Papal Texts

Message to Participants in the
Seminar, “Evangelizing with the
Families of Today and Tomorrow: Ecclesiological and Pastoral Challenges”, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life (2-3 June 2025)

Released Monday, 2 June 2025

Becoming ‘fishers’ of families

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am pleased that following the celebration of the Jubilee for Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly a group of experts has gathered at the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life to reflect on the theme, “Evangelizing with the Families of Today and Tomorrow: Ecclesiological and Pastoral Challenges”.

This theme clearly expresses the Church’s maternal concern for Christian families throughout the world as living members of the Mystical Body of Christ and the primary nucleus of the Church, to whom the Lord entrusts the transmission of faith and the Gospel, especially to the new generations.

The profound thirst for the infinite present in the heart of every human being means that parents have the duty to make their children aware of the fatherhood of God. In the words of Saint Augustine: “As we have the source of life in you, O Lord, in your light we shall see light” (Confessions, XIII, 16).

Ours is a time marked by a growing search for spirituality, particularly evident in young people, who are longing for authentic relationships and guides in life. Hence, it is important that the Christian community be farsighted in discerning the challenges of today’s world and in nurturing the desire for faith present in the heart of every man and woman.

This effort requires that special attention be paid to those families who, for various reasons, are spiritually most distant from us: those who do not feel involved, claim they are uninterested or feel excluded from the usual activities, yet would still like to be part of a community in which they can grow and journey together with others. How many people today simply do not hear the invitation to encounter God?

Sadly, in the face of this need, an increasingly widespread “privatization” of faith often prevents these brothers and sisters from knowing the richness and gifts of the Church, a place of grace, fraternity, and love.

As a result, despite their healthy and holy desires, while they sincerely seek ways to climb the exciting upward paths to life and abundant joy, many end up relying on false footholds that are unable to support the weight of their deepest needs and cause them to slip back down, away from God, shipwrecked on a sea of worldly concerns.

Among them are fathers and mothers, children, young people and adolescents, who find themselves at times alienated by illusory lifestyles that leave no room for faith, and whose spread is facilitated by the wrong use of potentially good means — such as social media — that prove harmful when used to convey misleading messages.

What drives the Church in her pastoral and missionary outreach is precisely the desire to go out as a “fisher” of humanity, in order to save it from the waters of evil and death through an encounter with Christ.

Perhaps many young people today who choose cohabitation instead of Christian marriage in reality need someone to show them in a concrete and clear way, especially by the example of their lives, what the gift of sacramental grace is and what strength derives from it. Someone to help them understand “the beauty and grandeur of the vocation to love and the service of life” that God gives to married couples (SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Familiaris Consortio, 1).

Similarly, many parents, in raising their children in the faith, feel the need for communities that can support them in creating the right conditions for their children to encounter Jesus, “places where the communion of love, which finds its ultimate source in God, takes place” (FRANCIS, General Audience, 9 September 2015).

Faith is primarily a response to God’s love, and the greatest mistake we can make as Christians is, in the words of Saint Augustine, “to claim that Christ’s grace consists in his example and not in the gift of his person” (Contra Iulianum opus imperfectum, II, 146). How often, even in the not too distant past, have we forgotten this truth and presented Christian life mostly as a set of rules to be kept, replacing the marvelous experience of encountering Jesus — God who gives himself to us — with a moralistic, burdensome and unappealing religion that, in some ways, is impossible to live in concrete daily life.

In this situation, it is the responsibility of the Bishops, as successors of the apostles and shepherds of Christ’s flock, to be the first to cast their nets into the sea and become “fishers of families.” Yet the laity are also called to participate in this mission, and to become, alongside ordained ministers, “fishers” of couples, young people, children, women and men of all ages and circumstances, so that all may encounter the one Saviour. Through Baptism, each one of us has been made a priest, king, and prophet for our brothers and sisters, and a “living stone” (cf. 1 Pet 2:4) for the building up of God’s house “in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity” (LEO XIV, Homily, 18 May 2025).

I ask you, then, to join in the work of the whole Church in seeking out those families who no longer come to us, in learning how to walk with them and to help them embrace the faith and become in turn “fishers” of other families.

Do not be discouraged by the difficult situations you face. It is true that families today have many problems, but “the Gospel of the family also nourishes seeds that are still waiting to grow, and serves as the basis for caring for those plants that are wilting and must not be neglected” (FRANCIS, Amoris Laetitia, 76).

What great need there is to promote an encounter with God, whose tender love values and loves the story of every person! It is not a matter of giving hasty answers to difficult questions, but of drawing close to people, listening to them, and trying to understand together with them how to face their difficulties. And this requires a readiness to be open, when necessary, to new ways of seeing things and different ways of acting, for each generation is different and has its own challenges, dreams and questions. Yet amid all these changes, Jesus Christ remains “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb 13:8). Consequently, if we want to help families experience joyful paths of communion and be seeds of faith for one another, we must first cultivate and renew our own identity as believers.

Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for what you do! May the Holy Spirit guide you in discerning criteria and methods that support and promote the Church’s efforts to minister to families. Let us help families to listen courageously to Christ’s proposal and the Church’s words of encouragement! I will remember you in my prayers, and I cordially impart to all of you my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, 28 May 2025

LEO PP. XIV

Address for the Commemoration of Cardinal Iuliu Hossu (1885–1970)

Sistine Chapel: Monday, 2 June 2025

Apostle of hope who said ‘no’
to all forms of violence

Dear brothers and sisters!

We are meeting today in the Sistine Chapel during the Jubilee Year of Hope, in order to commemorate an Apostle of Hope: Blessed Iuliu Hossu, the Greek-Catholic Bishop of Cluj-Gherla and a martyr for the faith during the Communist persecution in Romania. Today, in a certain sense, he enters this Chapel, having been created a Cardinal in pectore by Saint Paul VI on 28 April 1969, while imprisoned for his fidelity to the Church of Rome.

