November: month to pray for the deceased and gain indulgencesThe souls in Purgatory: the importance of prayer"God is love; he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16). These words, with which Benedict XVI's Encyclical "Deus Caritas Est" begins, express the core of the Christian faith. In a world in which the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even hatred and violence, the Christian message of the God of Love is highly relevant.
The Pope begins his homily at the Mass celebrated in St. Peter's Basilica in suffrage of Benedict XVI and the cardinals and bishops deceased Benedict XVI, whom we remember today together with the cardinals and bishops who died during the year, wrote in his first encyclical that the program of Jesus is 'a heart that sees'. "How many times he reminded us that faith is not above all an idea to be understood or a moral to be assumed, but a person to be encountered, Jesus Christ," Francis emphasizes.
"His heart beats strongly for us, his gaze sympathizes with our affliction," as is the case with the widow at the center of today's Gospel, who has just lost her only son, and with him "the reason for living." "Here is our God, whose divinity shines forth in contact with our miseries, because his heart is compassionate," the Holy Father observes: "The resurrection of that son, the gift of life that conquers death, arises precisely from here: from the compassion of the Lord, who is moved by our extreme evil, death."
"How important it is to communicate this compassionate gaze to those who experience the pain of the death of their loved ones," the Pope stresses, emphasizing that "Jesus' compassion has one characteristic: it is concrete": "Touching the coffin of a deceased person was useless; at that time, moreover, it was considered an impure gesture that contaminated the one who performed it. But Jesus pays no attention to this, his compassion erases the distances and brings him closer. This is God's style, made of closeness, compassion and tenderness. And of few words.
Benedict XVI passed away at 9:34 a.m. on December 31, 2022. During the New Year's Mass, the Pope expressed affection and intercession for his beloved predecessor. In his homily, he said, "Let us entrust Benedict XVI to the Blessed Mother of God, that she may accompany him in his passage from this world to God."
Shortly after, during the prayer of the faithful, an intention was dedicated to the Pope Emeritus: "May the supreme Pastor who always lives to intercede for us receive him graciously into the kingdom of light and peace". Finally, during the Angelus, before the 40,000 faithful present in the square, Pope Bergoglio added: "In these hours, we invoke his intercession especially for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who yesterday morning left this world. We unite all of us, with one heart and one soul, to give thanks to God for the gift of this faithful servant of the Gospel and of the Church".
