Pope: the Church is credible only if she is free from fear, hypocrisy and power
After the Angelus, Francis noted that the day after tomorrow will be the day for Lebanon in the Vatican. He urged the faithful to pray so that the country “may recover from the serious crisis it is going through“. The Pope also called on the faithful to pray for Pope Benedict who today celebrates 70 years of priesthood.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis addressed the crowd, a few thousands for the Angelus, gathered in St Peter’s Square, for the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul.
In his address, the pontiff said that “only a free Church is a credible Church,” and her freedom comes from Jesus. This Church is “A Church that is weak, yet finds strength in the presence of God. The image of a Church set free and capable of offering the world the freedom that the world by itself cannot give: freedom from sin and death, from resignation, and from the sense of injustice and the loss of hope that dehumanizes the lives of the women and men of our time.
The celebration of the feast of Saints Peter and Paul is, in a certain sense, the celebration of the Catholic Church. It is the day in which archbishops receive their pallium, a sign of dignity and fidelity to the successor of Peter. It is the day in which a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate participates in the solemn Mass for the patron saints of Rome in St Peter's Basilica. It is the day in which the statue of Saint Peter is dressed in pontifical robes and the pope is told: “tu es Petrus”.
Peter and Paul were the “two pillars of the Church,” Francis said. They were “two witnesses of faith”. But “At the heart of their story is not their own gifts and abilities; at the centre is the encounter with Christ that changed their lives. They experienced a love that healed them and set them free. They then became apostles and ministers of freedom for others.
“Peter and Paul were free because they were set free.” The two apostles, Francis told the crowd that “They were not admirers, but imitators of Jesus. They were not spectators, but rather protagonists of the Gospel. They believed not in words, but in deeds. Peter did not speak about mission, he lived the mission, he was a fisher of men; Paul did not write learned books, but letters of what he lived as he travelled and bore witness. Both spent their lives for the Lord and for their brothers.”
At the same time, “they provoke us,” challenge us. “How often, for example, we say that we would like a Church that is more faithful to the Gospel, closer to the people, more prophetic and missionary, but then, in practice, we do nothing! It is sad to see that many speak, comment and debate, but few bear witness. Witnesses do not lose themselves in words, but rather they bear fruit. Witnesses do not complain about others and the world, but they start with themselves. They remind us that God is not to be demonstrated, but shown, by one’s own witness; not announced with proclamations but shown by example.”
“Like Peter,” the Pope said in his homely, “we are called to be set free from a sense of failure before our occasionally disastrous fishing. To be set free from the fear that paralyzes us, makes us seek refuge in our own securities, and robs us of the courage of prophecy. Like Paul, we are called to be set free from hypocritical outward show, free from the temptation to present ourselves with worldly power rather than with the weakness that makes space for God, free from a religiosity that makes us rigid and inflexible; free from dubious associations with power and from the fear of being misunderstood and attacked.”
“Jesus nonetheless loved Peter and was willing to take a risk on him. He encouraged Peter not to give up, to lower his nets once more, to walk on water, to find the strength to accept his own frailty, to follow him on the way of the cross, to give his life for his brothers and sisters, to shepherd his flock. In this way, Jesus set Peter free from fear, from calculations based solely on worldly concerns. He gave him the courage to risk everything and the joy of becoming a fisher of men. It was Peter whom Jesus called to strengthen his brothers in faith (cf. Lk 22:32). He gave him – as we heard in the Gospel – the keys to open the doors leading to an encounter with the Lord and the power to bind and loose: to bind his brothers and sisters to Christ and to loosen the knots and chains in their lives (cf. Mt 16:19).” All this was possible because “Peter himself had been set free”.
Paul too was freed. “He was set free from the most oppressive form of slavery, which is slavery to self. From Saul, the name of the first king of Israel, he became Paul, which means ‘small’. He was also set free from the religious fervour that had made him a zealous defender of his ancestral traditions (cf. Gal 1:14) and a cruel persecutor of Christians. Set free. Formal religious observance and the intransigent defence of tradition, rather than making him open to the love of God and of his brothers and sisters, had hardened him: he was a fundamentalist. God set him free from this, yet he did not spare him the frailties and hardships that rendered his mission of evangelization more fruitful: the strain of the apostolate, physical infirmity (cf. Gal 4:13-14); violence and persecution, shipwreck, hunger and thirst, and, as he himself tells us, a painful thorn in the flesh (cf. 2 Cor 12:7-10).”
“We too have been touched by the Lord; we too have been set free. Yet we need to be set free time and time again, for only a free Church is a credible Church. Like Peter, we are called to be set free from a sense of failure before our occasionally disastrous fishing. To be set free from the fear that paralyzes us, makes us seek refuge in our own securities, and robs us of the courage of prophecy. Like Paul, we are called to be set free from hypocritical outward show, free from the temptation to present ourselves with worldly power rather than with the weakness that makes space for God, free from a religiosity that makes us rigid and inflexible; free from dubious associations with power and from the fear of being misunderstood and attacked.”
“Let us ask, today in this celebration but afterwards as well: to what extent do our cities, our societies and our world need freedom? How many chains must be shattered and how many doors long shut must be opened! We can help bring this freedom, but only if we first let ourselves be set free by the newness of Jesus, and walk in the freedom of the Holy Spirit.”
After the Marian prayer, Francis noted that the day after tomorrow the Vatican will host a day for Lebanon, urging the faithful to pray that the country “may recover from the serious crisis it is going through”.
Lastly, the pontiff invited the faithful to pray for Pope Benedict who today celebrates 70 years of priesthood.
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