Papal Events

JUBILEE AUDIENCE

Paul vi Hall, Saturday, 11 January 2025

To hope is to begin again

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Many of you are here in Rome as “pilgrims of hope”. This morning, we are starting the Saturday Jubilee audiences, which will ideally welcome and embrace all those who are coming from all over the world in search of a new beginning. Indeed, the Jubilee is a new beginning, the possibility for everyone to start anew from God. With the Jubilee we start a new life, a new phase.

On these Saturdays I would like to highlight, from time to time, some aspects of hope. It is a theological virtue, the Catechism tells us. And in Latin, virtus means “strength”. Hope is a strength that comes from God. Hope is not a habit or a character trait — that you either have or you don’t — but a strength to be requested. That is why we make ourselves pilgrims: we come to ask for a gift, to start again on life’s journey.

We are about to celebrate the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus, and this makes us think about that great prophet of hope, John the Baptist. Jesus said something wonderful about him: that he is the greatest among those born of women (cf. Lk 7:28). We understand then why so many people flocked to him, longing for a new beginning, longing to start over. And the Jubilee helps us in this. The Baptist appeared truly great, his personality seemed genuine. Just as we today pass through the Holy Door, so John proposed crossing the river Jordan, entering the Promised Land as Joshua had done the first time — to begin anew, to receive the land all over again, like the first time. Sisters and brothers, this is the word: begin anew. Let us put this in our heads and let us all say together: “begin anew”. Let us say it together: begin anew! [All repeat several times.] There, don’t forget this: begin anew.

Jesus, however, immediately after that great compliment, adds something that makes us think: “I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John; yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he” (v. 28). Hope, brothers and sisters, is everything in this qualitative step. It does not depend on us, but on the Kingdom of God. Here is the surprise: welcoming the Kingdom of God leads us to a new order of greatness. Our world, all of us, we need this! And us, what must we do? [Everyone: “Begin anew!”]. Do not forget this.

When Jesus utters those words, the Baptist is in jail, full of questions. We too bring many questions on our pilgrimage, because there are many “Herods” who still oppose the Kingdom of God. Jesus, however, shows us the new path, the path of the Beatitudes, which are the surprising law of the Gospel. Let us ask ourselves, then: do I have within me a true desire to start again? Think about it, each one of you: inside myself, do I want to begin again? Do I want to learn from Jesus who is truly great? The least in the Kingdom of God is great. Because we must… [Everyone: “Begin anew!”].

From John the Baptist, then, we learn to believe again. Hope for our common home — this Earth of ours, so abused and wounded — and hope for all human beings resides in God’s distinctness. His greatness is different. And let us start again from this originality of God, which shone in Jesus and which now binds us to serve, to love fraternally, to acknowledge ourselves as small. And to see the least, to listen to them and to be their voice. Here is the new beginning, this is our Jubilee. And so we must… [Everyone: “Begin anew!”]. Thank you.

Angelus

Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 12 January 2025

Through Baptism
we are reborn to new life

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The feast of the Baptism of Jesus, which we celebrate today, makes us think of many things, including our own Baptism. Jesus joins his people, who are going to receive baptism for the forgiveness of sins. I like to recall the words of a hymn from today’s liturgy: Jesus goes to be baptized by John, “with a bare soul and bare feet”.

And when Jesus receives baptism, the Spirit manifests himself and the Epiphany of God occurs; He reveals his face in the Son and makes his voice heard, saying: “Thou art my beloved Son; with thee I am well pleased” (Lk 3:22). The face and the voice.

First of all, the face. In revealing himself to be the Father through the Son, God establishes a special space for entering into dialogue and communion with humanity. It is the face of the beloved Son.

In second place, the voice. “Thou art my beloved Son” (v. 22). This is another sign that accompanies Jesus’ revelation.

Dear brothers and sisters, today’s feast makes us contemplate the face and the voice of God, which are manifested in Jesus’ humanity. And so, let us ask ourselves: do we feel loved? Do I feel loved and accompanied by God, or do I think that God is distant from me? Are we capable of recognizing his face in Jesus and in our brothers and sisters? And are we accustomed to listening to his voice?

I will ask you a question: do we all remember the date of [our] Baptism? This is very important! Think: on what day was I baptized? And if we do not remember, when we arrive home, let us ask our parents or our godparents the date of our Baptism. And let us celebrate this date as if it were a new birthday: that of our birth in the Spirit of God. Do not forget! This is our homework: the date of our Baptism.

Let us entrust ourselves to the Virgin Mary, invoking her help. And do not forget the date of your Baptism!

-

After praying the Angelus the Holy Father continued:

I am close to the inhabitants of the County of Los Angeles, California, where devastating fires have been raging in recent days. I pray for you all.

This morning I had the joy of baptizing some newborns, children of employees of the Holy See and the Swiss Guard. Let us pray for them, for their families. And I would like to pray to the Lord for all young couples, that they may have the joy of welcoming the gift of children and bringing them to Baptism.

Don Giovanni Merlini, priest of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, was beatified this morning in the Basilica of Saint John Lateran. Devoted to the missions of his people, he was a prudent advisor to many souls, and a messenger of peace. Let us also invoke his intercession as we pray for peace in Ukraine, in the Middle East and all over the world. A round of applause for the new Blessed!

I greet you all, people of Rome and pilgrims, in particular the students from Olivenza, in Spain, and the members of the Family of Disciples with the laypeople who work in the houses of the Opera of Father Semeria and Father Minozzi.

And let us not neglect to pray for peace. Let us not forget that war is always a defeat. I wish everyone a happy Sunday. And, please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul vi Hall, Wednesday, 15 January 2025

The most beloved of the Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

In the last audience we spoke about children, and today too we will talk about children. Last week we focused on how, in his work, Jesus repeatedly spoke of the importance of protecting, welcoming and loving the littlest ones.

Yet, even today in the world, hundreds of millions of minors, despite not being of the minimum age to undergo the obligations of adulthood, are forced to work, and many of them are exposed to particularly dangerous work; not to mention the boys and girls who are slaves to trafficking for prostitution or pornography, and forced marriages. And this is rather bitter. In our societies, unfortunately, there are many ways in which children are abused and mistreated. Abuse of minors, of whatever nature, is a despicable act, it is a heinous act. It is not simply a blight on society, no, it is a crime! It is a gross violation of God’s commandments. No minor should be abused. Even one case is already too many. It is therefore necessary to awaken our consciences, to practice closeness and tangible solidarity with abused children and young people, and at the same time to build trust and synergies among those who are committed to offering them opportunities and safe places in which to grow up serenely. I know a country in Latin America where a special fruit grows — very special — which is called arándano [a species of cranberry]. Harvesting the arándano requires tender hands, and they make children do it, they enslave them as children to harvest it.

Widespread poverty, the shortage of social support tools for families, the increased marginality in recent years along with unemployment and job insecurity are factors that burden the youngest with the highest price to pay. In large cities,, where the social divide and moral decay “bite”, children are engaged in drug dealing and the most diverse illicit activities. How many of these children have we seen fall as sacrificial victims! Sometimes, tragically, they are led to become “executioners” of their peers, in addition to damaging themselves, their own dignity and humanity. And yet, when these lost lives present themselves before our eyes on the street or in the parish neighbourhood, we often look the other way.

There is also a case in my country: a boy called Loan was abducted, and his whereabouts are unknown. And one of the theories is that he was taken to have his organs removed, for transplants. And this happens, as you well know. This happens! Some return with a scar, others die. This is why today I would like to remember this boy, Loan.

It is difficult for us to recognize the social injustice that drives two children, perhaps living in the same neighbourhood or apartment block, to take diametrically opposed paths and destinies because one of them was born into a disadvantaged family. An unacceptable human and social divide: between those who can dream and those who must succumb. But Jesus wants us all free and happy; and if he loves every man and woman as his son and daughter, he loves the littlest ones with all the tenderness of his heart. That is why he asks us to stop and listen to the suffering of the voiceless, the uneducated. Fighting exploitation, especially exploitation of minors, is the main way to build a better future for the whole of society. Some countries have had the wisdom to put children’s rights in writing. Children have rights. Have a look on the internet to find out what children’s rights are.

And so, we can ask ourselves: what can I do? First of all, we must recognize that, if we want to eradicate child labour, we cannot be complicit in it. And when are we [complicit]? For example, when we purchase products that involve child labour. How can we eat and dress, knowing that behind that food and those garments there are exploited children, who work instead of going to school? Awareness of what we purchase is a first act in order not to be complicit — finding out where those products come from. Some will say that, as individuals, we cannot do much. True, but each one can be a drop that, together with many other drops, can become a sea. However, institutions — including church institutions — and companies must also be reminded of their responsibility: they can make a difference by shifting their investments to companies that do not use or permit child labour. Many States and international organizations have already enacted laws and directives against child labour, but more can be done. I also urge journalists — there are some journalists here — to do their part: they can help raise awareness of the problem and help find solutions. Do not be afraid; denounce, report these things.

And I thank all those who do not turn away when they see children forced to become adults too soon. Let us always remember Jesus’ words: “As you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). Saint Teresa of Calcutta, a joyful worker in the vineyard of the Lord, was a mother to the most disadvantaged and forgotten girls and boys. With the tenderness and attention of her gaze, she can accompany us to see the invisible little ones, the too many slaves of a world that we cannot abandon to its injustices. Because the happiness of the weakest builds the peace of all. And with Mother Teresa, let us give voice to the children:

“I ask for a safe place

where I can play.

I ask for a smile

from someone who knows how to love.

I ask for the right to be a child,

to be the hope

of a better world.

I ask to be able to grow

as a person.

Can I count on you?”

(cf. Saint Teresa of Calcutta)

Thank you.