I gladly greet all those present: the representatives of the Greek-Catholic Church in Romania, the civil Authorities and, in particular, the Honourable Silviu Vexler, President of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Romania.

We are celebrating a special year honouring Cardinal Iuliu Hossu, a symbol of fraternity transcending all ethnic and religious boundaries. The process of awarding him the title of “Righteous Among the Nations,” begun in 2022, was motivated by his courageous commitment to supporting and saving the Jews of Northern Transylvania when, between 1940 and 1944, the Nazis were carrying out their heinous plan of deporting them to extermination camps.

At enormous risk to himself and to the Greek-Catholic Church, Blessed Hossu undertook extensive activities on behalf of the Jews aimed at preventing their deportation. In the spring of 1944, as preparations were being made in Cluj-Napoca (in Hungarian Kolozsvár) and other cities in Transylvania, to establish ghettos for the Jews, he mobilized the Greek-Catholic clergy and faithful through a pastoral letter published on 2 April 1944. We also know of this through the testimony of Moshe Carmilly-Weinberger, former Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Cluj-Napoca. In that letter, he launched a vibrant and deeply human appeal. “Our plea”, he wrote, “is addressed to all of you, venerable brothers and beloved children, to help the Jews not only with your thoughts, but also with your sacrifice, knowing that there is no act more noble to be carried out today than providing Christian and Romanian assistance, born of ardent human charity. Our first concern in the present moment must be this work of relief.” According to the personal testimony of the former Chief Rabbi, Cardinal Hossu helped save the lives of thousands of Jews in northern Transylvania between 1940 and 1944.

The hope shown by this great Pastor was that of a man of faith, who knows that the gates of evil will not prevail against God’s work.

His life was a witness of faith lived to the full, in prayer and devotion to others. A man of dialogue and a prophet of hope, he was beatified by Pope Francis on 2 June 2019 in Blaj. In the homily on that occasion, the Pope quoted a phrase of the Cardinal that summed up his entire life: “God has sent us into this darkness of suffering in order to offer forgiveness and to pray for the conversion of all.”

These words embody the spirit of the martyrs: an unshakeable faith in God, devoid of hatred and coupled with a spirit of mercy that turns suffering into love for one’s persecutor. Even now, those words remain as a prophetic invitation to overcome hatred through forgiveness and to live one’s faith with dignity and courage.

The Church is close to the sufferings of the Jewish people, which culminated in the tragedy of the Holocaust. She knows well what pain, marginalization, and persecution mean. Precisely for this reason, she feels committed, as a matter of conscience, to building a society centered on respect for human dignity.

Cardinal Hossu’s message remains most timely. What he did for the Jews of Romania, and his efforts to protect his neighbour in spite of all risks and dangers, today make him a model of freedom, courage and generosity, even to the point of making the supreme sacrifice. That is why his motto, “Our Faith is Our Life,” ought to become the motto of each one of us. It is my prayerful hope that his example, which anticipated the teaching later expressed in the Declaration Nostra Aetate of the Second Vatican Council — the sixtieth anniversary of which is approaching — together with your friendship, will serve as a beacon for today’s world. Let us say “No!” to violence in all its forms, and even more so when it is perpetrated against those who are defenseless and vulnerable, like children and families.

May God bless each of you and your loved ones!

Greeting to the National Italian American Foundation on the Occasion of its Fiftieth Anniversary

Wednesday, 4 June 2025

Cherishing a rich spiritual and cultural legacy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. [Amen.]

Peace be with you. [And with your Spirit.]

Welcome to all of you, please be seated.

Again, good morning, I am happy to meet with you. I apologize to have kept you waiting. The Vatican scheduling system puts four audiences all at the same time. That way, unfortunately, you have to wait for me and not vice versa. I will give a brief formal statement, and then will be happy to greet you all individually. Then I have the General Audience in Piazza San Pietro following this meeting.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am pleased to greet you, the members of the Board of Directors of the National Italian American Foundation as your organization celebrates its fiftieth anniversary. As you well know, tens of millions of Americans proudly claim their Italian heritage, even if their ancestors arrived in the United States of America generations ago. Your work to continue to educate young people regarding Italian culture and history, as well as providing scholarships and other charitable assistance in both countries, helps to maintain a mutually beneficial and concrete connection between the two nations.

A hallmark of many who immigrated to the United States from Italy was their Catholic faith, with its rich traditions of popular piety and devotions that they continued to practice in their new nation. This faith sustained them in difficult moments, even as they arrived with a sense of hope for a prosperous future in their new country. Your visit to the Vatican occurs during the Jubilee Year, which is focused on hope, which “dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (Spes Non Confundit, 1). In an age beset by many challenges, may your time here, in a city marked by the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul as well as many saints who strengthened the Church throughout difficult periods of history, may this renew your sense of hope and trust in the future. I pray that each of you and your families will always cherish the rich spiritual and cultural legacy that you have inherited from those who have gone before you.

With these sentiments, I gladly impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I willingly extend to your families, to all your loved ones. Thank you.

The blessing is written in Latin, but I think we can do it in English.

The Lord be with you. [And with your Spirit.]

May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, come upon you all and remain with you forever. Amen.

General Audience

Wednesday, 4 June, 2025

God’s Kingdom is for everyone

Dear brothers and sisters,

I would like to look at one of Jesus’ parables again. Also in this case, it is a story that fosters our hope. Indeed, at times we have the impression that we cannot find meaning for our lives: we feel useless, inadequate, just like the labourers who wait in the marketplace, waiting for someone to hire them to work. But sometimes time passes, life goes by, and we do not feel acknowledged or appreciated. Perhaps we did not arrive in time, others appeared before us, or problems held us up elsewhere.

The metaphor of the marketplace is very appropriate for our times too, because the market is the place of business, where unfortunately even affection and dignity are bought and sold, in the attempt to earn something. And when we do not feel appreciated, acknowledged, we risk selling ourselves to the first bidder. Instead, the Lord reminds us that our life is worthy, and his wish is to help us discover this.

