Scottish Catholic Observer

Pope Francis celebrated a Mass this morning dedicated to his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, on the occasion of his 86th birthday.

At this morning’s Mass at the Santa Maria Residence, Pope Francis spoke on the theme of the Holy Spirit and our resistance to it.

“The Holy Spirit upsets us because it moves us, it makes us walk, it pushes the Church forward,” the Holy Father said. He warned that Faithful wish to ‘calm down the Holy Spirit.’

“We want to tame it and this is wrong,” he said. “That’s because the Holy Spirit is the strength of God, it is what gives us the strength to go forward. But many find this upsetting and prefer the comfort of the familiar.”

The Pope highlighted the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council, which he referred to as ‘a beautiful work of the Holy Spirit,’ as one such example of our resistance.

“Have we done everything the Holy Spirit was asking us to do during the council?” the Holy Father asked. “The answer is ‘no.’

“We celebrate this anniversary, we put up a monument but we don’t want it to upset us. We don’t want to change and what’s more there are those who wish to turn the clock back.”

Turning to the birthday of his predecessor, who turned 86 today, Pope Francis said: “May the Love be with him, comfort him and give him much consolation.”

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