Pope: 'I know that my Redeemer lives and I shall see him, myself'

Francis celebrated mass on All Souls’ Day at the Teutonic Cemetery in the Vatican. “Hope is an anchor, clinging on a rope, we support each other,” he said.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis spoke about Christian hope during the Mass he celebrated for the departed faithful this afternoon at the Church of the Pontifical Teutonic College of Santa Maria in Camposanto.

Speaking without a written speech, the pontiff said that “hope is an anchor; clinging on a rope, we support each other. I know that my redeemer lives and I shall see him”

This morning, on Tweeter, Francis said; “Today we pray for all the #FaithfulDeparted and especially for the victims of the #Coronavirus: for those who have died alone, without the caress of their loved ones; and for those who have given their lives serving the sick.”

This afternoon, in the prayers for the faithful, “all the dead, without a name, without a face” were remembered.

“[W]e can never have hope with our own strength,” the Pope said. “We have to ask for it. Hope is a free gift that we never deserve: it is given, it is given. It is grace.” This is Christian hope, a gift that only God can give us, if we ask him.

There are many ugly things “that lead to despair, to believe that everything will be a final defeat, that after death there is nothing.” Yet, hope does not disappoint.

“Today, thinking about the many brothers and sisters that have gone, it will do us good to look at cemeteries, to look up and repeat, like Job: ‘I know that my Redeemer lives, and I will see Him, myself; my eyes will contemplate him, and no other.”

“This is the strength that hope gives us, this free gift that is the virtue of hope. May the Lord give it to us all.”

After the service, Francis went to the grottoes in the Vatican Basilica for a private prayer for the departed popes.

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