Also in the parable we are commenting on today, there are labourers awaiting someone who will hire them for the day. We are in Chapter 20 of the Gospel of Matthew, and here too we find a character whose behaviour is unusual, who surprises and challenges us. He is the owner of a vineyard, who comes out in person in search of his labourers. Evidently, he wants to establish a personal relationship with them.

As I was saying, it is a parable that gives hope, because it tells us that this landowner goes out several times to go and look for those who are waiting to give meaning to their lives. The landowner goes out immediately at dawn and then, every three hours, he returns in search of workers to send to his vineyard. Following this schedule, after going out at three o’clock in the afternoon, there would be no reason to go out again, because the working day ended at six.

Instead, this tireless master, who wants to give value to each of our lives at all costs, goes out at five. The labourers who had remained in the marketplace had probably given up all hope. That day had come to nothing. Nevertheless, someone still believed in them. What is the point of taking on new labourers for the last hour of a working day? What is the point of working for only one hour? And yet, even when it seems that we are able to do little in life, it is always worthwhile. There is always the possibility of finding meaning because God loves our life.

And the originality of this landowner is also seen at the end of the day, at pay time. The master had agreed to pay the first workers, who went into the vineyard at dawn, one denarius, which was a typical day’s wage. He had told the others he would give them what was fair. And it is precisely here that the parable provokes us: what is fair? For the owner of the vineyard, that is, for God, it is just that each person receive what is needed to live. He called the labourers personally, he knew their dignity, and he wanted to pay them on the basis of this: he gave them each one denarius.

The story says that the labourers from the first hour were disappointed. They could not see the beauty of the landowner’s gesture, who was not unjust, but simply generous; who looked not only at merit, but also at need. God wants to give his Kingdom, that is, full, eternal and happy life, to everyone. And this is what Jesus does with us: he does not rank; he gives all of himself to those who open their hearts to him.

In the light of this parable, today’s Christian might be tempted to think, “Why start work immediately? If the pay is the same, why work more?”. To these doubts, Saint Augustine replies: “Why then dost thou put off him that calleth thee, certain as thou art of the reward, but uncertain of the day? Take heed then lest peradventure what he is to give thee by promise, thou take from thyself by delay” (Sermon 87, 6, 8).1

I would like to say, especially to young people, not to wait, but to respond enthusiastically to the Lord who calls us to work in his vineyard. Do not delay, roll up your sleeves, because the Lord is generous and you will not be disappointed! Working in his vineyard, you will find an answer to that profound question you carry within you: what is the meaning of my life?

Dear brothers and sisters, let us not be discouraged! Even in life’s dark moments, when time passes without giving us the answers we seek, let us ask the Lord to come out again and find us where we are waiting for him. The Lord is generous, and he will come soon!

Address to the General Chapters of the Society of African Missions and the
Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, and to the Formators of the
Servants of the Paraclete

Friday, 6 June 2025

Conversion, mission and mercy

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Dear brothers and sisters, welcome!

I greet the General Superiors present, especially those recently elected, together with the members of their governing bodies, and all of you who belong to the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis — who is the new General? Was he already elected? Ah, not yet, all right — the Society of African Missions and the Congregation of the Servants of the Paraclete.

Many of you are attending this meeting as part of your General Chapters, which are important moments for your life and for the life of the entire Church. Let us pray first of all to the Lord for your Institutes and for all consecrated persons, that “seeking God, and God alone, before all else, they may join contemplation, by which they cleave to God by mind and heart, to apostolic love, by which they endeavour to be identified with the work of redemption” (Perfectae Caritatis, 5).

You represent three charismatic realities that emerged at different times in the Church’s history and in response to various specific needs. Yet you are united with and complementary to each other, within the harmonious beauty of the mystical body of Christ (cf. Lumen Gentium, 7).

The oldest foundation present is that of the Third Order Regular of Saint Francis, which dates back to the saint of Assisi himself, although it was later elevated to an Order by Pope Nicholas V (cf. Bull Pastoralis Officii, 20 July 1447). The themes you are addressing in the 113th General Chapter — community life, formation and vocations — in some way concern all God’s great family. However, as the title you have given to your work indicates, it is important that you address them in the light of your “penitential” charism. This reminds us that, in the words of Saint Francis himself, only through a constant journey of conversion can we offer our brothers and sisters “the fragrant words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (First Letter to the Faithful, 19).

The Society of African Missions is more recent, founded on 8 December 1856 by Venerable Bishop Melchior de Marion Brésillac, and is a sign of that missionary spirit which is at the very heart of the Church’s life (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 273). Dear brothers, the history of your Institute bears witness to this. Fidelity to your mission, by which your communities have over time surmounted countless difficulties from within and without, has enabled you to grow and even draw from adversity the inspiration to set out for new apostolic horizons in Africa and other parts of the world. Your Founder’s advice in this regard remains ever timely: in your proclamation, be faithful to the simplicity of the apostolic preaching, and be always ready to embrace the “folly of the Cross” (cf. 1 Cor 1:17-25) with sincerity and peace, even in the face of the world’s incomprehension and derision. Be free of all conditioning as men “filled” with Christ, and thus capable of bringing your brothers and sisters to an encounter with him, since you are motivated by a sole aspiration: to proclaim the Gospel to the whole world (cf. Phil 1:12-14, 21). What a great sign for the entire Church and the world!