Appeal

The day before yesterday a landslide swept away various homes in the mining area in the state of Kachin in Myanmar, leaving victims, dispersed and enormous damages. I am close to the population impacted by this disaster and I pray for those who lost their life and for their families. May these tried brothers and sisters of ours not lack the international community’s support and solidarity.

[…]

And let us not forget martyred Ukraine, Myanmar, Palestine, Israel and many countries at war. Let us pray for peace. War is always a defeat! And, please, let us also pray for the conversion of heart of arms manufacturers who, with their products, aid killing.

Angelus

Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 19 January 2025

An endless feast

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The Gospel of today’s liturgy (Jn 2:1-11) tells us about Jesus’ first sign, when he turns water into wine during a wedding feast in Cana, in Galilee. It is an account that foreshadows and encapsulates the whole of Jesus’ mission: on the day of the coming of the Messiah — so said the prophets — the Lord will prepare “a feast” of choice wines (cf. Is 25:6) and “the mountains shall drip sweet wine” (Am 9:13); Jesus is the Bridegroom who brings the “good wine”.

In this Gospel we can find two things: lack and superabundance. On the one hand, there is a shortage of wine and Mary tells her Son: “They have no wine” (Jn 2:3); on the other hand, Jesus intervenes, filling six large jars and, in the end, the wine is so abundant and exquisite that the master of the banquet asks the groom why he has kept it until the end (v. 10). Thus, our sign is always “lack”, but “the sign of God is superabundance”, and the superabundance of Cana is its sign (cf. Benedict xvi, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. i, 294). How does God respond to man’s lack? With superabundance (cf. Rom 5:20). God is not stingy! When he gives, he gives a lot. He does not give you a little bit, he gives you a lot. The Lord responds to our shortcomings with his superabundance.

In the banquet of our life — we might say — at times we realize that the wine is missing: that we lack the strength and many things. It happens when the worries that plague us, the fears that assail us, or overwhelming forces of evil, rob us of the taste for life, the exhilaration of joy and the flavour of hope. Take note: in the face of this lack, when the Lord gives, he gives in superabundance. It seems to be a contradiction: the more that is lacking in us, the greater the Lord’s superabundance. Because the Lord wants to celebrate with us, in a feast without end.

Let us pray, then, to the Virgin Mary. May She, who is the “woman of the new wine” (cf. A. Bello, Maria, donna dei nostri giorni), intercede for us and, in this Jubilee year, help us to rediscover the joy of the encounter with Jesus.

 

After the Angelus the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters!

In recent days, it was announced that the ceasefire in Gaza will come into effect today. I express my gratitude to all the mediators. It is a good job, to mediate so that peace is made. Thank you to the mediators! And I also thank all the parties involved in this important result. I hope that what has been agreed will be respected immediately by the parties, and that all the hostages may finally return home and embrace their loved ones. I pray a lot for them and for their families. I also hope that humanitarian aid will reach the people of Gaza, who so urgently need it, even faster and in large quantities.

Both the Israelis and the Palestinians need clear signs of hope: I trust that the political authorities of both of them, with the help of the international community, may reach the right solution for the two States. May everyone be able to say yes to dialogue, yes to reconciliation, yes to peace. And let us pray for this: for dialogue, reconciliation and peace.

A few days ago the liberation of a group of inmates from Cuban jails was announced. This is a gesture of great hope that embodies one of the intentions of this Jubilee year. I hope that in the coming months, we will continue to undertake initiatives of this type, which instil confidence in the journey of people and populations.

[...]

In these days of prayer for Christian Unity, let us not cease to invoke from God the precious gift of full communion between all the Lord’s disciples. And let us pray always for tormented Ukraine, for Palestine, Israel, Myanmar and all the populations who are suffering because of war.

I wish you all a happy Sunday, and please, do not forget to pray for me. Enjoy your lunch. Arrivederci!

To the Ecumenical Delegation
from Finland

Consistory Hall, Monday, 20 January 2025

Praying for peace in communion with all the baptized

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

I offer a cordial greeting to each of you, who once again this year have come to Rome as an ecumenical delegation on the feast of Saint Henrik. In a particular way, I greet the new head of the Finnish Orthodox Church, Archbishop Elia of Helsinki and All Finland, Bishop Raimo Goyarrola of Helsinki and you, Bishop Matti Salomäki.

Esteemed brother in Christ, I am grateful for the reflections and sentiments that you expressed on behalf of the Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox participants, and for your thoughtfully chosen gift. In this Holy Year of 2025, we are journeying together as “pilgrims of hope”. On this journey of faith, we are confirmed by the words of the Letter to the Hebrews: “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful” (Heb 10:23). Journeying in hope!

Saint Henrik is, so to speak, an enduring icon of this hope, which has its sure and enduring foundation in God. As a messenger of peace, he exhorts us to persevere in praying for the precious yet fragile gift of peace. Indeed, we must pray for peace. At the same time, the Patron Saint of Finland is a symbol of God-given unity, as his feast day continues to bring together Christians from different Churches and ecclesial Communities in offering praise to God.

The fact that your pilgrimage to Rome is accompanied by choirs that honour the Triune God with their music is an eloquent sign of “doxological ecumenism”. Thank you to the choir, thank you! Whoever sings, prays twice! I thank you, the singers of the Cappella Sanctae Mariae, for this precious service!

On this musical note, we could say that the Nicene Creed, which we all share, is an extraordinary “score” of faith. And this “symphony of truth” is Jesus Christ himself, the very centre of the symphony. He is truth incarnate, true God and true man, our Lord and Saviour. Whoever listens to this “symphony of truth” — not only with the ears, but with the heart — will be touched by the mystery of God, who reaches out to us, full of love, in his Son. And that faithful love is the basis of the hope that does not disappoint! Never forget this: hope does not disappoint. For “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:38-39).

To testify to this incarnate love is our ecumenical vocation, in the communion of all the baptized. For this reason, I would now invite you to express with filial confidence this, our common vocation, by joining together in the recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, each in his or her own language. And thank you for your visit.

[Our Father…]

May God bless us all! Amen.

Greeting to the Board of the
Conrad Hilton Foundation

Room in Paul vi Hall
Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Improving the lives of people
in need

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome, good morning and thank you for your visit!

I offer a cordial greeting to the Board of Directors of the Conrad Hilton Foundation.

In our time, as the numbers of the poor and excluded in our world continue to increase, which is notable, you have chosen to commit yourselves actively to promoting human dignity, personally with passion and compassion, like the Good Samaritan. That parable of Jesus exhorts us to identify with the needs of others, to reach out and lift up those who have fallen by the wayside, and in this way to benefit us all (cf. Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 67). Do not forget that only on one occasion, in one moment in time, is it licit to look down on someone: in order to help that person to get up. Otherwise, we can never look down on someone ... only to help and lift a person up. Do not forget it ... always.

Your Foundation has shown how such generosity and commitment can transform the lives of those who find themselves in situations of vulnerability. The service you freely offer in the fields of education, health, refugee assistance and the fight against poverty is a concrete testimony of love and compassion. Do not forget this word: compassion, “to suffer with”. God is compassionate; he draws close and suffers with us. Compassion is not throwing money into the hands of another without looking them in the eyes. No. Compassion is drawing close and “suffering with”. Do not forget the word: compassion.

Your founder, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, bequeathed you his dream, which continues to inspire the Foundation’s projects. Among these is one that you have consistently promoted: that of supporting women religious. Conrad Hilton held religious Sisters in high regard; in his will, he asked the Foundation to support them in their mission of serving the poorest and the least of our brothers and sisters. Once a former agnostic was telling me about ending up in the hospital. The Sisters took care of him, and as a result, he was converted. He remarked, what would the Church be without the Sisters. That is beautiful! You are doing this with fidelity and creativity, especially through your contribution to the formation of younger Sisters and the care of the elderly in their Congregations. In some countries the Sisters are elderly but there is no need to send them to a care home, no. I remember one Congregation in Argentina that had a Sister who was originally from Italy. The Provincial arrived and said: “No, you have to retire at 70”. The Sisters died because of sadness. The Sisters have to work until the end, in as much as possible, until the end. And if this does not happen, the other thing happens. We have a Sister here who has always worked with the poor. She is old but still drives and they let her do it. In this way, she still feels useful. Please, let the Sisters remain with the people. I am aware that you have cooperated with several Vatican Dicasteries in order to provide the Sisters with opportunities to grow in professionalism and missionary outreach. Thank you!

In the past, little was invested in this area, far less than in the formation of the clergy. It is true, since Sisters and other women are thought to be “second class citizens”. They are thought of like this. Do not forget that since the time of the Garden of Eden, they have been in charge. Women are in charge! Yet the need for Sisters to pursue continuing education and training is urgent. Their work at the borders, in the peripheries and among the poor, requires training and competence. I would ask you to keep in mind too that the mission of Sisters is to serve the least among us. It is not to be servants to anyone. This must stop, and you as a Foundation are helping to bring the Church out of this clerical mindset.

Yet I should add something else: often we hear complaints that there are not enough Sisters in positions of responsibility, in Dioceses, the Roman Curia and universities. It is true. This is true enough: we need to overcome a clerical and macho mindset. Thanks be to God that now in the Curia we have a woman Prefect in the Dicastery for Religious. We have a woman Vice-Governor of the Vatican State who will become Governor in March. We have three Sisters in the group that chooses Bishops. They also vote. We have the Undersecretary of Archbishop Piccinotti at a.p.s.a., a Sister with two degrees in finance. Thanks be to God that the Sisters are stepping forward. They know how to do things better than men. This is how it is ... since women and the Sisters have the capacity to do things. I also hear Bishops say, “I would like to appoint nuns in some diocesan offices, but their Superiors will not release them”. No, please, release them. So I would say to Superiors: be generous, cultivate a vision of the universal Church and of a mission that goes beyond the confines of your Institute.

