And it always strikes me that with their powerful compassion for the people, these Saints felt the need to give the people the greatest thing, the greatest wealth: the Father’s mercy, forgiveness. “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us”. In these words from the Our Father, there is a plan for life, based on mercy. Mercy, kindness, forgiveness of debts, is not only a thing of devotion, of intimacy, of spiritual healing, a sort of oil which helps us be kinder, better, no. It is the prophecy of a new world: mercy is the prophecy of a new world, in which the goods of the earth and of work are equally distributed and no one lacks the necessary, because solidarity and sharing are the concrete result of fraternity. These two Saints set the example. They knew that, as clergy — one was a deacon, the other a bishop, the Bishop of Rome — as clergy, both had to set the example of poverty, of mercy and of totally divesting themselves.
From the speech of pope Francis to the people of Isernia, Italy (5 July 2014) |
