Pope Francis demands decent and safe jobs at the Mass of the Rooster

“No more deaths at work!” This was the message that Pope Francis vindicated today during the Mass of the Rooster, after remembering that Jesus of Nazareth was born among the poor and shepherds on a periphery of the Roman world.

“God comes to fill with dignity the hardness of work. He reminds us how important it is to give dignity to man with work, but also to give dignity to man’s work, because man is lord and not slave of work. Let’s repeat life: No more deaths at work! And let’s strive to achieve it, “he exclaimed.

Francisco officiated the Mass of the Rooster in the Vatican basilica, this year full of faithful who came to commemorate the birth of Christ, one of the most prominent rites on the calendar and that in 2020 was almost deserted by the pandemic.

Against indifference

In his homily, he recalled the “message” tonight is that God “does not ride greatness but descends into smallness”, that is, in the form of “a poor child wrapped in swaddling clothes” to the surprise of the shepherds who cared for their flocks in those places.

Because it is not a deity of the elites, but humanity is lowered to welcome it, especially the last.

“Jesus is born there, close to them, close to the forgotten of the peripheries. He comes where the dignity of man is put to the test. He comes to ennoble the excluded and reveals himself above all to them; not to cultured and important characters”, he claimed.

That is why receiving it, that is, being a Christian, is equivalent to serving the poor, “the beloved of Jesus,” he explained, and later paraphrasing the poet Emily Dickinson: “Whoever has not found Heaven down here, will hardly find it up there. “.

The Pope then wondered if the world knew how to take that path, that of “littleness”, and later regretted that in these times “God comes down and we want to climb the pedestal.”

“May one fear invade us on this night of love: hurting God’s love, hurting it by despising the poor with our indifference,” he warned.

But Francis not only addressed the faithful of the world, but also the hierarchy of his Church, calling it to “unity” and to practice charity.

Because at the Portal de Belén, he explained, in addition to the shepherds, the “scholars, the rich and the magicians” also attended.

“May God grant us to be an adoring, poor and fraternal Church. This is the essential thing. Let’s go back to Bethlehem,” he urged, before the members of the Curia, who listened to him a few meters from the altar.

Faithful return to Misa de Gallo

This solemn ceremony, held years ago at midnight but in recent times increasingly advanced, had about two thousand faithful seated in the seats, all protected with masks due to the growing threat of the omicron variant.

The mass began with the entry of the pope into the basilica and with the announcement of the Nativity, proclaimed by a deacon’s reading of the ancient text of the “Kalendas”.

Immediately afterwards, Francis uncovered an image of the Child at the foot of the imposing canopy that Bernini raised over the exact place where the Apostle was buried and then kissed his knee and incensed him.

The Mass, broadcast by satellite around the world, including in sign language, concluded with a procession with ten children from Mexico, India, Italy, South Korea and Italy, while the choir sang “Silent Night” or “Adeste Fideles “.

Outside, the Plaza de San Pedro appeared damp from the rain, but illuminated by the tree and the Portal de Belén, in Andean style and made on this occasion by Peruvian artisans, from Huancavelica, with typical Chopcca motifs.

Second Christmas of the pandemic

Thus, Pope Francis begins the rites of the second Christmas of the pandemic, with much fewer restrictions than in the past but with the omicron variant spreading unchecked throughout Italy.

The day before, he had gathered his Curia, the Government of the Roman Church, for the traditional Christmas greetings and called on them to work together and avoid creating “divisions, factions and enemies.”

The celebrations will continue on Christmas Day, when Francisco will look at the central balcony of the basilica to impart his blessing “Urbi et Orbi”, to the city and to the world, where he usually makes appeals about the different tensions and conflicts throughout the planet. (I)