Dear friends, I thank you for your tireless work and service. Thank you! Together we can build a world in which every person, whatever his or her origin or condition, can live a dignified life. Together we can help to ignite hope in the hearts of those who feel alone and abandoned. Compassion, closeness and tenderness: do not forget these three words. Compassion, closeness and tenderness: they are the three attributes of God. God is compassionate. God is close. God is tender. I dream of a world where the discarded, the excluded, the marginalized can be the agents of much-needed change in society, so that all of us can live as brothers and sisters.

May God bless you and may Our Lady protect you. And please, pray for me. Now, with all of us seated, I will bless you. Thank you!

General Audience

Paul vi Hall, Wednesday, 22 January 2025

Mary, God’s masterpiece perfected by grace

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today we will resume the catecheses of the Jubilee cycle on Jesus Christ our hope.

At the beginning of his Gospel, Luke shows the effects of the transforming power of the Word of God, which reaches not only the halls of the Temple, but also the poor dwelling of a young woman, Mary, who, betrothed to Joseph, still lives with her family.

After Jerusalem, the messenger of the great divine annunciations, Gabriel, whose name celebrates God’s strength, is sent to a village never mentioned in the Hebrew Bible: Nazareth. At that time, it was a small village in Galilee, on the outskirts of Israel, a border area with the pagans and their influences.

It is there that the angel brings a message of an entirely unheard-of form and content, so much so that Mary’s heart is shaken, disturbed. In the place of the classic greeting, “Peace be with you”, Gabriel addresses the Virgin with the invitation, “Be glad!”, “Rejoice!”, an appeal dear to sacred history, because the prophets use it when they announce the coming of the Messiah (cf. Zeph 3:14; Joel 2:21-23, Zec 9:9). It is the invitation to joy which God addresses to his people when the exile ends and the Lord makes his living and active presence felt.

In addition, God calls Mary by a loving name unknown in biblical history: kecharitoméne, which means “filled with divine grace”. Mary is full of divine grace. This name says that God’s love has already for some time inhabited, and continues to dwell in, Mary’s heart. It says how “gracious” she is, and above all, how God’s grace has accomplished in her an inner engraving, making her his masterpiece: full of grace.

This loving moniker, which God gives only to Mary, is immediately accompanied by reassurance: “Do not be afraid!”, “Do not be afraid!”. The Lord’s presence always gives us this grace of not fearing, and so he says to Mary: “Do not be afraid!”. God says, “Do not be afraid”, to Abraham, Isaac and Moses in history: “Do not be afraid!” (cf. Gen 15:1; 26:24; Dt 31:8). And he says to us too: “Do not be afraid, keep going; do not be afraid!”. “Father, I am afraid of this”. “And what do you do when…”. “I am sorry, Father, I will tell you the truth: I go to the fortune teller”. “You go to the fortune teller?”. “Ah yes, I have my palm read…”. Please, do not be afraid! Do not be afraid! Do not be afraid! This is good. “I am your travelling companion”: this is what God says to Mary. The “Almighty”, the God of the “impossible” (Lk 1:37) is with Mary, together with and beside her; He is her companion, her principal ally, the eternal “I-with-you” (cf. Gen 28:15; Ex 3:12; Jdg 6:12).

Then Gabriel proclaims to the Virgin her mission, making echo in her heart, numerous biblical passages referring to the kingship and messianic nature of the child that must be born of her, and that the child will be presented as the fulfilment of the ancient prophecies. The Word that comes from on High calls Mary to be the mother of the Messiah, that long-awaited Davidic Messiah. She is the mother of the Messiah. He will be king, but not in the human and carnal manner, but in the divine, spiritual manner. His name will be “Jesus”, which means “God saves” (cf. Lk 1:31; Mt 1:21), reminding everyone forever that it is not man who saves, but only God. Jesus is he who fulfils these words of the prophet Isaiah: “It was not an envoy or a messenger, but his presence that saved them [with] his love and pity” (cf. Is 63:9).

This motherhood shakes Mary to the core. And as the intelligent woman she is, thus capable of reading into events (cf. Lk 2:19, 51), she tries to understand, to discern what is happening to her. Mary does not search outside, but within, because, as Saint Augustine teaches, “in interiore homine habitat veritas” (cf. Of True Religion 39, 72). And there, in the depths of her open and sensitive heart, she hears the invitation to trust in God, who has prepared a special “Pentecost” for her. Just as at the beginning of creation (cf. Gen 1:2), God wants to nurture Mary with his Spirit, a power capable of opening what is closed without violating it, without encroaching on human freedom. He wants to envelop her in the “cloud” of his presence (cf. 1 Cor 10:1-2) so that the Son may live in her, and her in him.

And Mary is illuminated with trust: she is “a Lamp with many lights”, as Theophan says in his Canon [for the Feast] of the Annunciation. She abandons herself, obeys, makes room: she is “a Bridal Chamber made by God” (ibid.). Mary welcomes the Word in her own flesh and thus dives into the greatest mission ever entrusted to a woman, to a human creature. She places herself in service: she is full of everything, not like a slave but as a collaborator of God the Father, full of dignity and authority to administer, as she will do in Cana, the gifts of the divine treasure, so that many will be able to draw from it abundantly.

Sisters, brothers, let us learn from Mary, Mother of the Saviour and our Mother, to let ourselves open our ears to the divine Word and to welcome it and cherish it, so that it may transform our hearts into tabernacles of his presence, in hospitable homes where hope may grow. Thank you!

Appeals

I want you to know that my heart is with the people of Los Angeles, who have suffered so much because of the fires that have devastated entire neighbourhoods and communities. And they aren’t over... May Our Lady of Guadalupe intercede for all the inhabitants so that they may be witnesses of hope through the power of diversity and creativity for which they are known around the world.

And let us not forget martyred Ukraine. Let us not forget Palestine, Israel and Myanmar. Let us pray for peace. War is always a defeat! Yesterday I called, as I do every day, the parish in Gaza: they were happy! There are 600 people in there, between the parish and the school. And they told me, “Today we ate lentils with chicken”. It’s something they have not been doing in these times: only some vegetables, something... They were happy! But let us pray for Gaza, for peace and for many other places around the world. War is always a defeat! Do not forget: war is a defeat. And who profits from war? Arms manufacturers. Please, let us pray for peace.

Lastly, my thoughts turn to young people, to the sick, to the elderly and to newlyweds. In these days of prayer for Christian unity, I urge you to invoke the Triune God for the full communion of all Christ’s disciples.

I offer my blessing to everyone!

Greeting to a Delegation from the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network

Hall of Popes, Thursday, 23 January 2025

Compassion, closeness and
works of mercy

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome!

I greet the new Director, Father Cristóbal Fones. I wish him well in his work and express my gratitude to Father Fornos — he did a very good job; he is great — for his service. Father Fornos was “creative”.

My thanks go to all of you: the members of the International Team, the Continental Coordinators, the Board of Directors, the permanent Partners and, in particular, those who support the Foundation thereby ensuring stability and continued progress in its work.

I am pleased that you have joyfully received the Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, for you can find therein substantial nourishment for fostering the spirituality of your apostolate. Indeed, I am glad that you call this spirituality “The Way of the Heart”. I would like to “read” this expression in a twofold sense: it is the journey of Jesus, of his Sacred Heart, through the mystery of his incarnation, passion, death and resurrection; and it is also the journey of our own hearts, wounded by sin, which allow themselves to be conquered and transformed by love. On this journey of the heart, as ever we are guided by our Mother, Mary, who goes before us on the pilgrimage of faith and hope, and who teaches us to hold — to hold — in our hearts the words and deeds of Jesus. Do not forget this action: to hold. As you well know, this is the work of the Holy Spirit: our hearts cannot journey with Christ without the living water of the Holy Spirit.

Dear sisters and brothers, I think that the Worldwide Prayer Network will make a very important contribution to the Jubilee, helping individuals and communities to live the spirit of the Holy Year as a journey in which prayer and compassion, prayer and closeness to the least among us, prayer and works of mercy are inseparably combined. Thank you, thank you very much!

Please move forward joyfully, always joyfully, working together. I give you my heartfelt blessing. Thank you!

Message to the Chairman of the
World Economic Forum

Wednesday, 23 January 2025

For a ‘relational’ intelligence at the service of true progress

The theme of this year’s annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, “Collaboration for the Intelligent Age”, provides a good opportunity to reflect on Artificial Intelligence as a tool not only for cooperation but also to bring peoples together.

The Christian tradition regards the gift of intelligence as an essential aspect of the human person created “in the image of God”. At the same time, the Catholic Church has always been a protagonist and a supporter of the advancement of science, technology, the arts, and other forms of human endeavours, considering them to be areas of “collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 378).

ai is intended to imitate the human intelligence that designed it, thus posing a unique set of questions and challenges. Unlike many other human inventions, ai is trained on the results of human creativity, which enables it to generate new artefacts with a skill level and speed that often rival or surpasses human capabilities, raising critical concerns about its impact on humanity’s role in the world. Furthermore, the results that ai can produce are almost indistinguishable from those of human beings, raising questions about its effect on the growing crisis of truth in the public forum. Moreover, this technology is designed to learn and make certain choices autonomously, adapting to new situations and providing answers not foreseen by its programmers, thus raising fundamental questions about ethical responsibility, human safety, and the broader implications of these developments for society.

While ai is an extraordinary technological achievement capable of imitating certain outputs associated with human intelligence, this technology “makes a technical choice among several possibilities based either on well-defined criteria or on statistical inferences. Human beings, however, not only choose, but in their hearts are capable of deciding” (Address at the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, Borgo Egnazia (Puglia) 14 June 2024).