We now come to the most recent Institute: the Servants of the Paraclete. You are Servants of that Spirit who dwells within us (cf. Rom 8:9) by the gift of Baptism and who heals “quod est saucium” — whatever is wounded — as we will sing in a few days’ time in the Pentecost Sequence. Servants of the Spirit of healing: that is what Father Gerald Fitzgerald wanted you to be when in 1942 he began your work of caring for troubled priests, “Pro Christo sacerdote,” to use the words of your motto (cf. Constitutions, 4.4). Since then, in various parts of the world, you have carried out your ministry of humble, patient, delicate and discreet closeness to the deeply wounded, offering them therapeutic paths combining a simple and intense spiritual life — both personal and communal — with highly qualified professional assistance suited to their needs. Your presence also reminds us of something important: although all of us are called to be ministers of Christ, the physician of souls, for our brothers and sisters (cf. Lk 5:31-32), we are ourselves frail and in need of healing. As Saint Augustine said, using the image of a ship, all of us “have in this life some cracks in our frail mortality, through which sin trickles in from the waves of this world” (Serm. 278, 13). And the sainted Bishop of Hippo proposes a remedy for evil: “Lest we sink,” he says, “let hold us fast to this exhortation… Let us forgive” (ibid.). Yes, let us forgive, so that everywhere, “in our parishes, communities, associations and movements, in a word, wherever there are Christians, everyone [may] find an oasis of mercy” (Misericordiae Vultus, 12).

Dear friends, thank you for your visit in this hall today, which manifests three luminous dimensions of the Church’s beauty: commitment to conversion, enthusiasm for mission and the warmth of mercy. Thank you for all the work you do throughout the world. I bless you and during this novena of Pentecost, I pray that you may be ever more docile instruments of the Holy Spirit, in accordance with God’s plans. Thank you!

Address to the Moderators of
Lay Associations, Ecclesial Movements and New Communities

Friday, 6 June 2025

Unity and mission, in union
with the Pope

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Your Eminence, dear brother Bishops,

Dear brothers and sisters!

I am pleased to receive you in the course of this annual meeting organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life for moderators, international leaders and delegates of ecclesial associations recognized or established by the Holy See.

You represent the thousands of people who live out their faith and exercise their apostolate within associations, movements and communities. I would like to thank you above all for your work of guidance and leadership. Supporting and encouraging our brothers and sisters on their Christian journey calls for responsibility and commitment, but also, at times, entails problems and misunderstandings. Yet it remains a necessary and important task, and the Church is grateful to you for all the good that you do.

The gift of associations and charisms

The groups to which you belong differ from one another in kind and in history, and all are important to the Church. Some were founded to carry out a common apostolic, charitable, or liturgical project, or to support Christian witness in specific social settings. Others, however, originated with a charismatic inspiration, an initial charism that gave rise to a movement, a new form of spirituality and of evangelization.

The desire to work together for a common purpose reflects an essential reality: no one is Christian alone! We are part of a people, a body established by the Lord. When speaking of Jesus’ first disciples, Saint Augustine once said, “They became God’s temple, not only as individuals; together they were built into the temple of God” (En. in Ps. 131, 5). The Christian life is not lived in isolation, as a kind of intellectual or sentimental experience, confined to the mind and the heart. It is lived with others, in a group and in community, because the risen Christ is present wherever disciples gather in his name.

The lay apostolate was strongly encouraged by the Second Vatican Council, particularly in its Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity. There we read that apostolic associations “are very important also because the apostolate often calls for concerted action, either in ecclesial communities or in various spheres. Associations established for carrying on a common apostolate support their members, train them for the apostolate, and carefully assign and direct their apostolic activities. As a result, a much richer harvest can be hoped for from them than if each member were to act on his or her own” (No. 18).

Other realities were born of a charism: the charism of a founder or a founding group, or a charism inspired by that of a religious Institute. This too is an essential dimension of the Church’s life. I would like to invite you to consider charisms in relation to grace, to the gift of the Spirit. The Letter Iuvenescit Ecclesia, as you know, states that the ecclesiastical hierarchy and the sacrament of Holy Orders exist precisely so that “the objective offer of grace” made through “the sacraments, the normative proclamation of the word, and pastoral care” may always remain alive and present among the faithful (No. 14). Charisms, on the other hand, “are freely distributed by the Holy Spirit so that sacramental grace may bear fruit in Christian life in different ways and at every level” (n. 15).

Consequently, everything in the Church is understood in reference to grace: the institution exists so that grace may always be offered, and charisms are given so that this grace may be received and bear fruit. Without charisms, there is a risk that Christ’s grace, offered in abundance, may not find good soil to receive it. That is the reason why God raises up charisms: to awaken in hearts a desire to encounter Christ and a thirst for the divine life that he offers us. In a word, grace!

In recalling this, I would like to reaffirm, following my Predecessors and in accordance with the Church’s Magisterium, especially since the Second Vatican Council, that hierarchical gifts and charismatic gifts “are co-essential to the divine constitution of the Church founded by Jesus” (Saint John Paul ii, Message for the World Congress of Ecclesial Movements, 27 May 1998). Thanks to the charisms that gave rise to your movements and communities, many people have drawn closer to Christ and have found hope in life. They have discovered the motherhood of the Church and they want to be helped to grow in faith, in community life and works of charity, and, through evangelization, to bring to others the gift they have received.

Unity and Mission, in Union with the Pope

Unity and mission are two essential aspects of the Church’s life and two priorities of the Petrine ministry. For this reason, I ask all ecclesial associations and movements to cooperate faithfully and generously with the Pope, above all in these two areas.

First of all, by being a leaven of unity. All of you constantly experience the spiritual communion that unites you. It is the communion that the Holy Spirit brings about in the Church. It is a unity that has its foundation in Christ, who draws us to himself and thus unites us with one another. Saint Paulinus of Nola once wrote in a letter to Saint Augustine: “We have one Head, one grace that fills us, we live on one Bread, we walk on one path and we live in the same house... We are one, in both the spirit and the body of the Lord. If we separate ourselves from that One, we become nothing” (Ep. 30, 2).

Seek to spread everywhere this unity that you yourselves experience in your groups and communities, always in communion with the Church’s Pastors and in solidarity with other ecclesial realities. Draw close to all those whom you meet, so that your charisms may ever be at the service of the unity of the Church, and be “a leaven of unity, communion, and fraternity” (cf. Homily, 18 May 2025) in our world, so torn by discord and violence.

