Pope to Priests at Chrism Mass: Be Heralds of Hope

by CNS · April 17, 2025

Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, retired president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, ritually breathes on oil used for the sacraments during the chrism Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican April 17, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

By Cindy Wooden, CNS – Especially in a Jubilee Year, but also every day, priests are called to continual conversion so that they can authentically preach the good news of hope, Pope Francis wrote in the homily he prepared for the Holy Thursday chrism Mass.

“It is God’s work, not ours: to bring good news to the poor, freedom to prisoners, sight to the blind and freedom to the oppressed,” the pope wrote in his text for the Mass April 17 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

Cardinal Domenico Calcagno, retired president of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, presided over the Mass and read the homily prepared by Pope Francis, who is still recovering from respiratory infections.

Some 40 cardinals, 40 bishops and 1,800 priests concelebrated the Chrism Mass, which is named after the olive oil mixed with balsam that is blessed during the liturgy.

In the homily Pope Francis prepared, he focused on the connection between the Holy Year 2025 and the Gospel reading, Luke 4:16-21, which recounts how Jesus went into the synagogue in Nazareth, opened the Scriptures and read a “jubilee” proclamation:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

As ministers of Christ’s continued presence, Pope Francis wrote that “for us priests, the Jubilee Year thus represents a specific summons to a new beginning on our path of conversion. As pilgrims of hope, we are called to leave clericalism behind and to become heralds of hope.”

The words of Jesus, he said, must become a reality in the lives of those who are ordained for service.

“The poor before all others, children, adolescents, women, but also any who have been hurt in their experience of the church — all these have a ‘feel’ for the presence of the Holy Spirit; they can distinguish him from worldly spirits, they recognise him in the convergence of what we say and what we do,” the pope wrote.

Ordained ministry involves effort and, often enough, priests will not see the results of their labours, Pope Francis wrote. But “despair has no place.”

“Every farmer knows seasons when nothing seems to grow,” his text said. “There are also times like these in our lives. It is God who gives the growth and who anoints his servants with the oil of gladness.”

After the homily, the clergy present renewed the promises made to their bishop at their ordinations and pledged to strive to be more united to Christ, “faithful stewards” of the sacraments and zealous pastors of souls.

Deacons then wheeled large silver urns of oil down the centre aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica to be blessed by Cardinal Calcagno. The blessed oils will be distributed to Rome parishes and used for the sacraments of baptism, confirmation, ordination and the anointing of the sick in the coming year.