Indeed, the very use of the word “intelligence” in connection with ai is a misnomer, since ai is not an artificial form of human intelligence but a product of it. When used correctly, ai assists the human person in fulfilling his or her vocation, in freedom and responsibility.

As with all other human activity and technological development, ai must be ordered to the human person and become part of efforts to achieve “greater justice, more extensive fraternity and a more humane order of social relations”, which are “more valuable than advances in the technical field” (Gaudium et Spes, 35; cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2293).

There is, however, the risk that ai will be used to advance the “technocratic paradigm”, which perceives all the world’s problems as solvable through technological means alone. Within this paradigm, human dignity and fraternity are frequently subordinated in the pursuit of efficiency, as though reality, goodness, and truth inherently emanate from technological and economic power. Yet human dignity must never be violated for the sake of efficiency. Technological developments that do not improve life for everyone, but instead create or worsen inequalities and conflicts, cannot be called true progress. For this reason, ai should be placed at the service of a healthier, more human, more social and more integral development.

Progress marked by the dawn of ai calls for a rediscovery of the importance of community and a renewed commitment to care for the common home entrusted to us by God. To navigate the complexities of ai, governments and businesses must exercise due diligence and vigilance. They must critically evaluate the individual applications of ai in particular contexts in order to determine whether its use promotes human dignity, the vocation of the human person, and the common good. As with many technologies, the effects of the various uses of ai may not always be predictable from their inception. As the application of ai and its social impact become clearer over time, appropriate responses should be made at all levels of society, according to the principle of subsidiarity, with individual users, families, civil society, corporations, institutions, governments, and international organizations working at their proper levels to ensure that ai is directed to the good of all. Today, there are significant challenges and opportunities when ai is placed within a framework of relational intelligence, where everyone shares responsibility for the integral well-being of others.

With these sentiments, I offer my prayerful good wishes for the deliberations of the Forum, and upon all taking part I willingly invoke an abundance of divine blessings.

 

From the Vatican, 14 January 2025

Francis

Message for the 59th World Day of Social Communications

Friday, 24 January 2025

Share with gentleness
the hope that is in your hearts (cf. 1 Pet 3:15-16)

Dear brothers and sisters!

In these our times, characterized by disinformation and polarization, as a few centres of power control an unprecedented mass of data and information, I would like to speak to you as one who is well aware of the importance — now more than ever — of your work as journalists and communicators. Your courageous efforts to put personal and collective responsibility towards others at the heart of communication are indeed necessary.

As I reflect on the Jubilee we are celebrating this year as a moment of grace in these troubled times, I would like in this Message to invite you to be “communicators of hope”, starting from a renewal of your work and mission in the spirit of the Gospel.

Disarming communication

Too often today, communication generates not hope, but fear and despair, prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred. All too often it simplifies reality in order to provoke instinctive reactions; it uses words like a razor; it even uses false or artfully distorted information to send messages designed to agitate, provoke or hurt. On several occasions, I have spoken of our need to “disarm” communication and to purify it of aggressiveness. It never helps to reduce reality to slogans. All of us see how — from television talk shows to verbal attacks on social media — there is a risk that the paradigm of competition, opposition, the will to dominate and possess, and the manipulation of public opinion will prevail.

There is also another troubling phenomenon: what we might call the “programmed dispersion of attention” through digital systems that, by profiling us according to the logic of the market, modify our perception of reality. As a result, we witness, often helplessly, a sort of atomization of interests that ends up undermining the foundations of our existence as community, our ability to join in the pursuit of the common good, to listen to one another and to understand each other’s point of view. Identifying an “enemy” to lash out against thus appears indispensable as a way of asserting ourselves. Yet when others become our “enemies”, when we disregard their individuality and dignity in order to mock and deride them, we also lose the possibility of generating hope. As Don Tonino Bello observed, all conflicts “start when individual faces melt away and disappear”.1 We must not surrender to this mindset.

Hope, in fact, is not something easy. Georges Bernanos once said that, “only those are capable of hope, who have had the courage to despair of the illusions and lies in which they once found security and which they falsely mistook for hope... Hope is a risk that must be taken. It is the risk of risks”.2 Hope is a hidden virtue, tenacious and patient. For Christians, it is not an option but a necessary condition. As Pope Benedict xvi noted in the Encyclical Spe Salvi, hope is not passive optimism but, on the contrary, a “performative” virtue capable of changing our lives: “The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life’ (No. 2).

Accounting with gentleness
for the hope that is in us

In the First Letter of Peter (3:15-16), we find an admirable synthesis in which hope is linked to Christian witness and communication: “In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence”. I would like to dwell on three messages that we can glean from these words.

“In your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord”. The hope of Christians has a face, the face of the risen Lord. His promise to remain always with us through the gift of the Holy Spirit enables us to hope even against all hope, and to perceive the hidden goodness quietly present even when all else seems lost.

The second message is that we should be prepared to explain the hope that is in us. Significantly, the Apostle tells us to give an accounting of our hope “to anyone who demands” it. Christians are not primarily people who “talk about” God, but who resonate with the beauty of his love and a new way of experiencing everything. Theirs is a lived love that raises the question and calls for an answer: Why do you live like this? Why are you like this?

In Saint Peter’s words, we find, finally, a third message: our response to this question is to be made “with gentleness and reverence”. Christian communication — but I would also say communication in general — should be steeped in gentleness and closeness, like the talk of companions on the road. This was the method of the greatest communicator of all time, Jesus of Nazareth, who, as he walked alongside the two disciples of Emmaus, spoke with them and made their hearts burn within them as he interpreted events in the light of the Scriptures.

I dream of a communication capable of making us fellow travelers, walking alongside our brothers and sisters and encouraging them to hope in these troubled times. A communication capable of speaking to the heart, arousing not passionate reactions of defensiveness and anger, but attitudes of openness and friendship. A communication capable of focusing on beauty and hope even in the midst of apparently desperate situations, and generating commitment, empathy and concern for others. A communication that can help us in “recognizing the dignity of each human being, and [in] working together to care for our common home” (Dilexit Nos, 217).

I dream of a communication that does not peddle illusions or fears, but is able to give reasons for hope. Martin Luther King once said: “If I can help someone as I pass along, if I can cheer somebody with a word or song... then my living will not be in vain”.3 To do this, though, we must be healed of our “diseases” of self-promotion and self-absorption, and avoid the risk of shouting over others in order to make our voices heard. A good communicator ensures that those who listen, read or watch can be involved, can draw close, can get in touch with the best part of themselves and enter with these attitudes into the stories told. Communicating in this way helps us to become “pilgrims of hope”, which is the motto of the present Jubilee.

Hoping together

Hope is always a community project. Let us think for a moment of the grandeur of the message offered by this Year of Grace. We are all invited — all of us! — to start over again, to let God lift us up, to let him embrace us and shower us with mercy. In this regard, the personal and communal aspects are inseparably connected: we set out together, we journey alongside our many brothers and sisters, and we pass through the Holy Door together.

The Jubilee has many social implications. We can think, for example, of its message of mercy and hope for those who live in prisons, or its call for closeness and tenderness towards those who suffer and are on the margins. The Jubilee reminds us that those who are peacemakers “will be called children of God” (Mt 5:9), and in this way it inspires hope, points us to the need for an attentive, gentle and reflective communication, capable of pointing out paths of dialogue. For this reason, I encourage you to discover and make known the many stories of goodness hidden in the folds of the news, imitating those gold-prospectors who tirelessly sift the sand in search of a tiny nugget. It is good to seek out such seeds of hope and make them known. It helps our world to be a little less deaf to the cry of the poor, a little less indifferent, a little less closed in on itself. May you always find those glimmers of goodness that inspire us to hope. This kind of communication can help to build communion, to make us feel less alone, to rediscover the importance of walking together.

Do not forget the heart

Dear brothers and sisters, in the face of the astonishing achievements of technology, I encourage you to care for your heart, your interior life. What does that mean? Let me offer you a few thoughts.

Be meek and never forget the faces of other people; speak to the hearts of the women and men whom you serve in carrying out your work.

Do not allow instinctive reactions to guide your communication. Always spread hope, even when it is difficult, even when it costs, even when it seems not to bear fruit.

Try to promote a communication that can heal the wounds of our humanity.

Make room for the heartfelt trust that, like a slender but resistant flower, does not succumb to the ravages of life, but blossoms and grows in the most unexpected places. It is there in the hope of those mothers who daily pray to see their children return from the trenches of a conflict, and in the hope of those fathers who emigrate at great risk in search of a better future. It is also there in the hope of those children who somehow manage to play, laugh and believe in life even amid the debris of war and in the impoverished streets of favelas.

Be witnesses and promoters of a non-aggressive communication; help to spread a culture of care, build bridges and break down the visible and invisible barriers of the present time.

Tell stories steeped in hope, be concerned about our common destiny and strive to write together the history of our future.

All this you can do, and we can do, with God’s grace, which the Jubilee helps us to receive in abundance. This is my prayer, and with it, I bless each of you and your work.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 24 January 2025,
Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales

 

--------------------------

1  “La pace come ricerca del volto”, in Omelie e scritti quaresimali, Molfetta 1994, 317.

2  La liberté, pour quoi faire?, Paris 1995.

3  “The Drum Major Instinct”, Sermon (4 February 1968).

Jubilee of the
World of Communications

Audience Hall
Saturday, 25 January 2025

Tell stories that nourish hope

The Holy Father set aside the prepared speech and addressed the group extemporaneously.

Dear sisters and dear brothers, good morning! And thank you very much for coming!