Secondly, mission. The Church’s mission has been an important part of my own pastoral experience and has shaped my spiritual life. You too have experienced this spiritual journey. Your encounter with the Lord and the new life that filled your hearts gave rise to your desire to make him known to others. You have involved many others, and devoted much time, enthusiasm and energy to sharing the Gospel in the most distant places, in the most challenging environments, enduring difficulties and failures. Always keep this missionary zeal alive in your midst: today as always, movements have a fundamental role in the work of evangelization. Among you, there are many generous, well-trained people, with “hands-on” experience. This is a treasure that needs to be put to good use, with a constant eye to new situations and challenges. Place your talents at the service of the Church’s mission, whether in places of first evangelization or in your parishes and local ecclesial communities, in order to reach those who, albeit distant, are often waiting, without being aware of it, to hear God’s word of life.

Conclusion

Dear friends, today we are meeting for the first time. God willing, we will have other opportunities to get to know each other better, but in the meantime, I encourage you to press forward on your journey. Always keep the Lord Jesus at the centre! This is the essential thing, and charisms are meant to serve this purpose. They lead to an encounter with Christ; they foster human and spiritual growth and development, and they help to build up the Church. In this sense, all of us are called to imitate Christ, who emptied himself to enrich us (cf. Phil 2:7). Those who join with others in pursuing an apostolic goal and those who enjoy a charism are called alike to enrich others through the emptying of self. It is a source of freedom and great joy.

Thank you for being who you are, and for all that you do. I entrust you to the protection of Mary, Mother of the Church, and I cordially impart my Blessing to you, and to all those whom you represent. Thank you!

Address to Participants in the
Symposium “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic-Orthodox Unity” held at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (4-7 June 2025)

Released Saturday, 7 June 2025

Nicaea a compass
to guide us towards full visible unity of Christians

Peace be with you!

Your Eminence,

Your Excellencies,

Distinguished Professors,

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I offer a warm welcome to all of you, who are taking part in the Symposium “Nicaea and the Church of the Third Millennium: Towards Catholic-Orthodox Unity,” jointly organized by Œcumenicum — the Institute for Ecumenical Studies of the Angelicum — and the International Orthodox Theological Association. In a special way, my greeting goes to the representatives of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches, many of whom honored me by their presence at the Mass inaugurating my Pontificate.

Before I continue my formal remarks, I would just like to apologize for being a little late, and also ask for your patience with me. I am not yet one month into the new job, so there are a lot of learning experiences. But I am very happy to be with you this morning.

I am pleased to see that the Symposium is resolutely oriented toward the future. The Council of Nicaea is not merely an event of the past but a compass that must continue to guide us towards the full visible unity of Christians. The First Ecumenical Council is foundational for the common journey that Catholics and Orthodox have undertaken together since the Second Vatican Council. For the Eastern Churches, which commemorate its celebration in their liturgical calendar, the Council of Nicaea is not simply one Council among others or the first in a series, but the Council par excellence, which promulgated the norm of the Christian faith, the confession of faith of the “318 Fathers.”

The three themes of your Symposium are especially relevant for our ecumenical journey. First, the faith of Nicaea. As the International Theological Commission observed in its recent Document for the 1700th anniversary of Nicaea, the year 2025 represents “an invaluable opportunity to emphasise that, what we have in common is much stronger, quantitatively and qualitatively, than what divides us. Together, we believe in the Triune God, in Christ as truly human and truly God, and in salvation through Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures read in the Church and under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Together, we believe in the Church, baptism, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life.” (Jesus Christ, Son of God, Savior, n. 43). I am convinced that by returning to the Council of Nicaea and drawing together from this common source, we will be able to see in a different light the points that still separate us. Through theological dialogue and with the help of God, we will gain a better understanding of the mystery that unites us. By celebrating together this Nicene faith and by proclaiming it together, we will also advance towards the restoration of full communion among us.

The second theme of your Symposium is synodality. The Council of Nicaea inaugurated a synodal path for the Church to follow in dealing with theological and canonical questions at the universal level. The contribution of fraternal delegates from the Churches and ecclesial communities of East and West to the recent Synod on Synodality held here in the Vatican was a valuable stimulus to greater reflection on the nature and practice of synodality. The Synod’s Final Document noted that “ecumenical dialogue is fundamental for developing our understanding of synodality and the unity of the Church” and it went on to encourage the development of “ecumenical synodal practices, including forms of consultation and discernment on questions of shared and urgent interest” (For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation, Mission, n. 138). It is my hope that the preparation and joint commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea will be a providential occasion “to deepen and confess together our faith in Christ and to put into practice forms of synodality among Christians of all traditions” (cf. ibid., n. 139).

The Symposium has a third theme related to the date of Easter. As we know, one of the objectives of the Council of Nicaea was to establish a common date for Easter in order to express the unity of the Church throughout the oikoumene. Sadly, differences in their calendars no longer allow Christians to celebrate together the most important feast of the liturgical year, causing pastoral problems within communities, dividing families and weakening the credibility of our witness to the Gospel. Several concrete solutions have been proposed that, while respecting the principle of Nicaea, would allow Christians to celebrate together the “Feast of Feasts”. In this year, when all Christians have celebrated Easter on the same day, I would reaffirm the openness of the Catholic Church to the pursuit of an ecumenical solution favouring a common celebration of the Lord’s resurrection and thus giving greater missionary force to our preaching of “the name of Jesus and the salvation born of faith in the saving truth of the Gospel” (Address to Pontifical Mission Societies, 22 May 2025).

Brothers and sisters, on this eve of Pentecost, let us remember that the unity for which Christians long will not be primarily the fruit of our own efforts, nor will it be realized through any preconceived model or blueprint. Rather, unity will be a gift received “as Christ wills and by the means that he wills” (Prayer for Unity of Father Paul Couturier), by the working of the Holy Spirit. And so, at this time, I would invite you all to stand so we can pray together to implore the Spirit’s gift of unity. The prayer which I will recite implores the Spirit’s unity in a prayer which is drawn from the Eastern tradition:

“O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,

Who art everywhere and fillest all things;

Treasury of Blessings, and Giver of Life,

Come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity,

and save our souls, O Good One.” Amen.

