a persecutor into a Christian, and "must be seen as the start of a journey during which the Apostle came to terms with the crises, failures, and constant torment."
The journey of faith, the Pope said, "is never a walk in the park, but is instead demanding, sometimes arduous."
Even Paul, who became a Christian, he said, had to learn to be one in a gradual manner, especially through times of trial.
“Together we can and must continue to care for human life, the protection of creation, the dignity of work, the problems of families, the treatment of the elderly and all those who are abandoned, rejected or treated with contempt,” he said. “In a word, we are called to be a Church that promotes the culture of care, tenderness and compassion towards the vulnerable.”
During the Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis also blessed the pallia for the metropolitan archbishops appointed in the last year.
Pallia are white woollen vestments adorned with six black silk crosses given to metropolitan archbishops. They symbolize the metropolitan’s authority and unity with the Holy See.
The title of “metropolitan archbishop” refers to the archbishop of a metropolis, which is the primary city of an ecclesiastical province or region.
This year, 31 Archbishops appointed in the last year receive the pallium. They represented archdiocese in Australia, Haiti, France, Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Philippines, Brazil, Kenya, Vietnam, Rwanda, India, Indonesia, Canada, Tanzania, Ghana, Peru, Mexico, the United States, Guam, Ecuador, Myanmar, South Africa, Spain, Italy and England. on June 29.
The pallia rest near the tomb of St. Peter in 2018 - Vatican Media
“In communion with Peter, [the metropolitan archbishops] are called to ‘get up quickly,’ not to sleep, and to serve as vigilant sentinels over the flock,” Francis said. “To get up and ‘fight the good fight,’ never alone, but together with all the holy and faithful people of God.”
Formerly, the new metropolitans would be invested with the pallia by the pope at the same June 29 Mass in which they were blessed, but in 2015 Francis changed this policy to have the bishops be invested with the pallia in their diocese by the local apostolic nuncio.
At the end of Mass on Wednesday, Pope Francis handed each archbishop his pallium in a small box tied with a brown ribbon.
Pope Francis presided over the opening rites of the Mass, with the blessing of the pallia and the Liturgy of the Word. He also delivered the homily and received the offertory gifts. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, celebrated the second half of the Mass, the Liturgy of the Eucharist.
In his homily, Pope Francis spoke about the Catholic Church’s ongoing synodal path, which is leading up to the Synod on Synodality, which will take place in October 2023.
-CNA/VM