Vatican City, Nov 5, 2020 / 08:00 am
Pope Francis encouraged Catholics to pray for the dead and remember Christ's promise of the resurrection at a Mass offered Thursday for the souls of cardinals and bishops who died in the past year.
"Prayers for the faithful departed, offered in confident trust that they now live with God, also greatly benefit ourselves on this, our earthly pilgrimage. They instil in us a true vision of life; they reveal to us the meaning of the trials we must endure to enter the kingdom of God; they open our hearts to true freedom and inspire us unceasingly to seek eternal riches," Pope Francis said Nov. 5.
"The eyes of faith, transcending things visible, see in a certain way invisible realities. Everything that happens is then assessed in the light of another dimension, the dimension of eternity," the pope said in his homily for the Mass in St. Peter's Basilica.
The Mass, celebrated at the Altar of the Chair, was offered for the repose of the souls of six cardinals and 163 bishops who died between Oct. 2019 and Oct. 2020.