Full text: The homily of Cardinal Fernández on the sixth day of the novidials

Vatican City, May 1, 2025/17:53

Publisher’s note: On May 1, 2025, Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith under Pope Francis, delivered the following homily during the sixth day of the novice masses for Pope Francis. The text below is a CNA work translation of the Italian original Published by the Vatican.

On this Easter, Christ tells us: “All that the Father gives me will come to me … His will is that I don’t lose anything from what he gave me.” What an immense sweetness these words have.

Pope Francis is that of Christ, he belongs to him, and now that he has left this earth, he is fully that of Christ. The Lord has taken Jorge Bergoglio with him since his baptism and throughout his existence. He is that of Christ, who promised him the fullness of life.

You know how much Pope Francis spoke of Christ, how he appreciated the sweet name of Jesus, like a good Jesuit. He knew he was his, and Christ certainly did not leave him, did not lose him. We hope that we celebrate Easter joy under the precious light of this Gospel today.

We cannot ignore the fact that we also celebrate workers’ day, which was so close to the heart of Pope Francis.

I remember a video he sent some time ago for a meeting of Argentinian businessmen. He said to them, “I will not tire of referring to the dignity of work. Someone made me say that I offer a life without work, or that I despise the culture of work. ” In fact, dishonest people said that Pope Francis defended lazy, drones, offender, idle.

But he insisted: “Imagine if you can say that about me, a descendant of Piedmontese, who came to this country not with the desire to be supported but with a great desire to roll up their sleeves and build a future for their families.” You can say that they were bored.

Because for Pope Francis, work expresses and nourishes the dignity of human beings, allows him to develop his capacities, helps him to develop relationships, allows him to feel like a collaborator with God to take care and improve this world, makes him feel useful to society and in solidarity with his loved ones. This is why work, beyond difficulties and difficulties, is a path of human maturation. And that is why he said that work “is the best help for a poor person”. In addition, that there is no poverty worse than that which deprives the work and the dignity of work. “”

It is worth recalling his words during the trip to Genoa. There, he argued that “the whole social pact is built around work” and that when there are work problems “it is democracy that enters crisis”. He then admitted what the Italian Constitution says in article 1: “Italy is a democratic republic, based on work.”

Behind this love of work is a strong conviction of Pope Francis: the infinite value of each human being, immense dignity which should never be lost, which in no case can be ignored or forgotten.

But each person is so worthy and must be taken if seriously, that it is not only a question of giving them things but of promoting it. That is to say that they can develop all the good in them, that they can win their bread with the gifts that God has given them, that they can develop their capacities. Thus, each person is promoted in all their dignity. And this is where work becomes so important.

Now be careful, said Francis. Another thing is a false conversation about “meritocracy”. Because it is one thing to assess a person’s merits and to reward their efforts. Another thing is false “meritocracy”, which leads us to think that only those who have succeeded in life have merits.

Let’s take a look at a person who was born in a good family and was able to increase their richness, lead a good life with a beautiful house, a car, a vacation abroad. Everything is good. He had the chance to grow in the right conditions and performed meritorious acts. Thus, with skills and time, he built a very comfortable life for him and his children.

At the same time, whoever works with his own arms, with equal or superior merits due to the efforts and the time he has invested, has nothing. He did not have the chance to be born in the same environment, and no matter how much he transpires, he can barely survive.

Let me tell you about a case that I cannot forget: a young man I saw several times near my home in Buenos Aires. I would find him in the street, doing his job, which was to collect boxes and bottles to feed his family. When I went to university in the morning, when I returned, but at night, I found him working. I asked him once: “But how many hours do you work?” He replied: “Between 12 and 15 hours a day. Because I have several children to support and I want them to have a better future than mine. ”

So I asked him, “But when are you with them?” And he replied: “I have to choose, either I stay with them, or I bring them food.” Nevertheless, a well -dressed person passing by him said: “Go work, lazy!” These words seemed to me to be horrible cruelty and vanity. But these words can also be found hidden behind other more elegant speeches.

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Pope Francis made a prophetic cry against this false idea. And in several conversations, he would point out to me: look, they lead us to think that most of the poor are poor because they have no “merit”. It seems that the one who inherited many goods is more worthy than the one who has done hard work all his life without being able to save anything or even buy a small house.

For that indicated in Evangelli Gaudium that in this model “it does not seem to be logical to invest so that those who are left, the weak or the least gifted can make their way in life” (For example209).

The question that comes back is always the same: people less gifted and not people? Do the weak do not have the same dignity as us? Should those who were born with fewer possibilities are limited to survive? Isn’t there a chance for them to have a job that will allow them to grow, develop, create something better for their children?

The value of our society depends on the answer we give to these questions.

But let me also present Pope Francis as a worker. He not only talked about the value of work, but his whole life was the one who lived his mission with great effort, a passion and a compromise. It was always a mystery for me to understand how he could endure, even a great man with several diseases, such a demanding work rhythm. He not only worked in the morning with various meetings, public, celebrations and gatherings, but also all afternoon. And it seemed really heroic to me that with the very little strength he had in his last days, he made himself strong enough to visit a prison.

It is not that we can take it as an example, because he had never taken a few days off. In Buenos Aires, in summer, if you could not find a priest that you have certainly found it. When he was in Argentina, he never went out for dinner, in the theater, for a walk or to see a film; He never completely took a day off. Instead, we, being normal, could not resist. But his life is an incentive to generously carry out our work.

What I want to show, however, is to what extent he understood that his work was his mission, his daily work was his answer to the love of God, it was an expression of his concern for the good of others. And for these reasons, the work itself was his joy, his food, his rest. He experienced what the first reading we heard said: “None of us live for himself.”

We ask all workers, who sometimes have to work in unpleasant conditions, so that they can find ways to live their work with dignity and hope, and that they can receive compensation which allows them to wait with hope.

But in this mass, with the presence of the Vatican Curia, keep in mind that we, in the curia, also work. Indeed, we are workers who keep a schedule, who performs the tasks assigned to us, who must be responsible and strive and sacrifice in our commitments.

The responsibility for work is also for us in the curia a path of maturation and development as Christians.

Finally, let me remind you of the love of Pope Francis for Saint-Joseph, this strong and humble worker, this carpenter of a forgotten small town who, through his work, took care of Mary and Jesus.

And we also remember that when Pope Francis had a big problem, he put a piece of paper with a supplication under the image of Saint-Joseph. So let’s ask Saint-Joseph in paradise to make a strong hug to our dear Pope Francis.