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Vatican City (Fides Agency) - In times of darkness, “the Lord comes to us with the light of the Resurrection to illuminate our hearts.” This is what happened to Jesus' disciples when they encountered the Risen One, who after Jesus' death on the cross had felt “ orphaned, alone, lost, threatened and helpless”. This is happening again today, with the light of Easter illuminating even the sadness over the end of Pope Francis' earthly life.
On the sun-drenched St. Peter's Square, Cardinal Pietro Parolin addressed the approximately 200,000 young people who had come to Rome from all over the world to participate in the Holy Year of Youth with words of hope and Easter joy during the funeral Mass for the late Pope on the second day of the “Novendiale.”
Easter joy, the Venetian cardinal told the boys and girls, “ can almost be touched in this square today; you can see it etched above all in your faces, dear children and young people who have come from all over the world to celebrate the Jubilee. You come from so many places: from all of the dioceses of Italy, from Europe, from the United States to Latin America, from Africa to Asia, from the United Arab Emirates… with you here, the whole world is truly present!”
Cardinal Parolin recalled that Pope Francis, quoting the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, placed the joy of the Gospel at the center of his pontificate, which “fills the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus”. “Never forget,” the cardinal urged, ‘to nourish your lives with the true hope that has the face of Jesus Christ’ with whom ‘you will never be abandoned or alone,’ He ”who comes to meet you where you are, to give you the courage to live.” On the second Sunday of Easter, Dominica in Albis, when the Church also celebrates the Feast of Divine Mercy, Cardinal Parolin also recalled that “it is precisely the Father’s mercy, likewise the eagerness to proclaim and share God’s mercy with all - the proclamation of the Good News, evangelisation - was the principal theme of his pontificate. He reminded us that “mercy” is the very name of God, and, therefore, no one can put a limit on his merciful love with which he wants to raise us up and make us new people.” The affection manifested for Pope Francis after the end of his earthly life, the Cardinal emphasized in his homily, “must not remain a mere emotion of the moment; we must welcome his legacy and make it part of our lives, opening ourselves to God’s mercy and also being merciful to one another”. Mercy, added the cardinal, “brings us back to the heart of faith,” “heals and creates a new world, putting out the fires of distrust, hatred and violence: this is the great teaching of Pope Francis.” ( Fides Agency 27/4/2025).
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