A miracle today in Naples with Pope Francis and the blood of St. Gennaro

The blood of St. Gennaro liquefies in Francis’ presence

                  

 

Francis kisses the vial

St. Gennaro’s relic miraculously turned to liquid in Naples Cathedral. This usually only happens on the feast of the saint on 19 September. Sepe said St. Gennaro loves the Pope, the blood has already liquefied by half." But the whole relic eventually turned to liquid

Giacomo Galeazzi in naples
This is the first time it happened. San Gennaro’s blood had never liquefied during a papal visit to Naples before. None of the visits paid by Pius IX, John Paul II or Benedict XVI provoked the phenomenon. But the miracle was witnessed this afternoon, after Francis’ heartfelt address to faithful and clergy.
 
The Pope had taken the vial with the blood of St. Gennaro - displayed on the altar - in his hands and kissed it. Cardinal Sepe said over the microphone: “It is the sign that St. Gennaro loves Pope Francis: half of the blood turned to liquid.” The pronouncement was followed by a long applause from faithful. The Pope then replied: “If only half of it liquefied that means we still have work to do; we have to do better. We have only half of the saint’s love.” But the blood continued to liquefy until the whole relic had turned to liquid, with many faithful crying out as they witnessed this.
 
Prior to this, the Pope had set aside his written speech and continued off the cuff, describing some personal experiences he had had and encouraging faithful to worship and love the Church (“you cannot love Jesus without loving his Church”) and show apostolic zeal (“The Church exists in order to bring Jesus” to people, he stressed). “We need to start from Jesus and Mary, the Pope urged, before going on to condemn wheeling and dealing in the Church, the “terrorism of gossip” and the attachment to money displayed by some priests and religious. “Wheeling and dealing” in the Church is an “ugly” thing.
 
Pope Francis set aside his prepared speech and delivered a long address off the cuff at his meeting with priests, nuns and religious in Naples Cathedral. He listed a series of “testimonies” and counter-testimonies which the consecrated can give God’s people, including the “spirit of poverty”. The Pope told the story of a nun who was attached to money. “When there is wheeling and dealing in the Church this is an ugly thing,” he said.  “I remember a great nun, a good woman, a great bursar who was good at her job but was too attached to money. She would subconsciously pick people according to how much money they had: ‘I like him more, he’s very well off’. She was a bursar at an important college, she had important structures built. She was a great woman but you could see this in her. And the final humiliation this woman faced was public: she was around 70 years old and she was in the teachers’ lounge having a coffee when she fainted and fell. People tried slapping her to get her return to consciousness  but she wouldn’t. So one of the female teachers said put a 100 pesos note on her and let’s see if she reacts. The poor woman was dead but this was the last thing that was said when no one was sure if she was alive or not: an ugly testimony.”
 
When a priest is “greedy” and “gets involved in business”, how many scandals have been witnessed int he Church and how much lack of freedom just because of money!” the Pope continued. H eexplained the cautiousness shown by some clerics when they find themselves int he midst of moneyed people: “I should give this person a piece of my mind but since he or she is an great benefactor and great benefactors lead the lives they want, it is not my place” to start preaching to them. “A priest can have his savings, but that is not where his heart should be” otherwise “you start to differentiate between people when there’s money involved and so I ask you to examine your conscience: how is my life of poverty going? Even in the small things, whether one is a cleric or not.”
 
Pope Francis also condemned “worldliness “and excess, for example spending too much time in front of television.” In the diocese where I served before there was a nuns’ college. They were good nuns but the house in which they lived, the apartment they had was a bit old and needed work done to it. So they had work done on it, too much work in fact, it became a luxury house. They put televisions in every room. And when there was a soap opera on there wasn’t a nun in sight at the college!”
 
“These are the things that lead us to a worldly spirit,” the Pope underlined. “And this brings me onto the other point I wanted to make. Worldliness is dangerous, living a worldly life, living in a spiit of worldliness that Jesus did not want.”
 
In response to a question put to him by a prelate on the scarcity of vocations, the Pope said: “But bearing witness to the faith attracts vocations. ‘I want to be like that priest, I want to be like that nun’. A comfortable and worldly life does not help us.” 
 
The Pope then spoke about the joy of testimony. “If a cleric is sad then something’s not quite right. They should go to a friend or a good spiritual councillor.” “If Jesus isn't center of your life, postpone ordination,” Francis said addressing candidates to the priesthood.
 
Francis also warned religious against the “terrorism of gossip” because “whoever gossips is a terrorist who throws a bomb and destroys, while he or she keeps a safe distance. At least if that person was suicide bomber…” “Gossip destroys. You talk about differences face to face,” he added.