The Pope travelled to Assisi yesterday. It was a very busy 11-hour day, with the Pope giving 5 messages – a homily, the Angelus message, a speech to Franciscans, and speach to other priests and religious, and then a message for youth before he left for Rome. I am thinking that eventually the English translations will be on that Vatican page, and Zenit will have them, too.

Here is what we have so far:

Teresa at PRF has translations of the first two. From the homily:

(Remember, the occasion was the 800th anniversary of the conversion of St. Francis. )

The homily is a beautiful, extended exploration of conversion, going through each of yesterday’s Mass readings (Nathan’s words to David; Galatians; Jesus, the Pharisee, and the sinful woman from Luke 7) and tying each into a facet of Francis’ conversion. Really, you owe it to your soul to read the whole thing. I’ll pick up the last part, on the Gospel, with an aside on the "spirit of Assisi" – a reference to the sometimes controversial interreligious gatherings at Assisi:

Now we come to the evangelical heart of today’s Word of God. Jesus himself, in the passage just read from the Gospel of Luke, explains to us the dynamics of true conversion, indicating as a model the woman sinner who was redeemed by love.

One must acknowledge that this woman dared greatly. Her manner of placing herself before Jesus, washing his feet with her tears and wiping them with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with perfumed oil, was scandalous to whoever looked with pitiless eyes of judgment on persons in her condition.

On the contrary, we are struck by the tenderness with which Jesus treats the woman who had been exploited and adjudged by everyone else. Finally she found in Jesus a pure eye, a heart capable of loving without exploiting. In the look and in the heart of Jesus she received the revelation of God-Love.

Lest it be misunderstood, let us note that the mercy of Jesus is not expressed by setting aside moral law. For Jesus, good is good and bad is bad. Mercy does not change the meaning of sin but burns it up in the fire of love. This purifying and healing effect is realized if there is in man a corresponding love, which implies recognizing the law of God, sincere repentance, the intention to start a new life.

Much is forgiven to this sinner in the Gospel because she has loved much. In Jesus, God comes to give us love and ask for love. And what else, my dear brothers and sisters, was the life of Francis as a convert if not a great act of love? This is revealed by his intense prayers, rich with meditation and praise, his tender embrace of the Holy Child in Greccio, his meditation on the Passion in La Verna, his ‘living according to the Holy Gospel(2 Test 14: FF116), his choice of poverty, and his searching for Christ in the faces of the poor.

It was this conversion to Christ, to the point of desiring to ‘transform himself’ to him, to become a complete image of him – which explains the way he lived, by virtue of which he seems to us so relevant to the great issues of our time, such as the search for peace, the conservation of nature, the promotion of dialog among all men. Francis is a true teacher in these things. But he is, because he starts with Christ.

Christ is ‘our peace’ (cfr Eph 2,140. Christ is the very principle of the cosmos, because in him, everything has been done (cfr Jn 1,3). Christ is the divine truth, the eternal Logos, in which every ‘dia-logos’ finds its ultimate basis. Francis profoundly incarnates this Christological truth which is at the root of human existence, of the cosmos, and of history.

I cannot forget in today’s context the initiative of my Predecessor of holy memory, John Paul II, who assembled here, in 1986, the representatives of the Christian confessions and of the world’s religions for an encounter to pray for peace. It was a prophetic intuition and a moment of grace, as I said a few months ago when I wrote the Bishop of Assisi on the 20th anniversary of that event.

The choice to celebrate the encounter in Assisi was prompted precisely by the testimony of Francis as a man of peace, whom so many view with sympathy even if they are from other cultures and religions.

At the same time, the light of the Poverello on that initiative was a guarantee of Christian authenticity, since his life and his message rested so visibly on his choice of Christ – a guarantee then that would neutralize beforehand any suggestion of religious indifferentism, and which has nothing to do with authentic inter-religious dialog.

The ‘spirit of Assisi’ which continues to spread itself from that event is opposed to the spirit of violence, of the abuse of religion as a pretext for violence. Assisi tells us that loyalty to one’s own religious conviction, loyalty above all to Christ crucified and resurrected, is not expressed in violence and intolerance, but in a sincere respect for others, in dialog, in a proclamation that appeals to freedom and reason, in the commitment for peace and reconciliation.

It cannot be an evangelical attitude, nor a Franciscan one, to fail to unite welcome, dialog and respect for everyone with the certainty of faith that every Christian, like the Saint of Assisi, must cultivate, proclaiming Christ as the way, the truth and the life for mankind (cfr Jn 14.6), the only Savior of the world.

May Francis of Assisi obtain for this particular Church, for the churches of Umbria, and all the Church in Italy – of which, together with Saint Catherine of Siena, he is the patron – and to all in the world who call on him, the grace of a true and full conversion to the love of Christ.

Once again, the theme of Benedict…calling us to live the centrality of Christ.

The Angelus:

In the light of the evangelical Beatitudes, we understand the gentleness with which he knew how to live with others, presenting himself humbly to all, a witness for peace and a peacemaker.

From this city of peace, I wish to send a greeting to the representatives of other Christian confessions and other religions who in 1986 accepted the invitation of my venerated Predecessor to experience here, in the hometown of St Francis, a World Day of Prayer for Peace.

I consider it my duty to issue from here an urgent and heartfelt appeal that all the armed conflicts which are bloodying the earth may cease, that the weapons be silenced, and that everywhere, hate may give way to love, offense to forgiveness, discord to unity.

We feel the spiritual presence here of all those who weep, suffer and die because of wars and their tragic consequences in any part of the world. Our thoughts go particularly to the Holy Land, so loved by St. Francis, to Iraq, to Lebanon, to the entire Middle East.

The populations of these countries have known, for too long, the horrors of combat, of terrorism, of blind violence, the illusion that force can resolve conflicts, the refusal to listen to the other side and give it justice.

Only responsible and sincere dialog, supported by the generosity of the international community, will put an end to so much pain and give back life and dignity to persons, institutions and societies.

May St. Francis, man of peace, obtain for us from the Lord that those who accept to be ‘instruments of his peace’ may multiply, through thousands of small acts in our daily life; that those who have roles of responsibility may be inspired by a passionate love for peace and for the indomitable will to achieve it, choosing the right means to obtain it.

lunch:

The Pope had a table in the center of the Refectory. Flanking him for lunch were Prime Minister Romano Prodi and Cardinal Attilio Nicora.

Around the central table, a huge rectangle of tables that accommodated about 300 luncheon guests, including 180 Franciscan friars.

Also at the papal table were the Bishop of Assisi, Mons. Domenico Sorrentino, Mrs. Prodi, and Fr. Marco Testa, superior-general of the Franciscan Orders.

The Pope arrived to great applause from the Franciscan community and their guests. The prayer before the meal was said in Latin.

Then lunch was served: ham and potato croquettes as antipasti; ravioli in tomato sauce, rabbit fillets, beef steak, with green salad and artichokes – all served with a red wine from the Abruzzi.

Finally a cake which was decorated with the papal coat of arms. The Pope got up to slice the cake. He gave no speech, just a few words to thank everyone for ‘a beautiful day.’