This Saturday, September 30, Pope Francis presided over the consistory for the creation of 21 new cardinals in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican, where he imposed the biretta on them, gave them the ring and awarded the title or diacony.
Below is the complete homily of Pope Francis in the consistory this Saturday, September 30:
When thinking about this celebration and particularly about you, dear brothers, who would become cardinals, this text from the Acts of the Apostles came to mind (cf. 2:1-11). It is a fundamental text: the story of Pentecost, the baptism of the Church. But one detail really caught my attention, the words expressed by the Jews who ‘were in Jerusalem’ (v. 5). They said: we are ‘Parthians, Medes, and Elamites’ (v. 9), among others. This long list of peoples made me think of the cardinals, who, thank God, come from all parts of the world, from the most diverse nations. That is why I chose this Bible passage.
Later meditating on this point, I realized a kind of “surprise” that was hidden in this association of ideas, a surprise in which, with joy, I seemed to recognize, so to speak, the humor of the Holy Spirit. Forgive me the expression.
What does this “surprise” consist of? In the fact that normally we pastors, when we read the story of Pentecost, identify with the Apostles. It is natural that it should be so. On the other hand, those “Parthians, Medes, Elamites”, etc., that in my mind I had associated with the cardinals, did not belong to the group of disciples, they were outside the cenacle, they were part of that ‘crowd’ that ‘gathered’ to the hear the noise like a strong gust of wind (cf. v. 6). The Apostles were “all Galileans” (cf. v. 7), while the people gathered there had come ‘from all the nations of the world’ (v. 5), precisely like the bishops and cardinals of our time.
This kind of role reversal makes us reflect and, paying attention, reveals an interesting perspective, which I would like to share with you. It is about making our own—and I am also the first—to make the experience of those Jews who, through a gift from God, found themselves protagonists of the event of Pentecost, that is, of the “baptism” of the Holy Spirit that gave birth to the One, holy, catholic and apostolic Church. I would summarize this perspective like this: rediscovering with amazement the gift of having received the Gospel ‘in our tongues’ (v. 11), as those people said. Remember with gratitude the gift of having been evangelized and of having been taken from peoples who, each one at their time, received the Kerygma ., the announcement of the mystery of salvation, and welcoming it they were baptized in the Holy Spirit and became part of the Church. The Mother Church, which speaks in all languages, which is one and is Catholic.
Thus, this Word from the Book of Acts makes us think that, before being “apostles”, before being priests, bishops, cardinals, we are “Parthians, Medes, Elamites”, etc., etc. And this should rekindle in us the wonder and gratitude for having received the grace of the Gospel in our respective hometowns.
I think this is very important and we should not forget it. Because there, in the history of our people, I would say in the “flesh” of our people, the Holy Spirit has worked the wonder of the communication of the mystery of Jesus Christ who died and was resurrected . And he has reached us “in our languages”, through the lips and gestures of our grandparents and our parents, of the catechists, of the priests, of the religious. Each of us can remember specific voices and faces. The faith is transmitted “in dialect”, do not forget this. The faith is transmitted in dialect, by mothers and grandmothers.
In fact, we are evangelizers to the extent that we keep in our hearts the amazement and gratitude of having been evangelized; even more so, to be evangelized , because in reality it is an always current gift, which requires being continually renewed in memory and faith. Evangelizers and evangelized, and not “officials”.
Brothers and sisters, dear cardinals, Pentecost—like the baptism of each of us—is not a fact of the past, it is a creative act that God continually renews. The Church—and each of its members—lives from this ever-current mystery. He does not live “on income”, much less on an archaeological heritage, no matter how valuable and noble it may be. The Church—and each baptized person—lives from the present of God, through the action of the Holy Spirit. Also the act that we are carrying out here now makes sense if we live it in this perspective of faith. And today, in the light of the Word, we can understand this reality: you, neo-cardinals, have come from different parts of the world and the same Holy Spirit that fertilized the evangelization of your people now renews in you your vocation and mission in the Church and for the church.
From this reflection, obtained from a fruitful “surprise”, I would like to simply extract a consequence for you, brother cardinals, and for your College. And I would like to express it with an image, that of the orchestra. We use this image a lot. The College of Cardinals is called to resemble a symphony orchestra , representing the symphony and synodality of the Church. I also say “synodality” not only because we are on the eve of the first Assembly of the Synod that has precisely this topic, but because it seems to me that the metaphor of the orchestra can well illuminate the synodal character of the Church.
A symphony comes to life from the wise composition of sounds of the different instruments. Each one provides their contribution, sometimes alone, sometimes together with someone else, sometimes with the entire group. Diversity is necessary, it is essential. But each sound must contribute to the common project. And for that, mutual listening is essential.
Every musician must listen to others. If one only listens to himself, however sublime his sound may be, he will not benefit the symphony; and the same would happen if one section of the orchestra did not listen to the others, but sounded as if it were alone, as if it were the whole. And the conductor of the orchestra is at the service of this kind of miracle that each performance of a symphony represents. He must listen more than everyone else and at the same time his task is to help each one and the entire orchestra to develop to the maximum their creative fidelity, fidelity to the work being performed, but creative, capable of giving a soul to that work. score, to make it sound in the here and now in a unique way.
Dear brothers and sisters, it does us good to reflect on the image of the orchestra, to learn increasingly better to be a symphonic and synodal Church. I propose it, particularly to you, members of the College of Cardinals, in the comforting confidence that we have the Holy Spirit as our teacher, the inner teacher of each one and the teacher of walking together. He creates variety and unity, He is harmony itself. Saint Basil seeks a synthesis when he says: “ Ipse harmonia est ”, he is the same harmony. We entrust ourselves to his sweet and strong guidance, and to the caring protection of the Virgin Mary.