On the Feast of St. Stephen
“Today let us pray in a special way for all those who are discriminated against because of their witness to Christ.”
Here is the translation of the Holy Father’s address before and after the recitation of the Angelus prayer to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square this afternoon.
* * *
Dear brothers and sisters,
Today the liturgy recalls the witness of Saint Stephen. Chosen by the Apostles, together with six others, for the diaconate of charity in the community of Jerusalem, he became the first martyr of the Church. With his martyrdom, Stephen honored the coming into the world of the King of kings, offering to Him the gift of his own life. And so he shows us how to live the fullness of the mystery of Christmas.
The Gospel of this feast gives a part of Jesus’ discourse to his disciples in the moment in which He sends them on mission. Among other things, He says, “You will be hated by all because of my name, but whoever endures to the end will be saved.” (Mt 10:22). These words of the Lord do not disrupt the celebration of Christmas, but strip it of that false saccharine-sweetness that does not belong to it. It makes us understand that in the trials accepted on account of the faith, violence is overcome by love, death by life. To truly welcome Jesus in our existence, and to prolong the joy of the Holy Night, the path is precisely the one indicated in this Gospel: that is, to bear witness in humility, in silent service, without fear of going against the current, able to pay in person. And if not all are called, as Saint Stephen was, to shed their own blood, nonetheless, every Christian is called in every circumstance to be to live a life that is coherent with the faith he or she professes.
Following the Gospel is certainly a demanding path, but those who travel it with fidelity and courage receive the gift promised by the Lord to men and women of good will. At Bethlehem, in fact, the angels announced to the shepherds, “on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests” (Lk 2:14). This peace given by God is able to soothe the conscience of those who, through the trials of life, know to welcome the Word of God and observe it with perseverance to the end (cf. Mt 10:22).
Today let us pray in a special way for all those who are discriminated against because of their witness to Christ. I want to say to each of them: If you carry this cross with love, you have entered into the mystery of Christmas, you are in the heart of Jesus and of the Church.
Let us pray also that, thanks to the sacrifices of the martyrs of today, the commitment to recognize and concretely to ensure religious liberty — an inalienable right of every human person — would be strengthened in every part of the world.
Dear brothers and sisters, I hope all of you will enjoy a peaceful Christmas feast. May Saint Stephen, Deacon and Proto-martyr, sustain on our daily path all of us, who hope to be crowned, in the end, in the festive assembly of the Saints in paradise.
AFTER THE ANGELUS
Dear brothers and sisters,
I greet you in the joy of Christmas and I renew my best wishes for peace for all of you: peace in families, in parishes and religious communities, in movements, and in associations.
I greet everyone named Stephen or Stephanie: Best wishes!
In these past few weeks I have received so many Christmas greetings from Rome, and elsewhere. Because it is not possible for me to respond to each one, I want to express today my heartfelt thanks for all of them, especially for the gift of prayer. Thank you from the heart! May the Lord repay your generosity.
And don’t forget: Christian coherence — that is, thinking, feeling, and living as a Christian. And not to think as a Christian and live like a pagan. Not that! Today let us ask Stephen for the gift of Christian coherence…
And please, continue to pray for me. Don’t forget!
Happy Feast Day, and have a good lunch. Arrivederci!
In the Angelus on St. Stephen’s Day, Pope Francis exhorts Christians to remain coherent with the faith they profess
GIACOMO GALEAZZI Vatican city
‘Those persecuted for their faith are at the heart of the Church. Not those Christians who live as pagans’. Francis turns the Angelus on St. Stephen’s Day into a collective prayer for the persecuted Christians and stigmatizes the ‘fake Christmas that tastes sickly-sweet’. Today’s feast day for the first Christian martyr, the deacon Stephen, ‘shows us how to fully live the Christmas mystery’, says the Pope, highlighting Jesus’ words to his disciples at the moment when he sends them on a mission, which we read in the liturgy of this feast day. Jesus says ‘Everyone will hate you because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved’, even if they ‘do not upset Christmas celebrations, they divest it of that fake sickly-sweet cover that does not belong to them’.
‘The let us understand that, in the trials we accept because of faith, violence is defeated by love, death by life’.
The faithful, gathered in St. Peter’s square for the Angelus, sang out ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Hooray for the Pope’ as a homage to Francis. According to the Pope, ‘in order to welcome Jesus truly in our life, and prolong the joy of the Holy Night, the way is that which is indicated in this Gospel, namely to give testimony to Jesus in humility, silent service and with no fear of going against the current and paying the price personally’. Therefore, ‘although not everyone is called, like St. Stephen, to spill their blood, every Christian is called to be coherent in every circumstance with the faith he professes’.
Moreover, ‘following the Gospel is definitely a demanding path, but great, really great, and those who walk on this path with loyalty and courage receive the promised gift from God to men and women of good will, as the Angels sang on Christmas Day: “Peace, peace!”. This peace given by God is able to clear the conscience of those who, through the trials of life, know how to welcome the Word of God and are committed to observing it to the end’.
On this day, when the Catholic Church remembers its first martyr, St. Stephen, the religious news website Il Sismografo, reports that the appeals of the faithful, the bishops and the newspapers were useless. The Police of the Guerrero state, in Mexico, has confirmed the discovery of the body of Father Gregorio López Gorostieta, kidnapped last Monday while he was in his room in the seminary of Ciudad Altamirano. The terrible discovery happened in the Tlapehuala municipality, which counts 9 thousand citizens, not far from the place where, weeks ago, the body of a missionary from Uganda, called Father John Ssenyondo, was found, who had been kidnapped last 30th of April too.
