Pope Francis: Consistory, “the reality is the cross, sin, the innocent who die as victims of war, refugees, and the discarding of people”

“Jesus was walking ahead of them”. This is “the picture that the Gospel we have just read (Mk 10:32-45) presents to us” which “serves as a backdrop to the act now taking place: this Consistory for the creation of new Cardinals”. This is the beginning of the allocution delivered by Pope Francis during the Consistory held in the Vatican Basilica. “Jesus walks resolutely towards Jerusalem”, the Pontiff continued, and between His heart and the hearts of His disciples “there is a distance” which “only the Holy Spirit can bridge. Jesus knows this, and so He is patient with them. He speaks to them frankly and, above all, He goes before them. He walks ahead of them”. Along the way, “the disciples themselves are distracted by concerns that have nothing to do with the ‘direction’ taken by Jesus, with His will, which is completely one with that of the Father”. “The two brothers James and John think of how great it would be to take their seats at the right and at the left of the King of Israel (cf. v. 37). They are not facing reality! They think they see, but they don’t. They think they know, but they don’t. They think they understand better than the others, but they don’t…”. Indeed, Pope Francis explained, the reality “is completely different. It is what Jesus sees and what directs His steps. The reality is the cross. It is the sin of the world that He came to take upon Himself, and to uproot from the world of men and women. It is the innocent who suffer and die as victims of war and terrorism; the forms of enslavement that continue to violate human dignity even in the age of human rights; the refugee camps which at times seem more like a hell than a purgatory; the systematic discarding of all that is no longer useful, people included”.