“Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us” (Rm 5:5): this is what we heard today from the letter of St Paul to the Romans, and we hear it almost repeated to us from his living voice as we celebrate the Holy Eucharist at his tomb.
Hope does not disappoint... These are words that Pope Francis took up at the beginning of the Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee Year we are living. He reminded us that, like to the Christian community of the Rome of his time, the Apostle also wants to instill courage in us. In turn, responding to this invitation, all of us commit ourselves to be witnesses of the love “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”
Therefore, let us ask St Paul “for the grace to cultivate and spread his charity, and to become true neighbours to one another. Let us compete in showing the love that, following his encounter with Christ, drove the former persecutor to become “all things to all people” even to the point of martyrdom.” These are words pronounced here on 20 May by the new Pope Leo XIV, to whom we turn our filial thoughts, grateful for having, among the first acts of his Petrine ministry, signed the decree for the beatification of Floribert Bwana Chui.
In this young man too, as in St Paul and in the innumerable host of martyrs that has come down to our day, the power of faith in God who justifies is revealed (see Rom 5:1-5).
Celebrating, then, the feast of the Trinity, some of Benedict XVI's reflections came to mind; he was already Pope Emeritus and meditating on this mystery, he said that in it we find the meaning of true unity, which is love: “And love always implies an I, a you and a we, and that is how perfect unity is, the deepest, most real, unique, most radical unity. The unity of God is not that of an atom, of a tiny invisible quantity, but it is the greatest unity, it is the unity created by love... And so it also applies to us: because God is love, he can love even us little ones and we can love God” (Il silenzio ci tiene per mano, LEV, Vatican City 2025, p. 274).
I think we can also understand in this light the testimony of Floribert, a faithful layman of the Church in Goma and a responsible member of the Community of Sant'Egidio. He was totally open to the love that embraced him to the point of allowing himself to be moulded by it to the depths and make it the compass that oriented his choices. This is what appears from the testimonies collected about him: on every occasion in life, God was his reference. And that this was indeed the case is proven by the copy of his Bible, preserved in Rome, in the Sanctuary of the New Martyrs in St. Bartholomew on the Island, which shows traces of constant reading.
This is, after all, the spirituality that is lived in the Community of Sant'Egidio. This is how Pope Francis described it when, on the 50th anniversary of its foundation, on 11 March 2018, he visited the Community in the Roman basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere. He said: “Prayer, the poor and peace: this is the Community's talent, matured over fifty years.” It is precisely this that Floribert discovered by listening to the Word of God, in the light of prayer: that “there is more joy in giving than in receiving” (Acts 20:35). Hence his focus on the poor of Goma, particularly the most despised and marginalised, the street children.
To these uprooted and without a family children, he wanted to give hope and a future, and this is also why he worked with them in the School of Peace.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us listen again to what the new blessed said: “Everyone has the right to peace in their heart!” At a time marked by war and violence, when so many in the Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere seek peace, these words strike us more than ever. If today, in fact, we are celebrating his beatification here in Rome, as you know, it is because unfortunately there is a lack of security and tranquillity in Goma. Floribert, after all, hoped to be able to make a pilgrimage to Rome. This wish of his - in some way - is fulfilled spiritually with today's celebration.
Prayer, the poor, peace. Our Blessed sought all this in the tense climate of his city. Among the testimonies collected, we read that he did not want war and that it was precisely with his commitment that he wanted to bring the young people of Goma together as a family. He therefore chose to share Sant'Egidio's commitment to peace, because - he said - “it puts all peoples at the same table”. He dreamed of being a man of peace and thus being able to contribute to the peace of his land, which he loved so much. Today, then, let us make our own his aspiration for a Congo in peace, gathered at the same table like a family.
Let us pray with faith for peace, in communion with the Church throughout the Democratic Republic of Congo, significantly represented here.
The table, for us today, is the liturgical altar, the table of the Word and of the Eucharist, from which the Lord speaks to us and nourishes us (see Sacrosanctum Concilium, 56), an event that is “the culmination both of the action by which God sanctifies the world in Christ, and of the worship that people render to Christ and through him to the Father in the Holy Spirit” (Sacred Congregation of Rites, Eucharisticum mysterium, 6). Around this table, then, we all learn, like Floribert, to no longer live for ourselves, but for him who died and rose again for us (see 2 Cor 5:15).
For this young man, the time of choice came soon: it was when, with the threats and enticements of corruption, he was asked to smuggle through customs rotten food that would poison the tables of the people of Goma. Nourished by the Word of God and the Eucharist, he asked himself: "If I do this, am I living in Christ? Am I living for Christ?" “As a Christian,” he replied to himself, "I cannot accept sacrificing people's lives. It is better to die than to accept this money.”
The choice was decisive; at that dramatic moment, it was a matter of chosing between living for oneself and living for Christ. And this has a price; it is, indeed, a dear price. It is that grace of which D. Bonhoeffer, also a witness of Christ: “It is the treasure hidden in the field, for the sake of which man goes and sells everything he has, with joy...” (Sequela, Queriniana, Brescia 1971, p. 23). In our context, grace at a high price is resistance to evil, to the point of the shedding of blood.
Here is the account of this of Pope Francis on 2 February 2023, during his apostolic visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo:
"At only twenty-six years old, he was killed in Goma for blocking the passage of spoiled foodstuffs, which would have damaged people's health. He could have let it go, they would not have found out and he would have gained money. But as a Christian, he prayed, thought of others and chose to be honest, saying no to the filth of corruption. This is keeping your hands clean, while hands that traffic in money get bloodied. If someone extends an envelope to you, promises you favours and riches, do not fall into the trap, do not be deceived, do not let yourself be swallowed up by the swamp of evil..."
I am reminded of the words of the Gospel: “What advantage will a man have if he gains the whole world, but loses his own life?” (Mt 16:26). Considering this question, St. John Chrysostom forcefully exclaimed: “Forget everything else and turn your attention to the salvation of your life” (In Matth. Hom., 55.3: PG 58, 544). St. Ignatius of Antioch had written: “There are two coins, one of God and the other of the world, and each of them has its own imprint: that of those who do not believe bears the imprint of the world; that of the faithful bears the imprint of the love of God the Father through Jesus Christ” (Magn., 5.2: Funk, Patres Apostolici, I, p. 232).
This is what Blessed Floribert did: he realised that his own soul... and also the lives of his people were infinitely more precious than money. And today, thanks to the faithfulness of his life that led him to martyrdom, the Church points to him as a witness and proposes him as a teacher for us all.
This is what he is for so many young Africans, whom he teaches not to be overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good. He is a teacher of hope for them - and not only for them - because in his humble example so many young people throughout the world can discover the power of good and the courage to do good, resisting the lure of a life dominated by fear and money.
Through the intercession of this new Blessed, may the Lord grant the young people and all the believers of the Church in Congo, particularly in Goma, new strength in pursuing good, resisting evil. Encouraged by his example, may the Community of Sant'Egidio continue with freedom on the threefold path of prayer, the poor and peace. May the Lord grant us all the strength to cherish the message of Blessed Floribert, into whose heart God's love was poured by the Holy Spirit.
Basilica of San Paolo outside the Walls, June 15, 2025 – Solennity of the Most Holy Trinity - Marcello Card. Semeraro
