Details from OSV News:
The College of Cardinals gathered April 30 for the fifth Memorial Mass — novendiali — at St. Peter’s Basilica. They are re-convening for liturgy after meeting for three-and-a-half hours this morning. They have tomorrow morning off for Italian Labor Day, the feast of St. Joseph the Worker. The sixth novendiali Mass will take place tomorrow night.
Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, vice dean of the College of Cardinals, presided and gave the homily in which he reminded the cardinals that “to reign is to serve,” and that they should never forget their “duty to always remain deacons, that is, servants.”
This, he said, is what Pope Francis lived, citing the moments when he washed feet on Holy Thursday.
Vatican News added more:
Cardinal Sandri explained that the Novendiales Mass is not just a time of mourning, but a moment for the Church to come together, to pray, to remember, and to reaffirm its faith in the Resurrection. The cardinals gather not only as collaborators of the Pope, said Cardinal Sandri, but also carrying with them the prayers of people from all over the world: from Tonga to Mongolia, from Tehran to Jerusalem, and from places where Christians are a small but faithful presence, such as Morocco and Algeria.
“We are called each day to remember and consciously live the truth that to reign is to serve,” the Cardinal said, quoting Pope Francis, before stressing that it is with this spirit that Pope Francis lived his papcy: through his actions, his journeys and his constant care for those on the margins.
The title “Servant of the Servants of God,” once used by Pope Gregory the Great, was important for Pope Francis, who continued to remind the Church that at its heart, it must always serve, said the Cardinal.