With the murder of Father López Gorostieta, the number priests killed in Mexico in 2014 goes up to three; 12 throughout the whole American continent. In Peru, last Wednesday, Father Alfonso Comina Zevallos – 56 years old - was killed in the course of a violent robbery.
Pope Francis’ words about ‘Christian coherence’ will remain as a warning. ‘Christian coherence is a grace that we must ask for to the Lord; to be coherent, to live as Christians, and not only to say we are Christians while living as pagans’.
The Pope wishes that, in every corner of the globe, the commitment to recognizing and actively ensuring freedom of belief, which is an ‘inalienable right of every human being’. To the martyrs of the third millennium, Francis guarantees that the universal Church will pray for ‘those who are persecuted, discriminated and even killed because of their testimony to Christ’. Moreover, to each of them he says that ‘if you carry this cross with love, you will join in the Christmas mystery; you will be at the heart of Christ and the Church’.
From St. Peter’s square, filled with the faithful, a prayer rises up ‘so that, thanks to the sacrifice of today’s martyrs’, namely those who are discriminated and persecuted because of their Christian faith, ‘the commitment in every part of the world strengthens to recognize and actively ensure freedom of belief, which is an inalienable right of every human being’. Lastly, the Pope remembered that ‘in these weeks, I have received many wishes from Rome, Italy and every part of the world. Since it is not possible for me to answer each one of them, I now express to you all my heartfelt thanks, especially for the gift of your prayer. Thank you sincerely! May the Lord recompense you for your generosity’.
‘The let us understand that, in the trials we accept because of faith, violence is defeated by love, death by life’.
The faithful, gathered in St. Peter’s square for the Angelus, sang out ‘Merry Christmas’ and ‘Hooray for the Pope’ as a homage to Francis. According to the Pope, ‘in order to welcome Jesus truly in our life, and prolong the joy of the Holy Night, the way is that which is indicated in this Gospel, namely to give testimony to Jesus in humility, silent service and with no fear of going against the current and paying the price personally’. Therefore, ‘although not everyone is called, like St. Stephen, to spill their blood, every Christian is called to be coherent in every circumstance with the faith he professes’.
Moreover, ‘following the Gospel is definitely a demanding path, but great, really great, and those who walk on this path with loyalty and courage receive the promised gift from God to men and women of good will, as the Angels sang on Christmas Day: “Peace, peace!”. This peace given by God is able to clear the conscience of those who, through the trials of life, know how to welcome the Word of God and are committed to observing it to the end’.
On this day, when the Catholic Church remembers its first martyr, St. Stephen, the religious news website Il Sismografo, reports that the appeals of the faithful, the bishops and the newspapers were useless. The Police of the Guerrero state, in Mexico, has confirmed the discovery of the body of Father Gregorio López Gorostieta, kidnapped last Monday while he was in his room in the seminary of Ciudad Altamirano. The terrible discovery happened in the Tlapehuala municipality, which counts 9 thousand citizens, not far from the place where, weeks ago, the body of a missionary from Uganda, called Father John Ssenyondo, was found, who had been kidnapped last 30th of April too.
With the murder of Father López Gorostieta, the number priests killed in Mexico in 2014 goes up to three; 12 throughout the whole American continent. In Peru, last Wednesday, Father Alfonso Comina Zevallos – 56 years old - was killed in the course of a violent robbery.
Pope Francis’ words about ‘Christian coherence’ will remain as a warning. ‘Christian coherence is a grace that we must ask for to the Lord; to be coherent, to live as Christians, and not only to say we are Christians while living as pagans’.
The Pope wishes that, in every corner of the globe, the commitment to recognizing and actively ensuring freedom of belief, which is an ‘inalienable right of every human being’. To the martyrs of the third millennium, Francis guarantees that the universal Church will pray for ‘those who are persecuted, discriminated and even killed because of their testimony to Christ’. Moreover, to each of them he says that ‘if you carry this cross with love, you will join in the Christmas mystery; you will be at the heart of Christ and the Church’.
From St. Peter’s square, filled with the faithful, a prayer rises up ‘so that, thanks to the sacrifice of today’s martyrs’, namely those who are discriminated and persecuted because of their Christian faith, ‘the commitment in every part of the world strengthens to recognize and actively ensure freedom of belief, which is an inalienable right of every human being’. Lastly, the Pope remembered that ‘in these weeks, I have received many wishes from Rome, Italy and every part of the world. Since it is not possible for me to answer each one of them, I now express to you all my heartfelt thanks, especially for the gift of your prayer. Thank you sincerely! May the Lord recompense you for your generosity’.
‘God stronger than darkness & corruption’: Pope delivers Christmas message
Pope Francis wished courage and warmth for the world in his Christmas Eve mass homily, as God is stronger than “darkness and corruption.” He also made a phone call to Iraqi refugees who fled ISIS violence, saying that they are “like Jesus” on this night.
“Through the course of history, the light that shatters the darkness reveals to us that God is Father and that his patient fidelity is stronger than darkness and corruption,” said the pontiff, leading a mass for thousands of Catholics in St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican.
The 78-year-old added that God does not know “outbursts of anger or impatience.”
“He is always there, like the father in the parable of the prodigal son, waiting to catch from afar a glimpse of the lost son as he returns,” he said.
The pope asked the believers if they have “the courage to welcome with tenderness the difficulties and problems of those who are near to us?"
“Or do we prefer impersonal solutions, perhaps effective but devoid of the warmth of the Gospel? How much the world needs tenderness today!”
READ MORE: Pope blasts Vatican bureaucrats for ‘spiritual Alzheimer’s’, lists their 15 sins
“Life must be met with goodness, with meekness. When we realize that God is in love with our smallness, that he made himself small in order to better encounter us, we cannot help but open our hearts to him.”
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