In my hands I have a nine-page address. At this time [of the day], with the stomach feeling empty, reading nine pages would be a torture. I will give this to the Prefect, who will communicate it to you.

I would just like to say a word on communication. To communicate is to come out of oneself, to give what is mine to the other. And communication is not only going outwards, but also the encounter with the other. Knowing how to communicate is a great wisdom, a great wisdom!

I am pleased with this Jubilee of communicators. Your work is a work that builds: it builds society, it builds the Church, it makes everyone go forward, provided it is true. “Father, I always tell the truth…”. “But you, are you true? Not only the things you say, but you, inwardly, in your life, are you true?”. It is a major challenge. To communicate what God does with the Son, and the communication of God with the Son and the Holy Spirit. To communicate something divine. Thank you for what you do, thank you very much! I am pleased.

And now I would like to greet you, and first of all give the blessing.

 

The consigned address

Dear sisters and dear brothers, Good morning!

I thank you all for coming in such large numbers and from so many different countries, far and near. It is truly beautiful to see you all here. I thank the guests who have spoken before me — Maria Ressa, Colum McCann and Mario Calabresi — and I thank Maestro Uto Ughi for the gift of music, which is a way of communication and hope.

 

This meeting of ours is the first major event of the Holy Year dedicated to a “living world”, the world of communication. The Jubilee is being celebrated at a difficult moment in the history of humanity, with the world still wounded by wars and violence, by the shedding of so much innocent blood. Therefore, I would first like to say thank you to all the communication workers who risk their own lives to seek out the truth and to report the horrors of war. I wish to remember in prayer all those who have sacrificed their lives in this last year, one of the most lethal for journalists 1. Let us pray in silence for your colleagues who have signed their service with their own blood.

 

I then also want to remember, together with you, all those who are imprisoned merely for having been faithful to the profession of journalist, photographer, video operator; for wanting to see with their own eyes and for trying to report what they have seen. There are many of them! 2 But in this Holy Year, in this jubilee of the world of communication, I ask those who have the power to do so to free all unjustly imprisoned journalists. May a “door” be opened for them too, through which they may return to freedom, because the freedom of journalists increases the freedom of us all. Their freedom is freedom for all of us.

 

I ask – as I have done several times, and as my predecessors have done before me too – that the freedom of the press and freedom of thought be defended and safeguarded along with the fundamental right to be informed. Free, responsible and correct information is a legacy of knowledge, experience and virtue that must be preserved and promoted. Without this, we risk no longer distinguishing truth from lies; without this, we expose ourselves to growing prejudices and polarizations that destroy the bonds of civil coexistence and prevent fraternity from being rebuilt.

 

Journalism is more than a profession. It is a vocation and a mission. You, communicators, have a fundamental role for society today, in reporting facts and in the way in which you report them. We know that language, attitude and tones can be decisive and make the difference between communication that rekindles hope, builds bridges and opens doors, and communication that instead increases divisions, polarizations, and simplifications of reality.

 

Yours is a peculiar responsibility. Yours is a precious task. Your tools of the trade are words and images. But before these, study and reflection, the capacity to see and listen, to place yourselves in the position of those who are marginalized, of those who are neither seen nor heard, and also to revive, in the hearts of those who read, listen and look at you, the meaning of good and evil, and a nostalgia for the good that you report and, by reporting it, bear witness to.

 

I would like, in this special meeting, to deepen the dialogue with you. And I am grateful to be able to do it by starting out from the thoughts and questions that two of your colleagues shared just now.

 

Maria, you spoke of the importance of courage to initiate the change that history demands of us, the change necessary to overcome lies and hatred. It is true, it takes courage to initiate change. The word courage comes from the Latin cor, cor habeo, which means “to have heart”. It is that inner drive, that strength that comes from the heart that enables us to face difficulties and challenges without being overwhelmed by fear.

 

With the word courage we can recapitulate all the reflections of the World Days of Social Communications in recent years, up to the Message with yesterday’s date: listen with the heart, speak with the heart, safeguard the wisdom of the heart, share the hope of the heart. In recent years it has indeed therefore been the heart that has dictated to me, the guidelines for our reflection on communication. I would therefore like to add to my appeal for the liberation of journalists another “appeal” that concerns us all: for the “liberation” of the inner strength of the heart. Of every heart! It is up to none other than us to respond to this appeal.

 

Freedom is the courage to choose. Let us take the opportunity of the Jubilee to renew, to rediscover this courage. The courage to free the heart from what corrupts it. Let us place respect for the highest and most noble part of our humanity at the centre of the heart, let us avoid filling it with what decays and makes it decay. The choices we all make count, for example, in expelling that “brain rot” caused by dependence on continual scrolling on social media, defined by the Oxford Dictionary as the word of the year. Where can we find the cure for this disease if not in working, all together, on formation, especially of the young?

 

We need media literacy, to educate ourselves and to educate others in critical thinking, the patience of discernment necessary for knowledge, and to promote the personal growth and active participation of every one of us in the future of our own communities. We need courageous entrepreneurs, courageous information engineers, so that the beauty of communication is not corrupted. Great change cannot be the result of a multitude of sleeping minds, but rather begins with the communion of enlightened hearts.

 

Such a heart was that of Saint Paul. The Church celebrates his conversion this very day. The change that took place in this man was so decisive that it marked not only his personal history, but that of the entire Church. And Paul's metamorphosis was brought about by his face-to-face encounter with the risen and living Jesus. The power to set out on a path of transformative change is always generated by direct communication between people. Think of how much power for change is potentially hidden in your work every time you bring together realities that - through ignorance or prejudice - are in opposition! The conversion, in Paul, was derived from the light that enveloped him and the explanation that Ananias then gave him in Damascus. Your work too can and must provide this service: finding the right words for those rays of light that succeed in touching the heart and making us see things differently.

 

And here I would like to speak about the theme of the transformative power of storytelling, of telling and listening to stories, which Colum highlighted. Let us return for a moment to Paul's conversion. The event is narrated in the Acts of the Apostles three times (9:1-19; 22:1-21; 26:2-23), but the crux always remains Saul’s personal encounter with Christ; the method of narration changes, but the foundational and transformative experience remains unchanged.

 

Telling a story corresponds to an invitation to have an experience. When the first disciples approached Jesus asking, “Rabbi” (which mean, “where are you staying?”Master, (Jn 1:38), he did not answer by giving them the address of their home, but said, “Come and see” (v. 39).

 

Stories reveal our being part of a living fabric, the interweaving of threads by which we are connected to one another. 3 Not all stories are good, and yet these too must be told. Evil must be seen in order to be redeemed; but it is necessary to told well so as not to wear out the fragile threads of cohabitation.

 

In this Jubilee, I therefore make another appeal to you gathered here, and to communicators all over the world: also tell stories of hope, stories that nurture life. May your storytelling also be hope-telling. When you report on evil, leave space for the possibility of mending what has been torn, for the dynamism of good that can repair what is broken. Inspire questions. Telling of hope means seeing the crumbs of good hidden even in when everything seems lost; it means allowing hope against all hope. 4 It means being aware of the shoots that emerge when the earth is still covered with ashes. Recounting hope means having an outlook that transforms things, that makes them become what they could, what they should be. It means making things walk towards their destiny.

This is the power of stories. And this is what I encourage you to do: tell of hope, share it. This is, as Saint Paul would say, your “good fight”.

Thank you, dear friends! I bless you all and your work from my heart. And please, do not forget to pray for me.

--------------------

1  According to the annual report of the International Federation of Journalists, there are more than 120.

2  According to Reporters without Borders, there are over 500. In a press release published at the end of 2024, rwf emphasizes that “incarceration remains one of the preferred methods of those who undermine press freedom”.

3  Cf. “That you may tell your children and grandchildren” (Ex 10:2) Life becomes history, Message for the 54th World Day of Social Communications, 2020.

4  Cf. Share with gentleness the hope that is in your hearts (cf. 1 Pet 3:15-16), Message for the 59th World Day of Social Communications, 2025.

Homily
Celebration of ii Vespers on the
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Basilica of Saint Paul-Outside-the-Walls
Saturday, 25 January 2025

Weavers of fraternity

Jesus arrives at the home of his friends Martha and Mary four days after the death of their brother Lazarus. Having apparently lost all hope, Martha’s first words express her grief and her regret that Jesus had arrived too late: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (Jn 11:21). At the same time, however, Jesus’ presence kindles the light of hope in Martha’s heart and leads her to a profession of faith: “But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him” (v. 22). It is an attitude of always leaving the door open, never closed! Jesus speaks to her about the resurrection of the dead not only as an event that will take place at the end of time, but as something already present, because he himself is the resurrection and the life. And then he asks her a question: “Do you believe this?” (v. 26). That question is also meant for us, for you, for me: “Do you believe this?

Let us also consider this same question: “Do you believe this?” (v. 26). It is a short but challenging question.

This tender encounter between Jesus and Martha from the Gospel teaches us that even in times of desolation, we are not alone and we can continue to hope. Jesus gives life even when it seems that all hope has vanished. Hope can falter following difficult experiences such as a painful loss, an illness, a bitter disappointment or a sudden betrayal. Although each of us may experience moments of despair or know people who have lost hope, the Gospel tells us that Jesus always restores hope because he raises us up from the ashes of death. Jesus always raises us up and gives us the strength to go on, to begin anew.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us never forget that hope does not disappoint! Hope never disappoints! Hope is like a rope anchored on the shore that we cling to; it never disappoints. This is also important for the life of Christian communities, our churches and our ecumenical relationships. At times, we are overwhelmed by fatigue and discouraged by the results of our labours. It can even seem as if the dialogue and the efforts made on both sides are hopeless, almost doomed to failure. All of this makes us experience the same anguish as Martha, but the Lord comes to us. Do we believe this? Do we believe that he is the resurrection and the life? That he rewards our efforts and always gives us the grace to continue our journey together? Do we believe this?

