Vatican City, Dec 26, 2024 / 13:30 pm
Pope Francis recalled the witness of persecuted Christians around the world on Thursday as he celebrated the feast of St. Stephen, the Church’s first martyr.
In his Angelus address on Dec. 26, Pope Francis reflected on Stephen’s last words as he was being stoned to death as recorded in the Acts of the Apostles: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”
Pope Francis said: “Even though at first sight Stephen seems to be helplessly suffering violence, in reality, as a truly free man, he continues to love even his killers and to offer his life for them, like Jesus; he offers his life so that they may repent and, having been forgiven, be given eternal life.”
“Today there are, in various parts of the world, many men and women who are persecuted, at times up to death, because of the Gospel,” the pope added. “What we have said about Stephen applies to them too. They do not allow themselves to be killed out of weakness, nor to defend an ideology, but to make everyone participants in the gift of salvation. And they do so first and foremost for the good of their killers … and they pray for them.”
Francis pointed to the example of Blessed Christian de Chergé, one of the French Trappist monks kidnapped from Algeria’s Tibhirine abbey in 1996 who is now counted in the Church among the “Martyrs of Algeria.”
In de Chergé’s last testament left with his family “to be opened in the event of my death,” he contemplated what he would say to his killer if he were to become “a victim of the terrorism which now seems ready to encompass all the foreigners living in Algeria.”
“And you also, the friend of my final moment, who would not be aware of what you were doing. Yes, for you also I wish this ‘thank you’ — and this adieu — to commend you to the God whose face I see in yours. And may we find each other, happy ‘good thieves,’ in paradise, if it pleases God, the father of us both. Amen,” the Trappist monk wrote.
Pope Francis lauded this “beautiful example” left by the 20th-century Trappist martyr as well as St. Stephen 19 centuries prior who likewise prayed for those who killed him.
“Stephen appears to us as a witness of that God who has one great desire: that ‘that all men be saved’ (1 Tm 2:4) — this is the desire of God’s heart — that no one be lost (cf. Jn 6:39; 17:1-26),” the pope said.
“Stephen is a witness to the Father — our Father — who wants good and only good for each of his children, and always; the Father who excludes no one, the Father who never tires of seeking them out and of welcoming them back when, after having strayed, they return to him in repentance (cf. Lk 15:11-32) and the Father who does not tire of forgiving.”
The pope offered this reflection from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter’s Square shortly after he returned from offering Mass and opening a jubilee Holy Door in Rebibbia Prison Complex, one of the largest prisons in Italy.
“This morning, I opened a Holy Door, after that of St. Peter’s, in the Roman Rebibbia prison. It was, so to speak, ‘a cathedral of pain and hope,’” he said.
In addition to clemency, the forgiveness of debts is also a special characteristic of jubilees historically.
Pope Francis expressed hope that during the jubilee year people will support the Caritas Internationalis campaign titled “Turn Debt into Hope,” which aims to promote development by offering relief to countries oppressed by unsustainable debts.
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“The question of debt is linked to that of peace and the ‘black market’ of weapons,” the pope said. “No more colonizing peoples with weapons. Let us work for disarmament, let us work against hunger, against disease, against child labor. And let us pray, please, for peace throughout the world! Peace in tormented Ukraine, in Gaza, Israel, Myanmar, North Kivu, and in so many countries that are at war.”
At the end of the Angelus, the pope offered a greeting to all of the pilgrims who will visit Rome for the 2025 Jubilee Year, which officially began on Christmas Eve.
“I think that many of you have made the pilgrim journey that leads to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica. It is a good sign, a sign that expresses the meaning of our life: going toward Jesus, who loves us and opens his heart to let us enter into his kingdom of love, joy, and peace,” Pope Francis said.
“May Mary, queen of martyrs, help us to be courageous witnesses of the Gospel for the salvation of the world,” he said.
