Scottish Catholic Observer

The blood of St Januarius liquefied in the presence of a Pope for the first time since 1848 on Saturday.

The blood of the patron saint of Naples, which is normally solid, partially liquefied after Pope Francis kissed the relic during his day trip to the southern Italian city.

Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe of Naples showed the vial to the congregation in the city’s cathedral, saying: “The blood has half liquefied, which shows that St Januarius loves our Pope and Naples.”

Pope Francis responded: “The bishop just announced that the blood half liquefied. We can see the saint only half loves us. We must all spread the word, so that he loves us more!”

The blood last liquefied for a Pope in the presence of Pope Pius IX. The phenomenon did not occur when St John Paul II visited Naples in 1979 or when Pope Benedict XVI visited the city in 2007.

St Januarius was a Bishop of Naples who is believed to have been martyred around the year 305AD during the Diocletian persecution. His blood is kept in a sealed glass ampoule and traditionally liquefies three times a year: on September 19, the saint’s feast day, December 16 and the Saturday before the first Sunday of May.

During the Mass Pope Francis told the people of Naples—a city ravaged by crime and mafia violence—that change is possible, and encouraged those involved in organised crime to convert and work toward a better future.

“It’s time for Naples surrender: This is my wish and my prayer for a city that has so much spiritual, cultural and human potential, and above all so much capacity to love,” the Pope told those present.

The future of Naples ‘is not resigned to fold in on itself, but to open to the world with confidence,’ he said, adding that ‘to hope is already to resist evil… to hope is to wager on the mercy of God, who is Father and always forgives and forgives everything.”

Pope Francis’ Mass, held in Naples’ Piazza Plebiscito, took place during his Saturday day trip to the city and neighboring Pompeii. After paying a brief visit to Pompeii’s shrine housing a miraculous image of Our Lady of the Rosary, Pope Francis took a helicopter to Naples, where he met with people from various social classes and spoke harsh words against corruption, saying that ‘a corrupt society stinks like a rotting corpse!’

The Holy Father closed his homily saying that God is both the source of joy and reason for our hope, and emphasised that the Lord lives among us in our cities.

“God lives in Naples!” he said, and prayed that the Lord’s grace sustain the city’s inhabitants. “On your journey of faith, hope and charity, your good resolutions and your plans of moral and social redemption.”

—This story ran in full in the March 20 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.