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[v.1] Homily – April 26, 2025 / Saturday in octave of Easter / Pope Francis ●●●●
One of the biographical stories about Pope Francis that has been circulating recently is something that happened when he was elected pope in the Papal Conclave of 2013.
From Time Magazine: You’d think after being declared Bishop of Rome and leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Roman Catholics that a little something like [your] hotel bill might escape notice.
But not for the former Argentinian Cardinal
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, who swung by a Church-run boardinghouse on March 14,
2013 - the day after he was introduced
as Pope Francis to cheering Vatican City crowd numbering in the tens of
thousands — to pick up his tab, reports Reuters.
The pope apparently asked his driver to
circle back to the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI — an “historic Palazzo
located in the ancient center of Rome” — where he’d been staying in the lead-up
to the Congress of Cardinals that ultimately elected him as Pope Emeritus
Benedict XVI’s successor.
He’d left his luggage [suitcase] there, which
was part of his reason for returning, but the Vatican says he then chose to
swing by the front desk, say hello to the staff and pay his bill “because he
was concerned about giving a good example of what priests and bishops should
do.” (It’s not clear how much he paid, but “complete pension” rates at the
Paulus VI are €85 Euro, or about $110 per night.)
This surprised fellow boardinghouse occupant
Father Pawel Rytel-Andrianik, who told Reuters, “I don’t think he needs to
worry about the bill” because “[the] house is part of the Church, and it’s his
Church now.”
But the Vatican says it’s all in keeping with Francis’ reputation for frugality — as Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he reportedly rode the bus, cooked his own meals and preferred a humble apartment to the palatial Archbishop’s residence.
(https://newsfeed.time.com/2013/03/14/pope-francis-circles-back-to-hotel-to-pay-bill/)
Pope Francis's passing invites us to reflect
on redemption: that Jesus, too, came to pay a bill—our bill. He gave up his
life for our sinfulness. Pope Francis’s leadership reminds us that faith is not
merely about rules or rituals but about a living relationship with Jesus, who
is still paying the bill for us, still inviting us to accept his mercy.
Pope Francis often emphasized going out to
the peripheries, reaching those on the margins. He described the Church as a
"field hospital" for wounded souls—a place of healing where we kneel
before God in humility. One of his most repeated themes was *closeness*:
closeness to God, closeness to the poor, and closeness to one another.
In
one of his early Holy Thursday Masses, he went to a juvenile correctional
facility to wash the feet of young people imprisoned for criminal activity. His
passing, therefore, calls us not only to pray for his eternal rest but also to
pray for the future of the Church. We are invited to make room in our hearts
for new leadership, for new movements of the Holy Spirit, and for a fresh
"yeast" in the Church.
As
St. Paul says, “Get rid of the old yeast, that you may be a new batch without
yeast—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
We are meant to be the unleavened bread in the world: pure, simple, and ready
to serve.
In
order to lead—or even simply to serve someone else—we must recognize that the
people we serve are our equals. Authority, properly understood, implies
equality. If we fail to see others as equals, we risk becoming slave masters or
dictators rather than true servants. True leadership, therefore, leads to true
growth. As adults in the faith, we are called to go beyond the ordinary, just
as the first disciples did when they left their fishing nets behind.
We
may not literally leave our jobs or homes, but we are called to leave behind
our attachments, our routines, and our comfort zones. Jesus does not always
come with clear directions, with exact GPS coordinates telling us where we are
headed. Rather, we are called to trust him even before we know where the
journey will lead. We are called to be adult children of God—aware,
responsible, and merciful—helping the next generation grow in faith.
Pope
Francis helped our generation, and now we are called to help the next. We are
called to teach the faith to children, to witness Christ to those around
us—whether they attend church or not—and to open the door for others to
encounter Christ personally through our lives. In a sense, his death invites us
to do a “spring cleaning” of our souls.
As
the 51st Psalm prays: “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” This must be the
prayer of each one of us—the prayer of a soul trying to open itself to grace.
On this Divine Mercy Sunday and always, may we say to Jesus, "Jesus, I
trust in you."
May Pope Francis rest in the eternal peace of the Risen Christ. Amen.
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