VATICAN CITY // The Vatican Basilica was filled with solemnity and reflection at the 5 p.m. Mass April 30 as Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, delivered a homily highlighting Pope Francis’ constant call for intergenerational dialogue and how that should inspire unity among such a diverse college of cardinals.
Cardinal Sandri, 81, former prefect of the Dicastery of Eastern Churches and a connational to Pope Francis, presided over the Eucharistic celebration marking the fifth day of the Novemdiales, the traditional nine days of mourning and prayer following the death of a pope.
Cardinal Sandri began by proclaiming the central Christian message: “Christ is Risen!” He noted the particular poignancy of singing the Easter Alleluia during the Novemdiales, recalling how the same joyful announcement — Nuntio vobis gaudium magnum quod est Alleluia (I bring you good news of great joy, which is Alleluia) — had recently echoed in the basilica, shortly after a visit by the late Holy Father Francis.
Sandri reflected, “In an unconscious way, we think, he was preparing to cross another Red Sea, another night that the Resurrection of Christ allows us to call blessed, the night of which it is said et nox sicut dies illuminabitur” (“and the night shall be as bright as day”).
Looking ahead to the election of a new pope, Cardinal Sandri reminded the assembly that the ministry of Peter’s successor finds its foundation in the Paschal experience: “It is starting from the Paschal experience of Christ that the ministry of the Successor of Peter finds meaning, called in every age to live the words just heard in the Gospel: ‘And you, once converted, strengthen your brothers.’”
Addressing his fellow cardinals, Cardinal Sandri described their gathering as “almost a central stage of this ecclesial journey,” where they entrust to the Lord the one whom they served as collaborators and advisors. He highlighted the global nature of the Church, mentioning regions from where cardinals are coming such as “Tonga and Mongolia to Jerusalem and North Africa” and stressed that “in all these places and continents … as successors of the Apostles we are called every day to remember and live with awareness that ‘to reign is to serve,’ like the Master and Lord, who is among us as the one who serves.”
Reflecting on the day’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Cardinal Sandri noted its significance: “It is Peter who takes the floor to justify what had happened: the apostles are not drunk… indeed precisely because they are pervaded by that sober ebrietas (sober drunkenness) of the Spirit … can also be understood by different peoples, each in their own language.”
The Argentinian cardinal then linked the Pentecost event to the present moment in the Church, describing it as both an end and a new beginning and invoked the prophecy from Joel cherished by Pope Francis: “I will pour out my Spirit on all; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams … whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Sandri highlighted Pope Francis’ frequent call for intergenerational dialogue, quoting from him: “There is no future without this meeting between the elderly and the young; there is no growth without roots and there is no blossoming without new shoots. Never prophecy without memory, never memory without prophecy; and always meeting.”
He encouraged the College of Cardinals, composed of both young and older members, to discern together the dream God has for the Church and to pursue it with renewed enthusiasm.
Concluding his homily, Cardinal Sandri offered a prayer: “Lord, we entrust to you your servant, Pope Francis, so that you can fill him now of joy in your presence, and we ask you for the grace to fulfill his vision for a Church that announces the mystery of Christ, Crucified and Risen! Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, intercede with your prayer for the one who so desired to fix your loving gaze and now rests in the basilica dedicated to you. Amen.”