The Lord be with you. The blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit come upon you and remain with you forever. Amen. Thank you very much.

Homily of His Holiness
Pope Leo XIV
on the Vigil of Pentecost

Saturday, 7 June 2025

No longer predators but pilgrims

Dear sisters and brothers,

The Creator Spirit, whom we invoked in the hymn — Veni Creator Spiritus — is the Spirit who descended upon Jesus as the quiet driving force of his mission: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Lk 4:18). When we ask the Spirit to enlighten our minds, to multiply our languages, to awaken our senses, to instill love, to strengthen our bodies and to grant us peace, we become open to God’s Kingdom. This is, according to the Gospel, the meaning of conversion. It is a “turning toward” the Kingdom already close at hand.

In Jesus we see, and from Jesus we hear, how everything changes because God is king, God is close to us. On this vigil of Pentecost, we are deeply aware of this closeness of God, of his Spirit who joins our lives to that of Jesus. We are caught up in the new things that God brings about, so that his desire for the fullness of life will prevail over the power of death.

“He has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord” (Lk 4:18-19). Here tonight, we sense the fragrance of the chrism with which our foreheads have been anointed. Dear brothers and sisters, Baptism and Confirmation united us to Jesus’ mission of making all things new, to the Kingdom of God. Just as love enables us to sense the presence of a loved one, so tonight we sense in one another the fragrance of Christ. This is a mystery; it amazes us and it leads us to reflect.

At Pentecost, Mary, the Apostles, and the disciples with them received a Spirit of unity, which forever grounded in the one Lord Jesus Christ all their diversity. Theirs were not multiple missions, but a single mission. They were no longer introverted and quarrelling with one another, but outgoing and radiant with joy. Saint Peter’s Square, with its wide-open and welcoming embrace, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church that each of you has experienced in your various associations and communities, many of which are the fruit of the Second Vatican Council.

On the evening of my election, moved as I looked out at the people of God gathered here, I spoke of “synodality,” a word that aptly expresses how the Spirit shapes the Church. That word begins with the Greek word syn — meaning “with” — which speaks of the secret of God’s life. God is not solitary. God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is a “with” in himself, and God with us. At the same time, the word “synodality” speaks to us of a road ahead — hodós — for where there is the Spirit, there is movement, a journey to be made. We are a people on the move. This does not set us apart but unites us to humanity like the yeast in a mass of dough, which causes it to rise. The year of the Lord’s grace, reflected in the current Jubilee, has this fermentation within it. In a divided and troubled world, the Holy Spirit teaches us to walk together in unity. The earth will rest, justice will prevail, the poor will rejoice and peace will return, once we no longer act as predators but as pilgrims. No longer each of us for ourselves, but walking alongside one another. Not greedily exploiting this world, but cultivating it and protecting it, as the Encyclical Laudato Si’ has taught us.

Dear friends, God created the world so that we might all live as one. “Synodality” is the ecclesial name for this. It demands that we each recognize our own poverty and our riches, that we feel part of a greater whole, apart from which everything withers, even the most original and unique of charisms. Think about it. All creation exists solely in the form of coexistence, sometimes dangerous, yet always interconnected (cf. Laudato Si’, 16; 117). And what we call “history” only takes place as coexistence, living together, however contentiously, but always together. The opposite is lethal, but sadly, we are witnessing this daily. May your meetings and your communities, then, be training grounds of fraternity and sharing, not merely meeting places, but centres of spirituality. The Spirit of Jesus changes the world because he changes hearts. The Spirit inspires the contemplative dimension of life that rejects self-assertion, complaining, rivalry and the temptation to control consciences and resources. The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (cf. 2 Cor 3:17). An authentic spirituality thus commits us to integral human development, to making Jesus’ words a reality in our lives. When this happens, there is always joy: joy and hope.

Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not our attempt to conquer the world, but the infinite grace that radiates from lives transformed by the Kingdom of God. It is the way of the Beatitudes, a path that we tread together, between the “already” and the “not yet,” hungering and thirsting for justice, poor in spirit, merciful, meek, pure of heart, men and women of peace. Jesus himself chose this path: to follow it, we have no need of powerful patrons, worldly compromises, or emotional strategies. Evangelization is always God’s work. If at times it takes place through us, it is thanks to the bonds that it makes possible. So be deeply attached to each of the particular Churches and parish communities in which you cultivate and exercise your charisms. Together with the bishops and in cooperation with all the other members of the Body of Christ, all of us will then work together harmoniously as one. The challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark and discernment will be less complicated… if together we obey the Holy Spirit!

May Mary, Queen of the Apostles and Mother of the Church, intercede for us.

Homily of His Holiness
Pope Leo XIV — Pentecost

Sunday, 8 June 2025

The Spirit breaks down barriers

Dear brothers and sisters,

“The day has dawned upon us when..., glorified by his ascension into heaven following his resurrection, the Lord Jesus Christ sent the Holy Spirit” (SAINT AUGUSTINE, Serm. 271, 1). Today, too, what took place in the Upper Room takes place anew in our midst. Like a mighty wind that overtakes us, like a crash that startles us, like a fire that illuminates us, the gift of the Holy Spirit descends upon us (cf. Acts 2:1-11).

As we heard in the first reading, the Spirit accomplished something extraordinary in the lives of the Apostles. Following Jesus’ death, they had retreated behind closed doors, in fear and sadness. Now they receive a new way of seeing things, an interior understanding that helps them to interpret the events that occurred and to experience intimately the presence of the Risen Lord. The Holy Spirit overcomes their fear, shatters their inner chains, heals their wounds, anoints them with strength and grants them the courage to go out to all and to proclaim God’s mighty works.

