Pope Francis celebrates Mass, records ‘popecast’ for 10th anniversary

Rome Newsroom, Mar 13, 2023 / 10:20 am (CNA).

Pope Francis marked his 10th anniversary as pope Monday with a private Mass with cardinals and an appearance on what Vatican News has dubbed a “popecast.”

The nine-minute podcast, released only in Italian, was published on the Vatican News website and on Spotify.

“It seems like yesterday,” Francis said, referring to his election to the papacy on March 13, 2013.

“The time is ‘pressurous,’” he continued, making up a word in Italian. “It’s in a hurry. And when you want to seize today, it is already yesterday.”

These past 10 years were lived in this tension, he added.

Pope Francis’ schedule was free of public meetings on March 13 except for a Mass at 8 a.m. in the chapel inside his Vatican residence.

The private Mass at the Santa Marta guesthouse was concelebrated with cardinals. The Vatican did not release any other details, including information about the pope’s homily.

In the “popecast,” Pope Francis said “the most beautiful moment” of his pontificate was with elderly in St. Peter’s Square in 2014.

Some of the most painful moments, instead, were those connected to the horror of war, including visits to military cemeteries, the 2013 prayer vigil for peace in Syria, and others.

He said he hates the fact that in wars such as the one between Russia and Ukraine, many young men, of either side, never get to go home.

The gift he most wants for his anniversary, he said, is “peace.”