This message of hope is at the heart of the Jubilee we have begun. The Apostle Paul, whose conversion to Christ we commemorate today, declared to the Christians of Rome, “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” (Rom 5:5). We have all received the same Spirit, all of us, and this is the foundation of our ecumenical journey. The Spirit guides on this journey. There are no practical things that help us understand it better. No, there is the Spirit, and we have to follow the Spirit’s lead.

The Jubilee Year of Hope celebrated by the Catholic Church coincides with an anniversary of great significance for all Christians: the 1700th anniversary of the first great ecumenical council: the Council of Nicaea. This Council sought to preserve the unity of the Church at a very difficult time, and the Council Fathers unanimously approved the Creed that many Christians still recite each Sunday at the celebration of the Eucharist. This Creed is a common profession of faith that transcends all the divisions that have riven the Body of Christ over the centuries. The anniversary of the Council of Nicaea is therefore a year of grace, an opportunity for all Christians who recite the same Creed and believe in the same God. Let us rediscover the common roots of the faith; let us preserve unity! Let us always move forward! May the unity we all are searching for be found. What comes to mind is something that the great Orthodox theologian Ioannis Zizioulas used to say: “I know the date of full communion: the day after the final judgment! In the meantime, we must walk together, work together, pray together, love together. And this is something very beautiful!

Dear brothers and sisters, this faith we share is a precious gift, but it is also a task. The anniversary should be celebrated not only as a “historical memory”, but also as a pledge to bear witness to the growing communion between us. We must take care not to let it slip away, but rather to build solid bonds, cultivate mutual friendship, and be instruments of communion and fraternity.

In this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we can also draw from the anniversary of the Council of Nicaea a call to persevere in the journey towards unity. This year, the celebration of Easter coincides in both the Gregorian and Julian calendars, a circumstance that proves providential as we commemorate the anniversary of the Ecumenical Council. I renew my appeal that this coincidence may serve as an appeal to all Christians to take a decisive step forward towards unity around a common date for Easter (cf. Bull Spes Non Confundit, 17). The Catholic Church is open to accepting the date that everyone wants: a date of unity.

I am grateful to Metropolitan Polycarp, representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, to Archbishop Ian Ernest, who represents the Anglican Communion and is concluding his valuable service for which I am very appreciative — I wish him the best as he returns to his home country — and to the representatives of other Churches who are participating in this evening sacrifice of praise. It is important to pray together, and your presence here this evening is a source of joy for everyone. I also greet the students supported by the Committee for Cultural Collaboration with the Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox Churches at the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, the students from the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Institute at Bossey and the many other ecumenical groups and pilgrims who have come to Rome for this celebration. I thank the choir, who provided us with a very beautiful atmosphere for praying. May each of us, like Saint Paul, find our hope in the incarnate Son of God and offer it to others wherever hope has been lost, lives broken or hearts overwhelmed by adversity (cf. Homily for the Opening of the Holy Door and Midnight Mass, 24 December 2024).

In Jesus, hope is always possible. He also sustains our hope as we journey towards him in unity. And so we return again to the question asked of Martha and asked of us this evening: “do you believe this?”. Do we believe in communion with one another? Do we believe that hope does not disappoint?

Dear sisters, dear brothers, this is the time to confirm our profession of faith in the one God and to find in Christ Jesus the way to unity. As we wait for the Lord to “come again in glory to judge the living and the dead” (Nicene Creed), let us never grow tired of bearing witness, before all peoples, to the only-begotten Son of God, the source of all our hope.

Holy Mass — Homily
Sunday of the Word of God
Jubilee of the World of Communications

Saint Peter’s Basilica, 26 January 2025

‘I hope in your Word’

The Gospel we have heard tells of the fulfilment of a prophecy overflowing with the Holy Spirit. It is fulfilled by the One who comes “with the power of the Spirit” (Lk 4:14): Jesus, the Saviour.

The Word of God is alive: down the centuries, it accompanies us and by the power of the Holy Spirit, it is at work in every age. For the Lord is always faithful to his promise, which, in his love for humanity, he always keeps. This is exactly what Jesus says in the synagogue in Nazareth: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Lk 4:21).

Sisters and brothers, what a happy coincidence! On the Sunday of the Word of God, at the beginning of this Jubilee Year, we proclaim this page of Luke’s Gospel, in which Jesus reveals himself as the Messiah, “anointed” (v. 18) and sent to “proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (v. 19)! Jesus is the living Word in whom all the Scriptures find their fulfilment. In the today of the sacred Liturgy, we are his contemporaries; we too, filled with amazement, open our hearts and minds to listen to him, for “it is he himself who speaks when the holy Scriptures are read in the Church” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 7). I said a word: amazement. When we hear the Gospel, the words of God, it is not simply a matter of listening to or understanding them, no. They must reach our hearts and bring about what I said, “amazement”. The word of God always amazes us; it always renews us. It enters our hearts and always renews us.

In this spirit of exultant faith, we are invited to accept the ancient prophecy as coming from the very Heart of Christ, and to reflect on five actions that characterize the unique and universal mission of the Messiah. A unique mission, because he alone can fulfil it; a universal mission, because he wants to involve everyone in it.

First, Jesus was anointed “to bring good news to the poor” (v. 18). This is the “gospel”, the good news, which Jesus proclaims: the Kingdom of God is at hand! When God reigns, we are saved. The Lord comes to visit his people, caring for the lowly and the wretched. The Gospel is a word of compassion; it calls us to exercise charity, to forgive our neighbour’s debts and to be generous in serving others. Let us not forget that the Lord is close, merciful and compassionate. God’s style is one of closeness, mercy and compassion.

Christ’s second action is to “proclaim release to the captives” (v. 18). Brothers, sisters, evil’s days are numbered, because the future belongs to God. With the power of the Spirit, Jesus redeems us from all guilt and liberates our hearts from all that holds them in bondage, for he brings the Father’s forgiveness into the world. The Gospel is a word of mercy, which calls us to become passionate witnesses of peace, solidarity and reconciliation.

The third action with which Jesus fulfils the prophecy is to grant “recovery of sight to the blind” (v. 18). The Messiah opens the eyes of our heart, all too often dazzled by the allure of power and vain things: the diseases of the soul that prevent us from acknowledging God’s presence and hide from our gaze the weak and the suffering. The Gospel is a word of light, which beckons us to the truth and calls us to bear witness to our faith and to be consistent in its practice.

Jesus’ fourth action is to “let the oppressed go free” (v. 18). No form of bondage can resist the work of the Messiah, who makes us brothers and sisters in his name. The prisons of persecution and the dungeons of death are flung full open by the passionate power of God. The Gospel is a word of freedom, calling us to conversion of heart, integrity of mind and perseverance in trial.

Lastly, the fifth action: Jesus was sent “to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (v. 19). That year is a new age, an age that does not devour life, but regenerates it. It is a “Jubilee”, and in this sense, like the one we now celebrate as a way of preparing in hope for our definitive encounter with the Redeemer. The Gospel is a word of joy, summoning us to mutual acceptance and fellowship, as we make our pilgrim journey towards the Kingdom of God.

By these five actions, Jesus even now fulfills Isaiah’s prophecy. By releasing us from our captivity, he tells us that God draws close to us in our poverty, redeems us from evil, enlightens our eyes, breaks the yoke of oppression, and brings us into the joy of a time and greater history in which he makes himself constantly present, to walk beside us and to guide us to eternal life. True, the salvation he bestows on us is not yet fully realized. We know this. Yet wars, injustice, pain and death will not have the final word. The Gospel never disappoints.

Brothers and sisters, on the Sunday devoted in a special way to the word of God, let us thank the Father for having spoken to us by his own Word, made flesh for the salvation of the world. All the Scriptures, which have human writers and the Holy Spirit as their true authors (cf. Dei Verbum, 11), point to this event. The whole Bible speaks of Christ and his work, which the Spirit makes present and active in our lives and in history. When we read the Scriptures, when we pray and study them, we do not simply receive information about God; we receive his Spirit, who reminds us of all that Jesus said and did (cf. Jn 14:26). In this way, our hearts, inflamed by faith, wait in hope for the coming of God. Brothers, sisters, we must become more familiar with reading the Scriptures. I would like to suggest that all of us get a small, pocket-sized copy of the Gospels or the New Testament. We could always have it with us in a bag so that we can read it at various points throughout the day. One verse, two verses so that throughout the day we will have contact with the Lord. A small copy of the Gospels is enough.

Let us respond with enthusiasm to the good news of Christ! For the Lord has not spoken to us as silent listeners, but as his witnesses, called to evangelize at all times and in every place. Today, forty brothers and sisters from various parts of the world have come to receive the ministry of Lector. Thank you! We are grateful to them and we pray for them. We are all praying for you. Let us commit ourselves to bringing the good news to the poor, proclaiming release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, letting the oppressed go free and announcing the year of the Lord’s favour. Then yes, sisters and brothers, we will transform the world in accordance with the will of God, who created it and redeemed it in his immense love. Thank you!

Angelus

Saint Peter’s Square, Sunday, 26 January 2025

Never forget or deny horror of the Holocaust

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

This Sunday, the Evangelist Luke presents to us Jesus in the synagogue in Nazareth, the town where He grew up. Jesus reads the passage from the prophet Isaiah announcing the Messiah’s evangelizing and liberating mission. He then says, in the general silence: ‘Today this Scripture has been fulfilled’ (cf. Lk 4:21).

Let us imagine the surprise and dismay of Jesus’ fellow citizens, who knew Him as the carpenter Joseph’s son and would never have imagined that He could present himself as the Messiah.

