Vatican City, 03 November, 2025 / 7:44 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Leo XIV on Monday presided over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica in suffrage for the late Pope Francis and for deceased cardinals and bishops.
One day after celebrating Mass for all the faithful departed at Verano Cemetery in Rome, the Holy Father led the Church’s commemoration for his papal predecessor and 142 other bishops who died in the past year.
In the presence of members of the Roman Curia and hundreds of Catholic faithful, the pope said his first Mass commemorating the Church’s deceased cardinals and bishops had the “savor of Christian hope” because their ministry had guided many “on the path of the Gospel.”
“Dear friends, our beloved Pope Francis and our brother cardinals and bishops for whom we offer the Eucharistic sacrifice today have lived, witnessed, and taught this new paschal hope the Lord called them to,” Leo said in his Nov. 3 homily.
“The Lord called them and established them as shepherds of his Church,” he said. “Through their ministry they — to use the language of the Book of Daniel — have led many to righteousness.”
