The full text of Pope Francis’ homily at the consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals:
Let us think a little about history. Jesus goes up to Jerusalem. His is not an ascent to the glory of this world, but to the glory of God, which involves the descent into the abyss of death.
Indeed, in the Holy City he will die on the cross to give us life again. However, James and John, who imagine a different destiny for their Master, present their petition and ask for two places of honour: “Grant that we may sit, one at your right hand and the other at your left, when you are in your glory” (Mark 10:37).
The Gospel underlines this dramatic contrast: while Jesus is walking the exhausting, uphill road that will lead him to Calvary, the disciples are thinking of the smooth, downhill path of the victorious Messiah. We must not be shocked by this, but humbly realize that – to use Manzoni’s words – “such are the contradictions of the human heart” (The Betrothed, ch. 10). It is so.
This can also happen to us: our hearts can be lost, allowing themselves to be dazzled by the charm of prestige, by the seduction of power or by an all too human enthusiasm for our Lord.
That is why it is important to look within ourselves, to place ourselves humbly before God and to honestly ask ourselves: where is my heart going? Where is my heart going today? In what direction is it moving? Am I perhaps going down the wrong path?
This is what St. Augustine warns us: “What is this about going down the paths of solitude and a wandering and vagrant life? Go back. Where? To the Lord. It is still early. Go back first to your heart […]. Go back, go back to the heart […] there is the image of God.
To return to the heart in order to take up the path of Jesus, this is what we need. And today, in particular, to you, dear brothers who are receiving the cardinalate, I would like to say: be careful to follow the path of Jesus.
What does this mean? Following the path of Jesus means first of all returning to Him and putting Him back at the centre of everything. In spiritual life as in pastoral life, we sometimes run the risk of concentrating on the superfluous, forgetting the essential. Too often secondary things take the place of what is necessary, external things prevail over what really matters, we immerse ourselves in activities that we consider urgent, but without reaching the heart.
And yet we always need to return to the centre, to recover the foundation, to strip ourselves of what is superfluous in order to clothe ourselves in Christ (cf. Rom 13:14). The word ‘cardinal’ also reminds us of this, indicating the pin on which the door is inserted. It is a firm point of support, of support. Yes, dear brothers, Jesus is the fundamental point of support, the centre of gravity of our service, the ‘cardinal point’ that guides our entire life.
Following the path of Jesus also means cultivating a passion for encounter. Jesus never walks alone; his union with the Father does not isolate him from the vicissitudes and pain of the world. On the contrary, it is precisely to heal the wounds of man and lighten the weight of his heart, to remove the burden of sin and break the chains of slavery, that he came for this very reason.
And so, along the way, the Lord meets the faces of people marked by suffering, he draws close to those who have lost hope, he raises up those who have fallen, he heals the sick. The paths of Jesus are full of faces and stories and, as he passes by, he wipes away the tears of those who weep, Jesus ‘heals those who are afflicted and binds up their wounds’ (Ps 147:3).
What should inspire your service as cardinals is the risk of the journey, the joy of meeting others, and caring for the most fragile. One of the great members of the Italian clergy, Don Primo Mazzolari, said that ‘the Church began on the journey; the Church continues on the roads of the world. To enter it, it is not necessary to knock on the door or wait in a waiting room. Walk and you will find it; walk and it will be with you; walk and you will be in the Church’ (cf. Tempo di credere, Bologna 2010, 80-81). Let us not forget that being tired ruins the heart.
Following the path of Jesus also means being builders of communion and unity. While in the group of disciples the worm of competition destroys unity, the path that Jesus follows leads him to Calvary. And on the cross he fulfills the mission that was entrusted to him: that no one should be lost (cf. Jn 6:39), that the wall of enmity should finally be torn down (cf. Eph 2:14) and that we can all recognize ourselves as children of the same Father and brothers and sisters among ourselves.
Therefore, by fixing his gaze on you, who come from different backgrounds and cultures and represent the catholicity of the Church, the Lord calls you to be witnesses of fraternity, artisans of communion and builders of unity. And this is your mission.
Speaking to a group of new cardinals, Saint Paul VI said that we, like the disciples, sometimes give in to the temptation to divide ourselves; instead, ‘it is in the passion put into the search for unity that we recognize the true disciples of Christ’.
And he added: ‘We hope that everyone will feel at home in the ecclesial family, without exclusions or isolations that are detrimental to unity in charity, and that there will be no attempt to make some predominate to the detriment of others. […] We must work, pray, suffer, and struggle to bear witness to the Risen Christ’ (cf. Address on the occasion of the Consistory, 27 June 1977).
Animated by this spirit, dear brothers, you will make a difference, according to the words of Jesus who, speaking of the corrosive competition of this world, said to his disciples: ‘It must not be like this among you’ (Mark 10:43).
It is as if he were saying: come after me, follow my path, and you will be different; you will be a shining sign in a society obsessed with appearances and the search for first places. ‘It shall not be so among you’, Jesus repeats: love one another with fraternal love and be servants of one another, servants of the Gospel. Dear brothers, on the path of Jesus, let us walk together. With humility, with wonder, with joy.