It was bewildering. Yet this is precisely how it was: Jesus proclaims that, by His presence, ‘a year acceptable to the Lord’ (v. 19) has come. It is glad tidings for all and in a special way for the poor, for the captives, for the blind, for the oppressed (cf. v. 18).

That day, in Nazareth, Jesus confronted His interlocutors with a choice about His identity and mission. No one in the synagogue could help but wonder: is He only the carpenter’s son who arrogates to Himself a role that does not belong to Him, or is He truly the Messiah, sent by God to save the people from sin?

The Evangelist tells us that the Nazarenes failed to recognize the Lord’s anointed one in Jesus. They thought they knew Him too well, and this, instead of facilitating the opening of their minds and hearts, prevented them from doing so, like a veil obscuring the light.

Sisters and brothers, this event, with the due analogies, also happens for us today. We too are challenged by Jesus’ presence and words; we too are called to recognize in Him the Son of God, our Saviour. But it may happen to us, as it did to His countrymen, to think that we already know Him, that we already know everything about Him, that we have grown up with Him, in school, in the parish, in catechism, in a country with a Catholic culture... And so, for us too, He is a Person who is close, indeed perhaps even ‘too’ close.

But let us try to ask ourselves: do we sense the unique authority with which Jesus of Nazareth speaks? Do we recognize that He is the bearer of a proclamation of salvation that no one else can give us? And I, do I feel in need of this salvation? Do I feel that I, too, am in some way poor, imprisoned, blind, oppressed? Then, only then, ‘the year of grace’ will be for me!

Let us turn confidently to Mary, Mother of God and our Mother, to help us recognize Jesus.

 

After the Angelus the Holy Father continued:

Dear brothers and sisters!

The ongoing conflict in Sudan, which began in April 2023, is causing the most serious humanitarian crisis in the world, with dramatic consequences in South Sudan too. I am close to the peoples of both countries and I invite them to fraternity, solidarity, to avoid any kind of violence and not to allow themselves to be exploited. I renew my appeal to those who are at war in Sudan, for them to put an end to hostilities and to agree to sit at the negotiating table. I urge the international community to do all it can to get the necessary humanitarian aid to the displaced people and to help the belligerents find paths to peace soon.

I look with concern at the situation in Colombia, particularly to the Catatumbo region, where clashes between armed groups have claimed many civilian lives and displaced more than 30,000 people. I express my closeness to them and pray for them.

Today is World Leprosy Day. I encourage all those who work on behalf of those afflicted by this disease to continue their efforts, also helping those who heal to be reintegrated into society. May they not be marginalized!

Tomorrow is the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust: 80 years have passed since the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. The horror of the extermination of millions of Jews and people of other faiths during those years can neither be forgotten nor denied. I remember the talented Hungarian poet Edith Bruck, who lives in Rome. She suffered because of all of that... Today, if you want, you can listen to her on the programme ‘Che tempo che fa’. She is a good woman. We also remember many Christians, among them many martyrs. I renew my appeal for everyone to work together to eradicate the scourge of anti-Semitism, along with all forms of discrimination and religious persecution. Let us build a more fraternal, more just world, together. Let us educate young people to have a heart open to all, following the logic of fraternity, forgiveness and peace.

And I greet all of you from Italy and from many parts of the world. In particular I greet the journalists and media workers who have taken part in their Jubilee in these days: I urge them to be narrators of hope, always.

I also greet the Poles, especially those coming from Zabno; the students of the ‘Zurbará’ Institute of Badajoz (Spain), the faithful from Siquirres (Costa Rica), the group of quinceañera girls from Panama.

I greet the pilgrims of the Pastoral Unit of Busto Garolfo and Olcella, Archdiocese of Milan.

And it is with joy that I welcome all of you, boys and girls of the Italian Catholic Action, of the parishes and Catholic schools of Rome. You have come here at the end of the ‘Caravan of Peace’, during which you reflected on the presence of Jesus in your lives, witnessing to your peers the beauty of welcome and fraternity. And now let us listen to these good people who want to tell us something... Come on! Make yourself heard!

[a message is read]

Now he [the boy reading] said a very beautiful word... [Boy continues reading, ‘In this way they would be able to silence all weapons...’] this boy is a good one! Please greet all the boys and girls on my behalf.

I wish you all a good Sunday. And please don’t forget to pray for me. Have a good lunch and arrivederci!

 

Message to the Presidents of the Episcopal Commission for
Communication and the Directors of Offices for Social Communication

Clementine Hall, Monday, 27 January 2025

Writing the future together

I am pleased to welcome you who carry out a service of leadership in the field of communications in your local Churches. It is good to see bishops, priests, men and women religious, lay men and women gathered here, called to communicate the life of the Church and a Christian worldview. Communicating this Christian worldview is beautiful.

We meet today, after celebrating the Jubilee of the World of Communications, to do an assessment together and also an examination of conscience. The Letter to the Hebrews reminds us that faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen (cf. 11:1). Motivated by this faith, let us take a moment to reflect on the concrete way we communicate.

Let us ask ourselves: what do we do to sow hope in the midst of all the despair that surrounds and challenges us? What do we do to overcome the virus of division that undermines our communities? Is our communication inspired by prayer? Or do we limit ourselves to communicating about the Church by merely following the rules laid down by corporate marketing? We should ask ourselves all of these questions.

Are we witnessing to the fact that human history is not tied to an inexorable destiny? What are we doing to encourage others to look forward to a future that is not predetermined? I like the expression “writing the future”. It is up to us to write the future. Are we capable of communicating that hope is not an illusion? Hope never disappoints. But are we communicating that? Are we capable of communicating that it is possible to improve the lives of those around us, and that we can play a part? Can I, for my part, bring beauty to the lives of others? Are we able to communicate and convince others that it is possible to forgive? This is very hard to do!

Christian communication is about showing that the kingdom of God is near. It is present here and now, like a miracle that can be experienced by every person and by every culture. A miracle that must be narrated by offering the hermeneutic necessary to look beyond the mundane, beyond evil, beyond prejudices, beyond stereotypes, beyond oneself. The kingdom of God is beyond us. The kingdom of God even comes through our imperfections and this is beautiful. The kingdom of God comes when we show attention to others and carefully analyse the world around us. It comes in the ability to recognize and spread the hope that goodness exists, overcoming a desperate fanaticism.

This may be an institutional service for you, but it is also the vocation of every Christian, of every baptised person. Every Christian is called to recognize and pass on the stories of good that bad journalism tries to erase by only focusing on evil. Evil exists. It must not be hidden, but it should stir us and lead us to produce questions and answers. This is why your task is so important: it demands that you step out of yourself, to dedicate yourself to a “symphonic” work that involves everyone, that values old and young, women and men and takes into account every language, through the use of words, art, music, painting and images. We are all asked to examine how and what we are communicating. Communicate, we must always communicate.

Sisters, brothers, this task is challenging.  I therefore encourage you to increase your efforts to cooperate on both a continental and universal level so that we can build a different model of communication.  The difference lies in the unlimited spirit, creativity and poetic power that flow from the Gospel. Communication is always original. When we communicate, we create languages and bridges. We become the creators. It must be a model of communication that conveys harmony and proposes a concrete alternative to today’s towers of Babel. Think about this: the new towers of Babel. They all spoke but did not understand one other. Reflect on this image.

I leave you with two words:  together  and  network.

Together. Only together can we communicate the beauty we have encountered: not because of our talents or because we have more resources, but because we love one another.

This is where we draw the strength to love even our enemies, to embrace those who have done wrong, to unite what is divided and to resist despair.  And to sow hope as well. Do not forget about this: sowing hope. It is not the same as sowing optimism. Not at all. We must sow hope.

Communicating, for us, is not a tactic. It is not a technique.  It is not the repetition of catchphrases or slogans, nor is it merely writing press releases.  Communicating is an act of love.  Only an act of selfless love can produce networks of  goodness.   These networks of goodness should be regenerated and restored every day, with patience and faith.

Network is the second word I invite you to reflect on. Today, we have forgotten the older meaning of this word, as if it were only linked to the digital world. In fact, it is an ancient word. Before making us think about social networks, it ought to remind us of the fishermen’s nets and of Jesus’ invitation to Peter to become a fisher of men. Doing this means putting skills, knowledge and resources into a network capable of providing adequate information and thus escaping the sea of despair and disinformation. This in itself is already a message, a lesson we can learn.

Let us think of how much we could accomplish together — thanks to the new tools of the digital era and to artificial intelligence — if instead of turning technology into an idol, we were more committed to networking. I have to admit something: what worries me, more than artificial intelligence, is natural intelligence, the intelligence that we must develop.

When we feel as if we have fallen into an abyss, we must look up, beyond ourselves. Nothing is lost. We can always start again by trusting in each other and, together, trusting in God. This is the secret of our power to communicate. Networking! Be a network! Instead of being seduced by the sterile sirens of self-promotion and the celebration of our own initiatives, let us consider how we can build together a tale of hope.

This is your task. It is rooted in antiquity. The greatest miracle Jesus wrought for Simon and the other disappointed and weary fishermen was not so much a net full of fish, but having kept them from falling prey to disappointment and discouragement in the face of defeat. Please, do not give in to that type of interior sadness. Do not lose your sense of humour, which is wisdom, everyday wisdom.

