The Pope's Day After Christmas Angelus

It is the day after Christmas and thus the day after quite a full busy days for the Pope and staff. However no taking the day off it appears and watching some ESPN sportscenter for the Holy Father. There was no Wednesday Genral Audience but the Pope did appear and talk on the Feast of St. Stephen which is today of course. Thanks to the Ratzinger Forum for the translation.

Dear brothers and sisters!
The day after Christmas, the liturgy celebrates the 'birth in heaven' of the first Christian martyr, St. Stephen. 'Filled with faith and the Holy Spirit' (Acts 6,5), he was chosen as a deacon by he community if Jerusalem, along with six other disciples who had a Greek education.

With the power given to him by God, Stephen performed many miracles and announced the Gospel in the synagogues with "inspired wisdom.' He was stoned at the gates of the city and died, like Jesus, invoking forgiveness for his executioners (Acts 7,59-60).

The profound link that united Christ to his first martyr Stephen was divine charity: the same love that made the Son of God strip himself and be obedient up to dying on the Cross (cfr Phil 2,6-8) later impelled the Apostles and other martyrs to give their life for the Gospel. It is necessary always to note this distinctive characteristic of Christian martyrdom: it is exclusively an act of love, for God and for men, including their persecutors. That is why today, in the Holy Mass, we prayed to the Lord to teach us to "love even our enemies as Stephen did, who, in dying, prayed for his persecutors" (Collect prayer).

How many sons and daughters of the Church, in the course of centuries, have followed his example! From the first persecutions in Jerusalem, to those of the Roman emperors, down to the ranks of martyrs in our time. In fact, it is not rare that even today, we get news from various parts of the world about missionaries, priests, bishops, religious and lay faithful, who are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, deprived of freedom or prevented from exercising freedom because they are disciples of Christ and apostles of the Gospel. And some suffer and die because of their communion with the universal Church and loyalty to the Pope.

In the encyclical letter Spe salvi (cfr par. 37), recalling the experience of the Vietnamese martyr Paul Le Bao Thin, I note how suffering is transformed to joy through the strength of hope which comes from faith. The Christian martyr, like Christ, and through union with him, "accepts the Cross and death in his most intimate being, transforming these into an act of love. That which is brutal violence seen from the outside becomes interiorly an act of completely self-giving love. Thus, violence is transformed to love, and death to life" (Homily at Marienfeld, Cologne, Aug. 20, 2005).

The Christian martyr actualizes the victory of love over hate and death. Let us pray for those who suffer because of their loyalty to Christ and his Church. Most Holy Mary, Queen of Martyrs, help us to be credible witnesses for the Gospel, replying to our enemies with the disarming force of truth and charity.

In English, he said:

I greet all those present for today’s Angelus. On this Feast of Saint Stephen the Martyr, Christians throughout the world are reminded that those who stand firm with Christ to the end will be saved. Confident of our Lord’s love for us, may we always make a place for him in our hearts and in our lives. During these Christmas days, may God bless you with the saving power of his peace and love.