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VATICAN CITY // On the third day of the Novemdiales — the traditional nine days of mourning and prayer following the death of a pope — Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, said that the world is in need of a spiritual leader “who has the gaze of Jesus.”
The solemn Mass celebrated at 5 p.m. in the Vatican Basilica, gathered the faithful of Rome and pilgrims from around the world to pray for the soul of Pope Francis and to reflect on his legacy as the shepherd of the universal Church.
Cardinal Reina opened his homily by acknowledging the profound sense of loss felt by the Church of Rome and the global Catholic community.
“My feeble voice is here today to express the prayer and pain of a portion of the Church, that of Rome, pregnant with the responsibility that history has assigned to it,” he said.
He described the city as “a people mourning its bishop, a people together with other peoples who have lined up, finding a space among the places of the city to mourn and pray, like sheep without a shepherd.”
The image of the Shepherd
Drawing on the Gospel of John and the metaphor of the grain of wheat that must die to bear fruit, Cardinal Reina reflected on the role of the shepherd and the current sense of being “sheep without a shepherd.” He spoke of the challenges facing humanity and the Church, noting, “In this time, while the world burns, and few have the courage to proclaim the Gospel by translating it into a vision of a possible and concrete future, humanity appears as sheep without a shepherd.”
He continued, “Jesus, the true shepherd of history who needs his salvation, knows the weight that weighs on each of us in continuing his mission, especially as we find ourselves looking for the first of his shepherds on earth.”
Cardinal Reina emphasized that this is not a time for “balancing acts, tactics, caution” but rather for a “radical disposition…to enter into the dream of God entrusted to our poor hands.” He invoked the image from Revelation: “I, John, saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” urging the Church not to be bound by “mental and spiritual laziness” or fear of change.
Reflecting on Pope Francis’ legacy, he said, “I think of the multiple processes of reform of the life of the Church initiated by Pope Francis, and which go beyond religious affiliations. People have recognized that he was a universal shepherd and Peter’s boat needs this wide navigation that goes beyond borders and surprises.”
The need for a true shepherd
“Looking for a shepherd, today, means above all looking for a guide who knows how to manage the fear of losses in the face of the demands of the Gospel,” Cardinal Reina stated.
He called for a leader “who has the gaze of Jesus, the epiphany of God’s humanity in a world that has inhuman traits” and “who confirms that we must walk together, composing ministries and charisms: We are the people of God constituted to announce the Gospel.”
He described the compassion of Jesus as one that “vibrates inside him,” seeing the suffering and needs of the people: “He, in front of those people, feels he is their Bread that does not disappoint, their water that quenches endlessly, the balm that their wounds.”
A sower’s sacrifice
Cardinal Reina reflected on the Gospel passage proclaimed at the Mass: “If the grain of wheat that falls to the ground does not die, it remains alone,” he explained. “His death is a sowing that leaves us suspended at that hour, in which the seed is no longer seen, wrapped in the earth that hides it, making us fear that it has been wasted. A suspension that could distress us, but that can become a threshold of hope, a crack in doubt, a light in the night, an Easter garden.”
He connected this to the life and final days of Pope Francis: “That extreme, total, exhausting gesture of the sower made me think back to Pope Francis’ Easter day, to that pouring himself unsparingly into blessing and embracing his people, the day before he died. The last act of his unsparing sowing is the announcement of God’s mercies. Thank you, Pope Francis.”
Concluding his homily, Cardinal Reina invoked the Virgin Mary: “Mary, the Holy Virgin whom we in Rome venerate Salus populi romani, who now stands beside and watches over his mortal remains, welcome his soul and protect us as we continue his mission. Amen.”
