Vatican City, Nov 5, 2007 / 07:28 am
In keeping with longstanding papal tradition, Pope Benedict XVI celebrated Mass today for the souls of the cardinals and bishops who died this past year. Recalling how their lives were all marked by a deep friendship with Jesus, Benedict said that this friendship, coupled with Jesus’ death and resurrection, makes it so that “not even death can render a believer’s hope worthless”.
The Holy Father began his homily by naming the cardinals who had died in the past twelve months: Salvatore Pappalardo, Frédéric Etsou-Nzabi Bamungwabi, Antonio María Javierre, Angelo Felici, Jean-Marie Lustiger, Edouard Gagnon, Adam Kozlowiecki and Rosalio José Castillo Lara.
The Pope asked the Church to give thanks to God "for the gift he has given the Church through them and for all the good achieved with their help. He also entrusted “the souls of the departed patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops to the Eternal Father, also expressing our recognition of their work in the name of the entire Catholic community."
These men, our brothers, he continued, "were certainly men of distinct character, both for their personal trials as well as for the ministry they exercised. Nevertheless, they all had a great commonality: their friendship with the Lord Jesus."