At 10 am this morning, on the day of the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, the Holy Father Francis presided at Holy Mass at the War Cemetery in Rome.
On his arrival, the Pope was welcomed by Vice President Peter Hudson CBE, Area Director Geert Bekaert, Country Manager Italy Claudia Scimonelli, and Cemetery staff.
On the way, he laid white flowers on some graves and gathered for a moment of prayer.
At the end of the Eucharistic Celebration, Pope Francis made a brief stop in front of the Catholic Cemetery in Rome. He then returned to the Vatican.
Below is a transcript of the Pope’s homily, which he delivered after the proclamation of the Gospel:
Homily of the Holy Father
The celebration of a day like today brings us to two thoughts: memory and hope.
The memory of those who have gone before us, who have spent their lives, who have ended this life; the memory of so many people who have done us good: in the family, among friends? And also the memory of those who have not done so much good, but who have been accepted in the memory of God, in the mercy of God. It is the mystery of the Lord’s great mercy.
And then hope. Today’s memory is a memory to look forward, to look at our way, our path. We are walking towards an encounter, with the Lord and with everyone. And we must ask the Lord for the grace of hope: the hope that never disappoints; the hope that is the daily virtue that carries us forward, that helps us to solve problems and to find solutions. But always forward, always forward. That fruitful hope, that theological virtue of every day, of every moment: I will call it the theological virtue “of the kitchen”, because it is at hand and always comes to our aid. Hope that does not disappoint: we live in this tension between memory and hope.
I would like to dwell on something that occurred to me at the entrance. I noticed the age of these fallen soldiers. Most of them are in their 20s and 30s. Lives cut short, lives without a future. And I thought of the fathers, the mothers who received that letter: “Madam, I have the honor to tell you that you have a hero son. Yes, a hero, but he has been taken from me! So many tears in those lives were cut short. And I couldn’t help but think of today’s wars. It’s the same today: so many young and not-so-young people…. In the wars of the world, even those closest to us, in Europe and beyond: so many dead! Life is destroyed without our being aware of it.
Today, thinking of the dead, guarding the memory of the dead, and preserving hope, let us ask the Lord for peace so that men will no longer kill each other in wars. So many innocent dead, so many soldiers who give up their lives. But why? Wars are always a defeat, always. There is no total victory, no. Yes, one defeats the other, but behind it there is always the defeat of the price paid. Let us pray to the Lord for our dead, for all: may the Lord receive them all. And let us also pray that the Lord will have mercy on us and give us hope: the hope that we will come through and that we will all be with Him when He calls us. May it be so.
