Archbishop Gomez Celebrated Memorial Mass for Holy Father Pope Francis

In anticipation of the funeral of the Holy Father Pope Francis in Rome tomorrow, Archbishop José H. Gomez celebrated a memorial Mass in thanksgiving for the life and ministry of Pope Francis today at Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles. Mass livestream is available on https://www.youtube.com/live/k9oaqz4F0cg.

“For these past twelve years, the Pope has been urging us to recover our common humanity. He taught us that we are responsible for one another, that we have the duty to care for one another,” said Archbishop Gomez in the homily (full text below). “He gave us a beautiful vision of the world as God intends it to be. It’s a world where God is our Father and all men and women are our brothers and sisters! It’s a world where every human life matters! Where every person is a child of God, made in the divine image; made for a reason, made out of love.”

Archbishop Gomez was joined by the Auxiliary Bishops and clergy of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, more than 3,000 faithful and about 40 religious leaders to pray for the soul the Holy Father and bid him a final farewell.

“Pope Francis also wanted us to take seriously the call to holiness in our everyday lives,” continued the Archbishop. “He told us that we should become ‘the saints next door.’ That we should seek holiness in raising our children with love, in working hard to support our families, in caring for our elderly parents, in bearing our burdens with a smile.”

Pope Francis’ funeral Mass this Saturday will mark the beginning of an ancient tradition of holding nine consecutive days of mourning and prayer, Novendiales. Catholic churches and faithful in the Archdiocese will join Catholics across the world in prayer for the repose of his soul. At the Cathedral, the special prayers will be said a few minutes before each Mass beginning Sunday, April 27 through May 4, as the Cathedral does not hold daily Mass on Saturdays.

“He told us that our love can never rest! True love is always going forth, always looking out for those who are lost or in need,” said Archbishop Gomez about the Holy Father.

For more information on the Masses and Novendiales visit www.LACatholics.org/pope-francis.

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Homily — Memorial Mass for Pope Francis

(as prepared)

Most Reverend José H. Gomez

Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels

April 25, 2025

 

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We thank God for the life and witness of our Holy Father, Pope Francis, who will be laid to rest tomorrow morning in Rome.

It has been powerful and emotional to see so many people in Rome coming out to pray and pay their respects to the Holy Father. And it is moving to be here with all of you, as we remember his legacy and his many gifts to the Church.

Our first reading takes us back to the world’s beginnings, to the days after the Fall of Adam and Eve. We hear the voice of God, crying out to Cain: “Where is your brother?”

I’ve been reflecting this week about how Pope Francis would often return to these words in his preaching and teaching. For him, God’s ancient question was alive. He wanted God’s words to burn in our hearts, and arouse our conscience.

We all remember his first pastoral visit outside of Rome. How he chose to travel to a tiny island in the Mediterranean called Lampedusa.

This island has become the main passage into Europe for Africans fleeing poverty and violence in their homelands. Thousands of migrants and refugees have died at sea trying to get there.

Pope Francis went to that island and held a penitential service. He begged God’s forgiveness for the world’s indifference, for our indifference, to the sufferings of these refugees.

In his homily, he recalled God’s words to Cain: “Where is your brother?”

Then he said: “This is not a question directed to others. It is a question directed to me, to you, to each of us.”

My brothers and sisters, God’s question is still directed to you and to me: “Where is your brother?”

Francis challenged our conscience, and the assumptions of our way of life. He questioned the “culture of comfort” that causes us to think only of our own needs; that insulates us and makes us insensitive to the cries of the poor.

For these past twelve years, the Pope has been urging us to recover our common humanity. He taught us that we are responsible for one another, that we have the duty to care for one another.

He gave us a beautiful vision of the world as God intends it to be.

It’s a world where God is our Father and all men and women are our brothers and sisters!

It’s a world where every human life matters! Where every person is a child of God, made in the divine image; made for a reason, made out of love.

It’s a world where Jesus Christ has come and laid down his life for the love of every man and woman.

St. Paul says in the second reading: “Christ died and came to life, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living!”

Pope Francis envisioned a Church that is apostolic and missionary, always going forth to seek and save the lost. He wanted a Church that proclaims with joy the truth of Christ’s love and salvation.

In our time, he said, the Church must return to the simple message of salvation that the apostles called “the kerygma.”

And he offered us a beautiful summary of this message to carry to our neighbors. He said: “Jesus Christ loves you; he gave his life to save you; and now he is living at your side every day to enlighten, strengthen, and free you.”

Pope Francis wanted us to remember that our Baptism calls us to be “missionary disciples.”

That means all of us in the Church are called to bear witness, each in our own way, to the love we have found in Jesus. All of us are called to accompany others so that they might discover Christ’s love, too.

Pope Francis also wanted us to take seriously the call to holiness in our everyday lives.

He told us that we should become “the saints next door.” That we should seek holiness in raising our children with love, in working hard to support our families, in caring for our elderly parents, in bearing our burdens with a smile.

And he told us that our love can never rest! True love is always going forth, always looking out for those who are lost or in need.

As we hear in the Gospel today: we will be judged by the compassion we show to the hungry and thirsty, the naked and sick; to the stranger, the immigrant and refugee; to the prisoner.

In the least among us we find the answer to God’s ancient question, “Where is our brother?” In loving the least among us as brothers and sisters, we find God himself.

I keep coming back in my prayers to that short speech that Pope Francis gave before the conclave that elected him in 2013.

He talked about how the Church must go to “the peripheries,” how we must enter into the depths of pain and misery caused by the Fall, by human sinfulness.

He also talked about the ancient idea of the mysterium lunae (“the mystery of the moon”).

The Church Fathers used to say: just as the moon has no light of its own but only reflects the sun’s light, so the Church has no light of her own but can only reflect Christ’s light.

That’s true for the Church. It’s also true for every disciple. You and I, we have no light of our own.

We are called to shine with the light of Jesus Christ, to reflect his holiness and his love in our lives.

This is the way we honor the legacy of our Holy Father.

Let us entrust Pope Francis to the mercy of God. May the Lord let his face shine upon his faithful servant.

And let us ask Holy Mary, our Blessed Mother and the Mother of the Church, to help us always to follow the path of her Son.

All with Peter to Jesus through Mary!

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