Pope Francis placed God’s own style – mercy – at the very heart of the Church’s mission, the Vatican’s ambassador to New Zealand said at a national memorial Mass for the late Pope.

Archbishop Gábor Pintér was the principal celebrant at the Mass celebrated at a packed Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Palmerston North on the evening of May 4.

Members of the diplomatic corps were among the congregation at the Mass, at which the bishops of the six New Zealand dioceses and other clergy were concelebrants.

At the start of the Mass, Archbishop Pintér noted that “the beauty of the Catholic faith shines forth like a diamond of a thousand facets”.

“Each successor of St Peter highlights a particular aspect through which we are invited to deepen our understanding of the faith and the mission entrusted to us,”  he said.

The archbishop said that “Pope Francis has especially turned his gaze toward the pastoral dimension, teaching us all to stand alongside our brothers and sisters, to love them – whether firmly rooted in society or living on its margins – so that, through us, they may encounter the love of God”.

Archbishop Pintér said that perhaps the greatest legacy of Pope Francis was placing at the heart of the current Jubilee Year of Hope “the central truth that the death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . is the key to our hope for eternal life and to dwelling forever in the loving presence of God”.

“A hallmark of Pope Francis’ legacy has been his unwavering insistence that truth and mercy are inseparable, and his demonstration of how the Church must radically centre its life and teaching on mercy – as he said, ‘the lens through which we come to know God’.”

Archbishop Pintér added that “what set Pope Francis apart from his predecessors was his bold and prophetic commitment to placing mercy – God’s own style, as he often called it – at the very heart of the Church’s mission”.

“Let us . . . continue together along the path shown to us by Pope Francis: A path of authentic humanity, courageous faith, and steadfast devotion to justice and mercy,” the Apostolic Nuncio said.

The president of the New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishop Stephen Lowe, said in the homily at the Mass that Pope Francis was called to be, and was, a simple man, “just like the simple fisherman that Jesus chose to lead his Church” (St Peter).

Pope Francis was “a man of humility, a man who taught us to look for God in the peripheries, not just in faraway lands, but in people with different realities from our own”, Bishop Lowe said.

Francis was a man “centred in mercy, and to be so truly centred in mercy is a reflection of how he knew, personally, the mercy of the Lord in his own life”.

Francis, Bishop Lowe said, “spoke, taught us, in words and deeds, the art of compassion, going to those who struggled, who were vulnerable, to those who suffered”.

Bishop Lowe added that “Francis taught us that mercy is imprecise. It’s bigger than morality, and it can’t be reduced to a formula that loses sight of people”.

“The messes we find ourselves in in our world are the starting point for our journey with Christ,” he said, with Pope Francis asking people to expand their thinking, “to reconsider our image of God”.

“But at the same time, he wasn’t afraid to stand up for ideals, the ideals of Christ that we are all called to strive for.”

Bishop Lowe said in his concluding remarks that “the Gospel incarnated in the life and example of Jorge Bergoglio, Pope Francis, reminds each of us that we are called to conversion”.

Civic leaders, as well as representatives of other churches and faiths, were part of Sunday evening’s congregation.

Mayor Grant Smith said it was “very special” for Palmerston North to host the national memorial Mass for Pope Francis, a man “who was pretty well loved by everyone – not just Catholics”.

The full cathedral helped demonstrate the diversity of the city of Palmerston North and of the Catholics who live there, Mr Smith said.

Source: New Zealand Catholic Bishops Conference