At Holy Mass in the port of Rimini on August 22, Pope Leo XIV reminded the faithful that “everything we are and have is a gift from God,” entrusted to us so that we may be “instruments of salvation for one another.”The Mass, concelebrated around 6:30 pm local time, concluded an intense day of activities that included a visit to San Marino, one of the smallest states in the world, and to the Italian city of Rimini on the occasion of the 47th Meeting for Friendship among Peoples.
In his homily, the Pope emphasized that “in the Church, in all its spheres, authority is service.”“The Pope, the bishops, the priests and the deacons are the first called to live it in this way, and the whole People of God must join them, each according to their specific vocation,” he said.He explained that the mission of “binding and loosing,” while referring to those called to exercise authority in the name of the Lord, also describes a style and task for all the baptized: “to embrace, gather, welcome, free, forgive and emancipate all who are prisoners of sin and its consequences.”In this way, he noted, we all become “righteous and wise administrators of the goods that God entrusts to us, so that everything contributes, in charity, to the good of all.”
The Holy Father stressed that everything we are and have is entrusted to us so that, in God’s hands, “we can be instruments of salvation for one another in justice, starting with the places and people with whom we live and work every day, and then turning, with a big and open heart, to the whole world.”He then encouraged the faithful of the region to “continue with the commitment by which they ensure that this territory is welcoming not only for rest and recreation, but also for the spirit.”
“The world we live in offers many forms of entertainment, some of which, however, lead more to distraction and ruin than to a true ‘coming to one’s senses,’ and leave the heart empty,” he warned. Referring to what some call “evasion,” as if daily life were “a prison from which one had to flee,” the Pope said the truest place of rest is not outside in chaos, but within.“But we know that the truest place where we can find rest, where we can meet God to truly meet each other, is not outside, in the midst of chaos, but within us, in the depths of the soul,” he emphasized.
The Pope affirmed that as a Christian community, the faithful are called “to cultivate this experience and transmit it through openness and hospitality, both personal and of our structures; the care and recollection of the churches, and the willingness to help and practice charity.”