The reading from the Acts of the Apostles tells us that in Jerusalem at that time there was a multitude of people from various backgrounds, yet “each one heard them speaking in his own native tongue” (v. 6). In a word, at Pentecost, the doors of the Upper Room were opened because the Spirit opens borders. As Benedict XVI explained: “The Holy Spirit bestows understanding. The Spirit overcomes the ‘breach’ that began in Babel, the confusion of mind and heart that sets us one against the other. The Spirit opens borders... The Church must always become anew what she already is. She must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between class and race. In her, there cannot be those who are neglected or disdained. In the Church there are only free men and women, brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ” (Homily for Pentecost, 15 May 2005).

Here we have an eloquent image of Pentecost, one that I would like to pause for a moment and reflect upon with you.

The Spirit opens borders, first of all, in our hearts. He is the Gift that opens our lives to love. His presence breaks down our hardness of heart, our narrowness of mind, our selfishness, the fears that enchain us and the narcissism that makes us think only of ourselves. The Holy Spirit comes to challenge us, to make us confront the possibility that our lives are shrivelling up, trapped in the vortex of individualism. Sadly, oddly enough, in a world of burgeoning “social” media, we risk being ever more alone. Constantly connected, yet incapable of “networking”. Always immersed in a crowd, yet confused and solitary travellers.

The Spirit of God allows us to find a new way of approaching and experiencing life. He puts us in touch with our inmost self, beneath all the masks we wear. He leads us to an encounter with the Lord by teaching us to experience the joy that is his gift. He convinces us, as we just heard in Jesus’ words, that only by abiding in love, will we receive the strength to remain faithful to his word and to let it transform us. The Spirit opens our interior borders, so that our lives can become places of welcome and refreshment.

The Spirit also opens borders in our relationship with others. Jesus tells us that this Gift is the love between him and the Father that comes to dwell within us. We then become capable of opening our hearts to our brothers and sisters, overcoming our rigidity, moving beyond our fear of those who are different, and mastering the passions that stir within. The Spirit also transforms those deeper, hidden dangers that disturb our relationships, like suspicion, prejudice or the desire to manipulate others. I think too, with great pain, of those cases where relationships are marked by an unhealthy desire for domination, an attitude that often leads to violence, as is shown, tragically, by numerous recent cases of femicide.

The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, brings to maturity within us the fruits that enable us to cultivate good and healthy relationships: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Gal 5:22). In this way, the Spirit broadens the borders of our relationships and opens us to the joy of fraternity. This is also a critical yardstick for the Church. For we are truly the Church of the Risen Lord and disciples of Pentecost if there are no borders or divisions among us; if we are able to dialogue and accept one another in the Church, and to reconcile our diversities; and if, as Church, we become a welcoming and hospitable place for all.

Finally, the Spirit also opens borders between peoples. At Pentecost, the Apostles spoke the languages of those they met, and the confusion of Babel was finally resolved by the harmony brought about by the Spirit. Whenever God’s “breath” unites our hearts and makes us view others as our brothers and sisters, differences no longer become an occasion for division and conflict but rather a shared patrimony from which we can all draw, and which sets us all on journey together, in fraternity.

The Spirit breaks down barriers and tears down the walls of indifference and hatred because he “teaches us all things” and “reminds us of Jesus’ words” (cf. Jn 14:26). He teaches us, reminds us, and writes in our hearts before all else the commandment of love that the Lord has made the center and summit of everything. Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for “security” zones separating us from our neighbors, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.

It was on the feast of Pentecost that Pope Francis observed: “In our world today, there is so much discord, such great division. We are all ‘connected’, yet find ourselves disconnected from one another, anesthetized by indifference and overwhelmed by solitude” (Homily, 28 May 2023). The wars plaguing our world are a tragic sign of this. Let us invoke the Spirit of love and peace, that he may open borders, break down walls, dispel hatred and help us to live as children of our one Father who is in heaven.

Brothers and sisters, Pentecost renews the Church and the world! May the strong wind of the Spirit come upon us and within us, open the borders of our hearts, grant us the grace of encounter with God, enlarge the horizons of our love and sustain our efforts to build a world in which peace reigns.

May Mary Most Holy, Woman of Pentecost, Virgin visited by the Spirit, Mother full of grace, accompany us and intercede for us.

Regina Caeli Pentecost

Before concluding this celebration, I affectionately greet all of you who have participated, and also those following it through the media.

I thank the cardinals and bishops present, and all the representatives of ecclesial movements, associations and new communities. Dear sisters and brothers, with the strength of the Holy Spirit, set out renewed by your Jubilee. Go and bring the hope of the Lord Jesus to everyone!

In Italy, and in other countries, the school year is drawing to a close. I would like to greet young people and all students and their teachers, especially the students taking exams at the end of their studies in the coming days.

Now, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, let us ask from the Holy Spirit the gift of peace. First of all, peace in our hearts, for only a peaceful heart can spread peace in the family, society and international relations. May the Spirit of the risen Christ open paths of reconciliation wherever there is war; may he enlighten those who govern and give them the courage to make gestures of de-escalation and dialogue.

Homily for the Jubilee of the Holy See

Monday, 9 June 2025

The fruitfulness of the Church depends on the Cross of Christ

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

Today we have the joy and grace of celebrating the Jubilee of the Holy See on the liturgical feast day of Mary, Mother of the Church. This happy coincidence is a source of light and inner inspiration in the Holy Spirit, who yesterday, on Pentecost, poured himself out abundantly upon the people of God. It is in this spiritual setting that we are experiencing a special day; first with the meditation we have heard and now, at the table of the Word and the Eucharist.

The Word of God in this celebration helps us to understand the mystery of the Church and, within it, of the Holy See, in the light of the two biblical images inspired by the Spirit in the Acts of the Apostles (1:12-14) and in the Gospel of John (19:25-34).

