Pope Francis: Without faith in Christ, church is just 'pitiful NGO'

Without faith in Christ's sacrifice on the cross, the church is nothing more than a "pitiful NGO," Pope Francis said in his first homily as pope."When one does not confess Christ," he said, "one confesses the worldliness of the devil."The pope spoke at Mass March 14 in the Sistine Chapel, site of the conclave that had elected him the previous day. Pope Francis concelebrated the Mass with the 114 other cardinal electors who had taken part in the conclave.Following the cardinal electors in a procession, all of them wearing gold vestments to signify joy, the pope entered the chapel as a choir sang in Latin a verse from Mt 16:18, which begins "tu es petrus" (you are Peter).In one of the first signs of change from the previous pontificate, Pope Francis celebrated Mass at a temporary altar that allowed him to face the rest of the congregation. In recent years, Pope Benedict XVI had celebrated Mass in the Sistine Chapel at an altar fixed to the wall under Michelangelo's fresco of the Last Judgment.The new pope also delivered his homily standing at a lectern, not seated, as his predecessor usually did.Preaching for seven minutes in Italian without a written text or notes, Pope Francis spoke about three important kinds of movement that he said appeared in the Scripture readings at the Mass: walking, building and confessing."Our life is a path," he said. "When we stop, the thing doesn't go." He said Catholics must "walk always, in the presence of the Lord, in the light of the Lord, seeking to live with that blamelessness that God asks of Abraham in his promise.""Build with living stones, anointed by the Holy Spirit," the pope said. "Confess Jesus. If we don't do that, we will be a pitiful NGO (non-governmental organization)."He also compared building without faith to sand castles children construct on the beach, which are washed away by the next tide."To walk, build and confess without the cross means that we are not true disciples of the Lord," he said. "We must confess the one cross, and in that way we will be a true church."I would like that all of us, following these days of grace, have the courage — the very courage — to walk in the presence of the Lord, with the cross of the Lord," the pope said in conclusion; "to build the church in the blood of the Lord, which is spilled on the cross; and to confess the only glory, Christ crucified. And in that way the church will move ahead."First day: Paying hotel billPope Francis began his first full day as pope with an early morning act of Marian devotion — and by paying the bill at the clergy hotel where he had stayed before entering the conclave that elected him. The new pope left the Domus Sanctae Marthae at 8 a.m. March 14 for a five-minute drive to the Basilica of St. Mary Major, where he prayed before an icon of Mary and the child Jesus beloved by Romans, the "Salus Populi Romani" (Protectress of the Roman People). Pope Francis knelt in prayer for a while, then sat praying for several minutes before leaving at the altar the bouquet of flowers he had been carrying, said Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman. The pope was joined by Cardinal Agostino Vallini, papal vicar for Rome, and by Cardinal Santos Abril Castello, archpriest of the basilica. U.S. Cardinal Bernard Law, retired archpriest of the basilica, also was present, Father Lombardi said. The spokesman said the pope paused in front of the basilica's main altar, which is built over a reliquary containing, according to tradition, pieces of the manger where Jesus was laid as a baby. Pope Francis, a Jesuit, then went to the Sistine Chapel of the Basilica of St. Mary Major, which is where St. Ignatius of Loyola celebrated his first Mass in 1538. Ignatius had wanted to celebrate his first Mass in Bethlehem, but could not travel there, so chose instead St. Mary Major with its relic of the manger, Father Lombardi said. "This is a significant place for the Jesuits," he said. The pope also stopped briefly at the tomb of St. Pius V, who was pope from 1566 to 1572. Afterward, riding in an unmarked police car rather than in one of the papal sedans, Pope Francis went to the Domus Internationalis Paulus VI, a hotel and residence for clergy, which is where he was staying before the conclave began March 12. Father Lombardi said Pope Francis went to collect the suitcase he had left there. On the way out of the building, he stopped to greet the people who work there and "he paid his bill as a good example" to the other clerics. The spokesman also told reporters March 14 that Pope Francis was wearing the simple pectoral cross that he'd had as a bishop and archbishop in Argentina. In addition, he confirmed that the Vatican would be referring to the pope as "Pope Francis" and not "Pope Francis I." Father Lombardi also confirmed press reports that when Pope Francis was about 21 years old, he had undergone an operation to remove part of one of his lungs. In the 55 years since, he said, the new pope has enjoyed good and even robust health. The new pope, like his recent predecessors, is a polyglot, the spokesman said. He speaks Spanish, English, Italian, French, German "and probably Portuguese," he said, adding that if Pope Francis doesn't speak Portuguese well now, he is likely to by July when he is scheduled to travel to Brazil for World Youth Day in Rio de Janeiro. Pope Francis was scheduled to celebrate an evening Mass March 14 in the Vatican's Sistine Chapel with the cardinals who elected him. Afterward, Father Lombardi said, he was to cut the seals on the papal apartments, allowing Vatican employees to begin the minor works foreseen before he moves in. —CNS{gallery width=100 height=100}gallery/2013/0315/popefirstmass/{/gallery}