Pope on All Souls' Day: God has opened for us the way to eternal life
By Salvatore Cernuzio
Pope Leo presided over the Mass for the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed on Sunday 2 November in the city of Rome's Verano cemetery. He underscored how the proclamation of life — eternal life, given by Christ — resounds among the headstones and tombs of the departed: God “will destroy death forever. Indeed, he has already conquered it, opening for us the way to eternal life by passing through the valley of death during his Paschal mystery. Thus, united to him, we too may enter and pass through the valley of death."
Meditation, Hope, Charity, and Silence — the four monumental statues of Verano's cemetery created in the nineteenth century by Vespignani — seemed to watch over the Pope’s entrance into the Quadriportico, which marks the passage between the city streets and this open-air museum, unique in its kind for its sculptures and historical-artistic treasures. A city within a city, covering 83 hectares and enclosed by its distinctive high walls, marked the place where the Pope wished to celebrate the 2 November liturgy, continuing the tradition begun by his predecessor, Pope Francis, in 2013, when he visited the well-known cemetery in the San Lorenzo area to pray for the dead. This custom continued in the following years, with Masses celebrated in other cemeteries in Rome, Anzio, Nettuno, and surrounding areas.
Pope Leo XIV during the Mass on All Soul's Day at Rome's Verano Cemetery (@VATICAN MEDIA)
A bouquet of flowers
Pope Leo walked through the Pincetto section of the cemetery while the Requiem chanted by the Schola Cantorum could be heard. The entire area had been cordoned off since morning; around 2,500 men, women, the elderly, nuns, and priests rushed to take their seats in the square bordered by rows of headstones and small mausoleums, by statues and funerary chapels. All around, one can see angels of sorrow, weeping Madonnas, sculptures of women holding their children, busts, arches, chapels, even a statue of the Capitoline wolf. There are color and black-and-white photographs, some dating back to the early years of this century. Just a few steps from the simple stage set up for the papal celebration — where the gilded altar stood out — and before the tombs of historical figures, writers and intellectuals, artists and musicians, lies the sepulcher inscribed in block letters “Garibaldi,” which holds the remains of Ricciotti Garibaldi, the son of the Italian figure, along with other descendants.
Remembering the departed: “We continue to carry them with us in our hearts”
At the Verano Cemetery, Leo XIV arrived early, at 3:45 p.m., greeted by a restrained applause — mindful of the setting and the solemn occasion. Accompanied by Cardinal Vicar Baldo Reina, the Pope greeted outside the cemetery Silvia Scozzese, the deputy mayor of Rome, along with other officials. His first gesture was to pause before a tomb, one of the first located at the cemetery’s entrance, on which, faded by time, one can read the inscription Antonia Coccia Nicolini and family. On the marble, Leo placed a bouquet of white roses, paused for a few moments in prayer, and gave his blessing as a symbolic tribute to all the departed buried at Verano.
The Pope’s homily begins with their remembrance: “Although they left us on the day when they died, we continue to carry them with us in our hearts, and their memory remains always alive within us amid our daily lives.”
Future hope founded on the resurrection of Christ
Today’s celebration, however, is not meant to be merely a moment of remembrance: "Christian faith, founded upon Christ’s Paschal mystery, helps us to experience our memories as more than just a recollection of the past but also, and above all, as hope for the future." Thus, "it is not so much about looking back, but instead looking forward towards the goal of our journey, towards the safe harbor that God has promised us, towards the unending feast that awaits us" in which death is eliminated forever.
It is this “hope for the future” that gives meaning to remembrance and prayer: “This is not an illusion for soothing the pain of our separation from loved ones, nor is it mere human optimism,” Pope Leo XIV emphasized.
Love conquers death
Recalling one of his recent catecheses from a General Audience, the Pope said that Christ is “the destination of our journey.” He “guarantees our arrival, leading us home, where we are awaited, loved and saved.”
And that final destination will be “an encounter of love.” It is the same love with which God created us, the same love by which His Son “saves us from death,” the same love through which “he desires that we live forever with him and with our loved ones.” That is why, the Pope underscored, “we can journey towards our goal, and even now anticipate it through an unbreakable bond with those who have gone before us" as "we dwell in love and show charity to others, especially the weakest and most needy."
Wiping away every tear
From here comes the invitation to entrust ourselves to “the hope that does not disappoint”: “Let us fix our gaze upon the Risen Christ and think of our departed loved ones as enfolded in his light. Let us allow the Lord’s promise of eternal life to resound in our hearts. He will destroy death forever," Pope Leo underscored. He concluded, “the Lord awaits us, and when we finally meet him at the end of our earthly journey, we shall rejoice with him and with our loved ones who have gone before us.”
The Prayer for Eternal Rest concluded the celebration, as the late afternoon darkness already descended among the cypresses of Verano. The Pope imparted his blessing to all present: some bowed in prayer; others standing, capturing the moment on their smartphones; others still holding flowers, ready to visit the graves of their loved ones.
Upon returning to the Vatican, Pope Leo went to the crypt of Saint Peter's Basilica for a moment of private prayer for the deceased Popes.
The Church, after rejoicing yesterday with those of her children who have entered the glory of heaven, today prays for all those who, in the purifying suffering of Purgatory await the day when they will be joined to the company of saints. At no place in the liturgy is stated in more striking fashion the mysterious union between the Church triumphant, the Church militant and the Church suffering; at no time is there accomplished in clearer fashion the twofold duty of charity and justice deriving for every Christian from the fact of his incorporation in the mystical Body of Christ. By virtue of the consoling doctrine of the communion of saints the merits and prayers of each one are able to help all; and the Church is able to join her prayer with that of the saints in heaven and supply what is wanting to the souls in Purgatory by means of the Mass, indulgences and the alms and sacrifices of her children.