Michael KellyCelebrations in Rome were a mix of carnival and prayerful anticipation
From early morning Saturday pilgrims had been arriving at the Vatican with flags, banners and musical instruments. The sight of so many young pilgrims with sleeping bags on their rucksack was an indication of how they were going to spend the night. Threatened rain materialised briefly in the late afternoon, but as darkness fell the streets had dried again. All-night prayer vigils had been organised in many of the churches in the city centre. In the late evening I went to the picturesque Piazza Navona where many thousands of pilgrims had gathered in joyful celebration. There were guitars, drums, tambourines and plenty of good cheer.
But this was first-and-foremost a religious occasion. As Eucharistic Adoration got underway and the consecrated host placed in the monstrance you could hear a pin drop as pilgrims dropped to their knees almost oblivious to the unusual outdoor setting. The scene was replicated all across the eternal city as pilgrims waited for the St Peter’s Square to open in the early morning.
Hours before the ceremony was due to start the square was full. Canonising two recent Popes in the presence of his immediate predecessor, Pope Francis praised the new Sts John XXIII and John Paul II as men of courage and mercy, who responded to challenges of their time by modernising the Church in fidelity to its ancient traditions.
Openness
“They were priests, bishops and popes of the 20th century,” the Pope said in his homily. “They lived through the tragic events of that century, but they were not overwhelmed by them. For them, God was more powerful.”
“John XXIII and John Paul cooperated with the Holy Spirit in renewing and updating the Church in keeping with her original features, those features which the saints have given her throughout the centuries,” he said.
Speaking before a crowd of half a million that included retired Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis praised St John for his best-known accomplishment, calling the Second Vatican Council, which he said “showed an exquisite openness to the Holy Spirit.”
“He let himself be led, and he was for the Church a pastor, a servant-leader,” the Pope said of St John. “This was his great service to the Church. I like to think of him as the Pope of openness to the Spirit.”
Pope Francis characterised St John Paul as the “Pope of the family,” a title he said the late Pope himself had hoped to be remembered by. Pope Francis said he was sure St John Paul was guiding the Church on its path to two upcoming synods of bishops on the family, to be held at the Vatican this October and in October 2015.
The Pope repeatedly mentioned mercy in his homily, which he delivered on Divine Mercy Sunday, an observance St John Paul put on the Church’s universal calendar in 2000. The Polish Pope died on the vigil of the feast in 2005 and was beatified on Divine Mercy Sunday in 2011.
In addition to Pope Benedict, making only his third public appearance since he resigned in February 2013, Pope Francis’ concelebrants included some 150 cardinals and 700 bishops.
Veneration
Pope Benedict did not join the procession of bishops at the start of Mass, but arrived half an hour earlier, wearing white vestments and walking with a cane. Pope Francis greeted his predecessor with an embrace at the start of the Mass, drawing applause from the crowd.
During the canonisation ceremony, devotees carried up relics of the new saints in matching silver reliquaries, which Pope Francis kissed before they were placed on a small table for veneration by the congregation.
St John’s relic was a piece of the late Pope’s skin, removed when his body was transferred to its present tomb in the main sanctuary of St Peter;s Basilica.
Floribeth Mora Diaz, a Costa Rican woman whose recovery from a brain aneurysm was recognised by the Church as a miracle attributable to the intercession of St John Paul, brought up a silver reliquary containing some of the saint’s blood, taken from him for medical testing shortly before his death in 2005.
The Vatican estimated that 800,000 attended the ceremony in Rome, with overflow crowds watching on giant-screen TVs set up at various locations around the city.
The Vatican said 93 countries sent official delegations to the Mass, and more than 30 of the delegations were led by a president or prime minister including Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
Pope Francis spent half an hour personally greeting the delegations following the Mass. He then greeted pilgrims in his popemobile through the square and adjacent avenue, drawing cheers and applause from the crowds, for about 20 minutes until disappearing at the end of the street.