It has been unusual for the Vatican to publish a letter from the pope to the new cardinals. They will participate in the consistory on the weekend of the Immaculate Conception in December, and there are 21 of them.
The first thing Pope Francis told them is that from now on they will become part of the clergy of Rome. Secondly, he asks them to apply what an Argentine poet said of St. John of the Cross: "eyes high, hands together, feet bare".
Eyes high to widen our gaze and, says the Pope, also our heart. Hands together because prayer is the ideal setting in which to discern God's will. Bare feet to touch the reality of those places where people suffer.
The pope's message is usually in line with the homily that the pope typically delivers at each consistory, in which he warns against the temptations of pride or worldliness.
POPE FRANCIS
Thus, for example, the purple red of the cardinal's habit, which is the color of blood, can become, by the worldly spirit, that of eminent distinction. You will no longer be the shepherd who is close to the people, because you will be “the eminence”. When you feel this way, you will be out of the way.
In the letter, Pope Francis told the cardinals that he prays for them not to be seduced by the importance of the title conferred on them. He says he hopes they will like to be known more as servants than as eminences. He also stresses that the original meaning of the word deacon is not to be a cleric but to be a servant.
TR: JD
