“Inconsistency is undermining the Church’s credibility.
One cannot proclaim the Gospel of Jesus without the tangible witness of
one’s life.”
This was Pope Francis' message as he warned against
careerism during yesterday's Eucharistic celebration in the Basilica of
St. Paul Outside the Walls – his first visit as Bishop of Rome, to the
basilica that houses St. Paul's tomb.
Francis
was welcomed by the Benedictine community and Abbot Edmund Power
explained that “As all Popes do, Francis entered the courtyard with the
four rows of columns, where the Basilica's main façade is and after
greeting the community, he put on his sacred vestments.”
After making
his entry in a great procession, Francis presided mass from his throne
in the apse. When the mass ended, a moment was dedicated to the
veneration of icon of the Virgin Mary, before which St. Ignatius of
Loyola pronounced his religious profession in the 1500's.
“Inconsistency
on the part of pastors and the faithful between what they say and what
they do, between word and manner of life, is undermining the Church’s
credibility,” Bergoglio lamented. He went on to add that “Those who
listen to us and observe us must be able to see in our actions what they
hear from our lips, and so give glory to God!”
We must, he stressed,
bear witness to Christ by giving ourselves without calculation,
sometimes even at the cost of our own life.”
The Pope then used some
strong words, calling all believers to ask themselves about the “idols”
that take over the place in our hearts that should be reserved for God.
The Argentinean pope therefore
invited people “to strip [themselves] of [their] many idols and to
worship him alone. Idols in which we seek safety and often place our
trust in.” “These are idols we often keep well hidden away.”
“They could
be ambition, careerism, a taste for success, placing ourselves at the
centre of things, a tendency to put ourselves above others, the
expectation that we are the ones who have exclusive control of our
lives, a sin to which we are strongly tied and many others.”
“This
evening – Francis confided to the clergy and faithful gathered in St.
Paul's Basilica – I would like one question to echo through the hearts
of each and every one of us and I would like us to answer it sincerely:
have I thought about which hidden idol in my life is preventing me from
worshipping the Lord?”
“Striping ourselves of our most hidden idols and choosing to put the
Lord at the centre, making him the main pathway in our lives,” Pope
Francis said. “Dear brothers and sisters,” concluded Pope Francis, “each
day the Lord calls us to follow him with courage and fidelity; he has
made us the great gift of choosing us as his disciples; he sends us to
proclaim him with joy as the Risen one, but he asks us to do so by word
and by the witness of our lives, in daily life. The Lord is the only God
of our lives , and he invites us to strip ourselves of our many idols
and to worship him alone.”
Francis illustrated “the ‘hidden’ saints” as
“a sort of ‘middle class of holiness’.” “Announcing, witnessing,
worshipping.”
These are the three verbs the Pope wanted faithful to
reflect on as he celebrated mass in close proximity to “the tomb of
St. Paul, a humble and great Apostle of the Lord , who announced him
with the word, witnessed him with martyrdom and worshipped him
wholeheartedly.”
The Pope stressed the fact that “Peter and the Apostles'
announcement is not just made up of words. Loyalty to Christ touches
their lives, which change and gain a new direction and they bear witness
to the faith and the announcement of Christ with their lives.”
Abbot
Edmund Power said: “The Pope's visits are immensely important to us
because we believe our Benedictine community was founded around 720 by
Pope Gregory II, for the purpose of assisting the Pope in welcoming
pilgrims on their visits to Paul's tomb. So there has always been this
special bond between us and the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. And we see
ourselves as the papal monastery. This is Pope Francis' first visit, him
being a member of a religious order (a Jesuit) like us. We are very
happy to have welcomed him in St. Paul's Basilica, in “his” monastic
community, which is here to assist him his role as Bishop of Rome and
pastor of the universal church, serving pilgrims who come to Rome.”
People often speak of the Bishop of Rome's Petrine
ministry. But ever since the beginning, the Church of Rome has not just
been Peter's Church: it is both Peter and Paul's Church and the two
apostles together are symbols of a complete Church, of its integrity,
unity, centrality, missionary meaning and dynamism; both aspects are
equally important. In my eyes, he is the successor of peter in his
ministry, a “Peter-Pauline” ministry. This is what can be said by an
abbot from St. Paul Outside the Walls.” Even the prospect of “being
whipped, insulted or imprisoned” did not stop him.
“And what about us?” he asked: “are we capable of
bringing the Word of God into our lives' various circles? Are we able to
talk about Christ and what he represents to us, with our families and
people that are part of our everyday lives?”
“Faith – he pointed out –
comes from listening and is strengthened by announcing it” But this
announcement “is not just about words.” The testimony of the early
communities shows us that “faithfulness to Christ touched their lives,
which changed and were given a new direction. It is by living that
Christians bear witness to the faith and the announcement of Christ.”
Pope Francis contrasted this transparency of faith with
the “idols” that detach us from faith. Among these, he mentioned the
“careerism” of clergymen. “Each and every one of us is conscious or
perhaps unconscious of attributing more or less importance to things,
creating a precise order. Worshiping the Lord means giving him the space
he should be given in our lives; worshipping the Lord means
acknowledging and believing – not just through words – that only He is the real guide in our lives; worshipping the Lord means standing
before him in the conviction that he is the only God, the God of our
lives and of our history.