Sisters, brothers, our network is for everyone. For everyone! Catholic communication is not something isolated; it is not just for Catholics. It is not a fenced-in area where we can keep to ourselves, a sect where we can talk to each other. No! It is the open space of a living witness that knows how to listen to and interpret the signs of the kingdom. It is the welcoming place of true relationships. Let us ask ourselves: are our offices and our relationships like this? Our network is the voice of a Church that only finds itself and the reason for its hope by stepping out of herself. The Church must step out of herself. I like to think of that passage in the Book of Revelation when the Lord says, “I am standing at the door, knocking” (3:20). He says this because he wants to come in. But today the Lord often knocks from the inside because he wants us, as Christians, to let him out! Too often we keep the Lord to ourselves. We must let the Lord out — he is knocking at the door to be let out — and not keep him somewhat “enslaved” for our purposes. Do our offices, our relationships and our networks really resemble a missionary Church?

Thank you, thank you for your work! Go forward with courage and the joy that comes from evangelising. I bless you all from my heart. And please do not forget to pray for me. Thank you!

Message for
XXXIII World Day of the Sick

11 February 2025

“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5), but strengthens us in times of trial

Dear brothers and sisters,

We are celebrating the 33rd World Day of the Sick in the Jubilee Year 2025, in which the Church invites us to become “pilgrims of hope”. The word of God accompanies us and offers us, in the words of Saint Paul, an encouraging message: “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5); indeed, it strengthens us in times of trial.

These are comforting words, but they can also prove perplexing, especially for those who are suffering. How can we be strong, for example, when our bodies are prey to severe, debilitating illnesses that require costly treatment that we may not be able to afford? How can we show strength when, in addition to our own sufferings, we see those of our loved ones who support us yet feel powerless to help us? In these situations, we sense our need for a strength greater than our own. We realize that we need God’s help, his grace, his Providence, and the strength that is the gift of his Spirit (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1808).

Let us stop for a moment to reflect on how God remains close to those who are suffering in three particular ways: through encounter, gift and sharing.

1. Encounter. When Jesus sent the seventy-two disciples out on mission (cf. Lk 10:1-9), he told them to proclaim to the sick: “The kingdom of God has come near to you” (v. 9). He asks them, in other words, to help the sick to see their infirmity, however painful and incomprehensible it may be, as an opportunity to encounter the Lord. In times of illness, we sense our human frailty on the physical, psychological and spiritual levels. Yet we also experience the closeness and compassion of God, who, in Jesus, shared in our human suffering. God does not abandon us and often amazes us by granting us a strength that we never expected, and would never have found on our own.

Sickness, then, becomes an occasion for a transformative encounter, the discovery of a solid rock to which we can hold fast amid the tempests of life, an experience that, even at great cost, makes us all the stronger because it teaches us that we are not alone. Suffering always brings with it a mysterious promise of salvation, for it makes us experience the closeness and reality of God’s consoling presence. In this way, we come to know “the fullness of the Gospel with all its promise and life” (Saint John Paul ii, Address to Young People, New Orleans, 12 September 1987).

2. This brings us to the second way that God is close to the suffering: as gift. More than anything else, suffering makes us aware that hope comes from the Lord. It is thus, first and foremost, a gift to be received and cultivated, by remaining “faithful to the faithfulness of God”, in the fine expression of Madeleine Delbrêl (cf. La speranza è una luce nella notte, Vatican City 2024, Preface).

Indeed, only in Christ’s resurrection does our own life and destiny find its place within the infinite horizon of eternity. In Jesus’ paschal mystery alone do we attain the certainty that “neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God” (Rom 8:38-39). This “great hope” is the source of all those small glimmers of light that help us to see our way through the trials and obstacles of life (cf. Benedict xvi, Spe Salvi, 27, 31). The risen Lord goes so far as to walk beside us as our companion on the way, even as he did with the disciples on the road to Emmaus (cf. Lk 24:13-53). Like them, we can share with him our anxieties, concerns and disappointments, and listen to his word, which enlightens us and warms our hearts. Like them too, we can recognize him present in the breaking of the bread and thus, even in the present, sense that “greater reality” which, by drawing near to us, restores our courage and confidence.

3. We now come to God’s third way of being close to us: through sharing. Places of suffering are frequently also places of sharing and mutual enrichment. How often, at the bedside of the sick, do we learn to hope! How often, by our closeness to those who suffer, do we learn to have faith! How often, when we care for those in need, do we discover love! We realize that we are “angels” of hope and messengers of God for one another, all of us together: whether patients, physicians, nurses, family members, friends, priests, men and women religious, no matter where we are, whether in the family or in clinics, nursing homes, hospitals or medical centres.

We need to learn how to appreciate the beauty and significance of these grace-filled encounters. We need to learn how to cherish the gentle smile of a nurse, the gratitude and trust of a patient, the caring face of a doctor or volunteer, or the anxious and expectant look of a spouse, a child, a grandchild or a dear friend. All these are rays of light to be treasured; even amid the dark night of adversity, they give us strength, while at the same time teaching us the deeper meaning of life, in love and closeness (cf. Lk 10:25-37).

Dear brothers and sisters who are ill or who care for the suffering, in this Jubilee you play an especially important part. Your journey together is a sign for everyone: “a hymn to human dignity, a song of hope” (Spes Non Confundit, 11). Its strains are heard far beyond the rooms and beds of health facilities, and serve to elicit in charity “the choral participation of society as a whole” (ibid.) in a harmony that is at times difficult to achieve, but for that very reason is so comforting and powerful, capable of bringing light and warmth wherever they are most needed.

The whole Church thanks you for this! I do as well, and I remember you always in my prayers. I entrust you to Our Lady, Health of the Sick, in the words that so many of our brothers and sisters have addressed to her in their hour of need:

We fly to your protection,

O Holy Mother of God.

Do not despise our petitions

in our necessities,

but deliver us always from all dangers,

O glorious and blessed Virgin.

I bless you, along with your families and loved ones, and I ask you, please, not to forget to pray for me.

 

Rome, Saint John Lateran, 14 January 2025

Francis

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul vi Hall, Wednesday, 29 January 2025

Joseph the dreamer who silently trusts, hopes and loves

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

Today we will continue to contemplate Jesus our hope in the mystery of his origins, as narrated by the Infancy Gospels.

Whereas Luke lets us do so from the perspective of the mother, the Virgin Mary, Matthew instead takes the perspective of Joseph, the man who assumes the legal paternity of Jesus, grafting him onto the root of Jesse and linking him to the promise made to David.

Indeed, Jesus is the hope of Israel which is fulfilled: He is the descendent promised to David (cf. 2 Sam 7:12; 1 Cr 17:11), who makes his home “blessed for ever” (2 Sam 7:29); He is the shoot that buds from the trunk of Jesse (cf. Is 11:1), the “righteous Branch”, destined to reign as true king, who knows how to exercise justice and righteousness (cf. Jer 23:5; 33:15).

Joseph enters the scene in the Gospel of Matthew as Mary’s betrothed. For the Hebrews, betrothal was a full legal bond, which prepared for what would happen around a year later, the celebration of marriage. It was then that the woman passed from the father’s custody to that of her husband, moving into his home and making herself willing to the gift of motherhood.

It is precisely during this time that Joseph discovers Mary’s pregnancy, and his love is harshly put to the test. Faced with a similar situation, which would have led to the termination of the betrothal, the Law suggested two possible solutions: either a legal act of a public nature, such as the convocation of the woman in court, or a private action such as giving the woman a letter of repudiation.

Matthew defines Joseph as a “righteous” man (zaddiq), a man who lives according to the Law of the Lord, and who draws inspiration from it in every occasion of his life. Thus, following the Word of God, Joseph acts thoughtfully: he does not let himself be overcome by instinctive feelings and fear of accepting Mary, but prefers to be guided by divine wisdom. He chooses to part with Mary quietly, privately (cf. Mt 1:19). And this is Joseph’s wisdom, which enables him not to make mistakes and to make himself open and docile to the voice of the Lord, which resounds in him through a dream.

In this way, Joseph of Nazareth brings to mind another Joseph, son of Jacob, dubbed the “lord of dreams” (cf. Gen 37:19), greatly beloved by his father and much loathed by his brothers, whom God raised up by having him sit in the Pharaoh’s court.

Now, what does Joseph of Nazareth dream of? He dreams of the miracle that God fulfils in Mary’s life, and also the miracle that He works in his own life: to take on a fatherhood capable of guarding, protecting and passing on a material and spiritual inheritance. The womb of his bride is pregnant with God’s promise, a promise that bears a name in which the certainty of salvation is given to all (cf. Acts 4:12): Jesus, God our salvation.

As he sleeps, Joseph hears these words: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:20-21). Faced with this revelation, Joseph does not ask for further proof; he trusts. Joseph trusts in God, he accepts God’s dream of his life and that of his betrothed. He thus enters into the grace of one who knows how to live the divine promise with faith, hope and love.

Joseph, in all of this, does not utter a word, but he believes, hopes and loves. He does not express himself with “idle words”, but with concrete deeds. He belongs to the lineage of those the apostle James calls factores Verbi, that is, those who put the Word into practice (cf. Jm 1:22), translating it into deeds, flesh, life. Joseph trusts in God and obeys: “his inner watchfulness for God… leads quite spontaneously to obedience” (Benedict xvi, The Infancy Narratives, New York : Image Books 2012, 45-46).

Sisters, brothers, let us, too, ask the Lord for the grace to listen more than we speak, the grace to dream God’s dreams and to responsibly welcome the Christ who, from the moment of our baptism, lives and grows in our life. Thank you!

Appeal

I express my concern for the worsening security situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I urge all conflicting parties to work to end hostilities and to safeguard the civilian population of Goma and the other areas involved in military operations. I follow with apprehension what is happening in the capital, Kinshasa, and I hope that every form of violence against people and their goods may cease. As I pray for the quick restoration of peace and safety, I invite local authorities and the international community to do their utmost to resolve the situation of conflict using peaceful means.

And let us not forget to pray for peace: Palestine, Israel, Myanmar and many countries who are at war. War is always a defeat! Let us pray for peace!