Cardinal Roche: Our mission is to help you carry this cross, not to increase its weight

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Cardinal Arthur Roche gave the following address to Pope Francis in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday, during the Public Consistory in which 20 new Cardinals were created.

Most Holy Father,

On behalf of all the Cardinals-elect, I wish to express the joy with which we stand before you today, not because we merit this honour, but because you have called us to be at the service of your "mission as Bishop of Rome, for the good of all God's people" (cf. Angelus, 29 May 2022).

All of us, coming from different parts of the world, with our personal stories and different life situations, carry out our ministry in the vineyard of the Lord. As diocesan and religious priests, we are at the service of preaching the Gospel in many different ways and in different cultures, but always united in the one faith and the one Church.

Now, in manifesting your trust in us, you call us to this new service, in an even closer collaboration with your ministry, within the broad horizon of the universal Church. God knows the dust of which we are all made, and we know well that without Him we are capable of falling short. As St Gregory the Great wrote to a bishop: 'We are all weak, but he is weakest of all who ignores his own weakness' (cf. PL 77, 858-859).

However, we draw strength from you, Holy Father, from your witness, your spirit of service and your call to the entire Church to follow the Lord with greater fidelity; living the joy of the Gospel with discernment, courage and, above all, with an openness of heart that manifests itself in welcoming everyone, especially those who suffer the injustice of poverty that marginalises, the suffering of pain that seeks a response of meaning, the violence of wars that turn brothers into enemies. We share with you the desire and commitment for communion in the Church. From you, Holy Father, we learn to resist the temptation of any narrowness of mind and heart which shrinks to the size of self instead of expanding "to the measure of the fullness of Christ" (Eph 4:13).

The Church, by its very nature, is always outward going, and is called not only to profess the truth of what it believes, but also to possess the greatness and tenderness of a mother's heart. Today, despite our frailty, we rejoice and we thank you because, responding to your call, we desire with you to be ever more at the service of the Gospel.

On the shores of the Sea of Galilee, Peter professed his deep and contrite love for the Lord. It was an important and intimate moment. Jesus, however, told Peter that from that moment on, the cross would never be far from the one he had chosen as the rock on which to build the Church. This - the Gospel tells us - was to indicate how Peter would glorify God (cf. Jn 21:19).

Our mission today is to help you carry this cross and not to increase its weight. With great joy we wish to walk at your side knowing that to you have been entrusted the keys of the Kingdom. It is with gratitude and trepidation, therefore, Holy Father, that we offer you our profound respect and our obedience and, should the Lord wish it, even to the shedding of our blood (usque ad sanguinis effusionem).