A word from the editor in chief: I am writing this note shortly before heading out to the Basilica of Mary Major this afternoon to visit Pope Francis’ tomb. There is a bit of lull, even in our reporting schedule, for today’s holiday, as J.D. explains below, which I plan to use to make the fairly short trek across Rome to the basilica. (And as a bonus, another Holy Door to walk through during the Jubilee.)
At Mass today, the first reading for today’s memorial is from the creation narrative in Genesis and ends with God resting “from all the work he had done in creation.” There’s a lovely kind of logic in using this reading for this feast: a celebration of work that ends in rest. So as much as I’m with J.D. in having the instinctive surprise at the cardinals taking a day off—after all, could anything be more important right now than what they’re doing?—I need the reminder to rest. To pause and remember that praying “Come, Holy Spirit” begins by stopping to draw breath, in order to ask God to breathe the Spirit into the church and the world. – Sam Sawyer, S.J.
The people of God trust in the Holy Spirit. I should, too.
By J.D. Long Garcia
In Italy, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker is a holiday. The cardinals, gathered in Rome from across the world to discern the Roman pontiff, get a break today.
And that’s fine, I suppose. But part of me wants them to get on with it. I can’t wait to see what happens.
I have never been in Rome during sede vacante, when the chair of St. Peter is empty. It could be the jetlag or the stark contrast with the busy weekend, but something feels off kilter. It definitely feels like something—or someone—is missing.
One of my duties while in Rome is to get input from people on the street and Catholics in the pews. It sounds fancier if you say it in Latin: I am reporting on the vox populi, the voice of the people.
The approach is not scientific. At Pope Francis’ funeral Mass, for example, I talked to people before and after the liturgy. But, of course, I didn’t interview all 250,000 people who showed up. And it certainly wasn’t a random sample.
Likewise, I went to Rome’s Basilica of Mary Major to interview those lined up to pay their respects to Pope Francis at his tomb. I spoke to people in English or Spanish (or once, what I think was a mix of Spanish and Portuguese).
What I heard is quite different from the apprehensive commentaries speculating on the results of the upcoming conclave. The people I interviewed don’t know who will be chosen, or if the next pope will continue the work of Francis. But listening to the vox populi gave me a great deal of comfort.
Predictably, given the context, people told me they loved Pope Francis. They want the next pope to build on and extend Francis’ initiatives. Yet when I asked Rosa Guerra what she wanted from the next pope, she told me she would like someone with the appeal of St. John Paul II.
I met Ms. Guerra at St. Mary Major. She was emotional because she and her son had planned this trip to Rome last year to see Pope Francis. Originally from Peru, she was crushed that she missed seeing the first pope from Latin America.
I didn’t press her on her answer. After all, she was waiting to pay her respects to the late pope. But I got the sense that her comment about Pope John Paul II had more to do with, for example, his charisma and athleticism when he was elected than any theological teaching.
The people of God certainly do see the bishop of Rome as a teacher, but they also unquestionably see him as a father. And for the time being, the church doesn’t have one. It is something to reflect on today, as we celebrate St. Joseph.
“I believe the Holy Spirit always intervenes in the choosing of the next pope,” the Rev. Halmar Adolis Calix, a priest from Honduras, told me. “And surely, the new pope will continue to give what the church needs in the circumstances in which we find ourselves.”
By and large, people I’ve met have expressed this same trust in the Holy Spirit. Their tranquility brings me great peace.
Here are the other stories you need to read today:
- Vatican correspondent Gerard O’Connell reported yesterday that Cardinal Beniamino Stella stunned many cardinals in a pre-conclave meeting April 30 when “he openly attacked Pope Francis” for “bypassing the long-standing tradition of the church” that linked the power of governance in the church to holy orders.
- Who will be the next pope? In a new report, Colleen Dulle explains how to understand the ‘papabile’ lists that have proliferated on social media and in newspapers since the death of Pope Francis.
