A crowd bath for Pope Leo XIV before descending under the altar of the confession to encourage apostolic trophaeum (where the pallium, the fisherman’s ring and the evangelario) together with the patriarchs of the oriental churches were laid. The pontiff officially begins his Petrine Ministry. The delegations have already taken place on the churchyard. AND Who knows if the vice -president JD Vance, leaving the Vatican Basilica just before the Ukrainian President Zelensky, had the opportunity to exchange at least one handshake.
But attention is now entirely on the celebrationin which representatives of the other Christian churches also participate, starting with the patriarch of Constantinople, Bartolomeo, but also the Jewish community, the Muslims, the Hindus, the Buddhists, the Sikhs, the Zoroastrians and the Jews.
After reading the Greek in Greek, the delivery of the pastoral pallium and the fisherman’s ring. To impose the pallium, Cardinal Diacono Mario Zenari (who replaces the expected Mamberti hospitalized in the hospital for a fibrillation)with a prayer recited by Cardinal Presbytero Fridolin Ambongo Besungu, while the fisherman’s ring is delivered by Cardinal Bishop Luis Antonio Tagle. To the three, who represent the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia follows the obedience lent to the Holy Father by three cardinals on behalf of the whole college: the cardinals Frank Leo (for Northern America), Jaime Spengler, (for South America) and John Ribat (for Oceania). Then some representatives of the people of God also lend obedience: the bishop of Callao (Peru) Luis Alberto Barrera, the priest Guillermo Inca Pereda, the deacon Theodoro Manda, the religious Sister Oonah O’Shea, president of the International Union of the Superior Generali, and Father Arturo Sosa, president of the Union of General Superiors, a couple of marios, Rafael Santa Maria and Ana María. Olguín, and young Josemaria Diaz and Sheyla Cruz.
Immediately after the pope, visibly excited, he takes the floor and, to the homily, his thought goes to the unity of the churches and his episcopal motto, taken from the works of Sant’Agostino, which he also wanted to keep from Pontiff: “In the only Christ we are one”. He reminds him of the Catholic Church, but also to all other Christian and non -Christian, underlining that the goal is to become A single human family. “A way to do together, among us but also with the Christian churches sisters, with those who travel other religious paths, with those who cultivate the restlessness of the search for God, with all women and men of good will, to build a new world in which peace reigns”.
Leone begins his ministry – he declares himself by quoting the work of Søren Kierkegaard, in which the Danish philosopher reflects on the faith of Abraham called to sacrifice his son – “With fear and tremor”.
Think about Pope Francis whose death “filled our hearts of sadness and, in those difficult hours, we felt like the crazy ones of which the Gospel says they were” as sheep without a shepherd “. Just on Easter, however, we received his last blessing and, in the light of the resurrection, we faced this moment in the certainty that the Lord never abandon his people, gathers him when he is missing and “holds him as a shepherd his flock” “.
In this spirit of faith, he observes, “the College of Cardinals met for the conclave; Arriving from different stories and roads, we have placed the desire to in the hands of God Electing the new successor of Pietro, the bishop of Rome, a shepherd capable of guarding the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, of throwing his gaze away, to meet the questions, anxieties and the challenges of today».
And on his election he repeats: «I was chosen without any merit and, with fear and tremor, I come to you as a brother who wants to make the servant of your faith and your joy, Walking with you on the way of the love of God, who wants us all united in a single family “.
The two dimensions of the miserable entrusted to Pietro by Jesus are “Love and unity,” he underlines. «The song of the Gospel, which leads us to Lake Tiberiade, the same where Jesus had started the mission received by the Father:” fishing “humanity to save her from the waters of evil and death, tells us it.. Passing on the shore of that lake, he had called Peter and the other first disciples to be like him “fishermen of men”; And now, after the resurrection, it is up to them to carry on this mission, always and always throw the net to immerse the hope of the Gospel in the waters of the world, navigate in the sea of life so that everyone can find themselves in the embrace of God “.
A task that is possible only because Peter “has experienced the infinite and unconditional love of God in his life, even in the hour of failure and denial. For this reason, when it is Jesus who turns to Pietro, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agapao, which refers to the love that God has for us, to his offer without reservations and without calculations, different from that used for Peter’s response, which instead describes the love of friendship, which we exchange among us “. When Jesus asks Pietro if he loves him is as if he told him “only if you have known and experienced this love of God, who never comes without, you can graze my lambs; Only in the love of God the Father can you love your brothers with a “more”, that is, offering life for your brothers. Pietro, therefore, is entrusted with the task of “loving more” and of giving his life for the flock. Peter’s Ministry is marked precisely by this oblative love, because the Church of Rome presides over in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ. It is never a question of capturing others with overpowering, with religious propaganda or with the means of power, but it is always and only to love as Jesus did “. And Peter “must graze the flock without ever giving in to the temptation to be a lonely leader or a head place above the others, mastering the people entrusted to him; On the contrary, he is asked to serve the faith of the brothers, walking with them “:.
And then it spurs: «This, brothers and sisters, would like us to be our first great desire: a united church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes ferment for a reconciled world. In our time, we still see too much discord, Too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudices, fear of the different, by an economic paradigm that exploits the resources of the earth and marginalize the poorest. And we want to be, inside this pasta, a small yeast of unity, of communion, of fraternity. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: look at Christ! Approach him! Welcome his word that illuminates and consoles! Listen to his proposal for love to become his only family ».
I spurs not to “close ourselves in our small group or feel superior to the world; We are called to offer everyone the love of God, so that the unity that does not cancel the differences is realized, but enhances the personal history of each and the social and religious culture of every people “.
He says forcefully: “Brothers, sisters, this is the hour of love! The charity of God who makes us brothers among us is the heart of the Gospel and, with my predecessor Leo XIII, today we can ask ourselves: if this criterion “prevailed in the world, would not immediately cease every conflict and would not return peace?” “. On this stimulus, then, “with the light and strength of the Holy Spirit”, concludes Leone, “we build a Church based on the love of God and a sign of unity, a missionary Church, which opens its arms in the world, which announces the word, which is left to sparkle from history, and which becomes a yeast of Concordia for humanity. Together, as the only people, like everyone brothers, we walk to meet God and love each other between us ».
