By Cindy Wooden
MALMO, Sweden (CNS) – The saints are blessed because they were faithful and meek and cared for others, Pope Francis said.
At the end of an ecumenical trip to Sweden, Pope Francis celebrated the feast of All Saints Nov. 1 with a Catholic Mass in a Malmo stadium. He highlighted the lives of the Swedish saints, Elizabeth Hesselblad and Bridget of Vadstena, who “prayed and worked to create bonds of unity and fellowship between Christians.”
The best description of the saints – in fact, their “identity card” – the pope said, is found in the beatitudes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which begins, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.”
And, he said, as Christian saints have done throughout the ages, Christ’s followers today are called “to confront the troubles and anxieties of our age with the spirit and love of Jesus.”
New situations require new energy and a new commitment, he said, and then he offered a new list of beatitudes for modern Christians:
– “Blessed are those who remain faithful while enduring evils inflicted on them by others and forgive them from their heart.
– “Blessed are those who look into the eyes of the abandoned and marginalized and show them their closeness.
– “Blessed are those who see God in every person and strive to make others also discover Him.
– “Blessed are those who protect and care for our common home.
– “Blessed are those who renounce their own comfort in order to help others.
– “Blessed are those who pray and work for full communion between Christians.”
Messengers of Mercy
“All these are messengers of God’s mercy and tenderness,” Pope Francis said. “Surely they will receive from Him their merited reward.”
Registered Catholics in Sweden number about 115,000 – just over one percent of the population. But with recent waves of immigration, especially from Chaldean Catholic communities in Iraq, local church officials believe the number of Catholics is double the reported figure.
Reflecting the multicultural makeup of the Catholic Church in Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia, the prayer intentions at Mass were read in Spanish, Arabic, English, German and Polish, as well as in Swedish.
On the evening before, the sheet of ice and the penalty boxes were gone from Malmo Arena Oct. 31 as Catholics and Lutherans filled the stands and promised to work together for peace – particularly in Syria – and for justice, especially for refugees.
Pope Francis and leaders of the Lutheran World Federation continued their ecumenical commemoration of Reformation Day in an arena that usually hosts hockey games.
But kicking off a year of events to culminate in the 2017 commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, the arena was transformed into a venue for song and witness.
Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria, called on all Christians to join their voices in prayer and in pressuring their governments to stop the bloodshed and destruction in his homeland.
The bishop, who is president of Caritas Syria, announced that Christian humanitarian work in his country would follow the motto: “Become Christians Together,” focusing on how serving Christ must include serving others, especially the poorest and most needy.
Witness and Act
A centerpiece of the Malmo event was the signing of a “declaration of intent” by the heads of Caritas Internationalis, the Vatican-based confederation of Catholic charities, and the Lutheran World Federation’s World Service. The two organizations promised to “witness and act together,” supporting one another, including by serving the victims of war in Syria and Syrian refugees in neighboring countries.
Religion, Bishop Audo said, “should encourage us to defend the human values of dignity, solidarity and seeking the common good.”