Let us begin with the fundamental account, which is the story of Jesus’ death. John, the only one of the Twelve present at Calvary, saw and testified that beneath the cross stood Jesus’ mother together with the other women (cf. Jn 19:25). And he heard with his own ears the last words of the Master, among which were these: “Woman, here is your son!” and then, turning to him, “Here is your mother!” (Jn 19:26-27).

Mary’s motherhood through the mystery of the Cross took an unimaginable leap: the mother of Jesus became the new Eve, the source of new and eternal life for every person who comes into the world, because her Son associated her with his redemptive death. The theme of fruitfulness is clearly present in this liturgy. The opening prayer immediately highlighted this by asking the Father that the Church, sustained by the love of Christ, “may be more fruitful day by day.” (Collect)

The fruitfulness of the Church is the same fruitfulness as Mary’s; it is realized in the lives of her members to the extent that they relive, “in miniature,” what the Mother lived, namely, they love according to the love of Jesus. All the fruitfulness of the Church and of the Holy See depends on the Cross of Christ. Otherwise, it is only appearance, if not worse. A great contemporary theologian wrote: “If the Church is the tree that grew from the tiny mustard seed of the cross, this tree is destined to produce mustard seeds in turn, and therefore fruits that repeat the shape of the cross, because it is precisely to the cross that they owe their existence” (H.U. von Balthasar, Cordula ovverosia il caso serio, Brescia 1969, 45-46).

In the Collect, we also prayed that the Church may exult “in the holiness of her children.” In fact, the fruitfulness of Mary and of the Church are inextricably linked to their holiness, which is their conformity to Christ. The Holy See is holy as the Church is holy, in her original core, in the very fabric of her being. The Apostolic See thus preserves the holiness of its roots while being preserved by them. But it is no less true that it also lives in the holiness of each of its members. Therefore, the best way to serve the Holy See is to strive for holiness, each according to his or her particular state of life and the work entrusted to him or her.

For example, a priest who personally carries a heavy cross because of his ministry, yet every day goes to the office and tries to do his job to the best of his ability with love and faith, this priest participates and contributes to the fruitfulness of the Church. Similarly, a father or mother of a family who lives in a difficult situation at home, with a child who is cause for concern or a sick parent, and continues his or her work with commitment, that man or woman are fruitful with the fruitfulness of Mary and of the Church.

Let us now turn to the second image, the one described by Saint Luke at the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, which depicts the mother of Jesus together with the Apostles and disciples in the Upper Room (1:12-14). It presents Mary’s motherhood towards the nascent Church, an “archetypal” motherhood that remains relevant in every time and place. It is always and above all the fruit of the Paschal Mystery, of the gift of the Crucified and Risen Lord.

The Holy Spirit, who descends with power upon the first community, is the same Spirit that Jesus bestowed with his last breath (cf. Jn 19:30). This biblical image is inseparable from the first. The fruitfulness of the Church is always linked to the grace that flowed from the pierced heart of Jesus, together with blood and water, symbolizing the sacraments (cf. Jn 19:34).

In the Upper Room, thanks to the maternal mission she received at the foot of the cross, Mary is at the service of the nascent community: she is the living memory of Jesus and, as such, she is the center of attention that harmonizes differences and ensures the unity of the disciples’ prayer.

In this text too, the apostles are listed by name and, as always, Peter is the first (cf. v. 13). But he himself, in truth, is the first to be supported by Mary in his ministry. In the same way, Mother Church supports the ministry of Peter’s successors with the Marian charism. The Holy See experiences in a very special way the coexistence of the two poles; the Marian and the Petrine. It is precisely the Marian pole, with its motherhood, gift of Christ and of the Spirit, that ensures the fruitfulness and holiness of the Petrine pole.

Dear friends, let us praise God for his Word, the lamp that guides our steps, even in our daily life at the service of the Holy See. Enlightened by his Word, let us renew our prayer: Grant, O Father, that your Church, sustained by the love of Christ, may be ever more fruitful in the Spirit, exult in the holiness of her children, and draw to her embrace all the whole human family (cf. Collect in Italian Missal). Amen.

Address to Participants in the
Jubilee and the Meeting of
Pontifical Representatives

Clementine Hall — Tuesday, 10 June 2025

Tools of communion and unity

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, Monsignori,

A special greeting to all of you, dear Pontifical Representatives. Before sharing the prepared remarks, I would just like to say to His Eminence and to all of you that I said what the Cardinal mentioned, not at anyone’s suggestion, but because I deeply believe it: your role, your ministry, is irreplaceable. The Church would be unable to give many things if it were not for the sacrifice, the work and everything you do to allow such an important dimension of the Church’s great mission to proceed, and precisely in the case of which I spoke, namely the selection of candidates to the episcopate. My heartfelt thanks to you for what you do! Now, bear with me.

After yesterday morning’s celebration for the Jubilee of the Holy See, I am pleased to be able to be with you briefly, the Pope’s representatives to States and international organizations throughout the world.

First of all, thank you for coming, for undertaking a journey that for many of you was long. Thank you! As people, you already are an image of the Catholic Church, since a diplomatic Corps as universal as ours does not exist in any other country in the world. At the same time, I think one could equally say that no other country in the world has a diplomatic Corps as united as you are, because yours and our communion is not merely functional, nor an idea. We are united in Christ and we are united in the Church. It is interesting to reflect on this fact: that the diplomacy of the Holy See is a model, even in its very staff — certainly not perfect, but very meaningful — of the message it proposes: human fraternity and peace among all peoples.

Dear friends, I am taking my first steps in this ministry that the Lord has entrusted to me. And I also feel towards you what I confided some days ago, when speaking to the Secretariat of State: namely, my gratitude towards those who help me carry out my service day by day. This gratitude is even greater when I think — and experience first hand as I deal with various issues — that your work very often precedes me! Yes, and this applies in a particular way to you, because when a situation is presented to me that has to do, for example, with the Church in a given country, I can rely on the documentation, reflections and summaries prepared by you and your collaborators. The network of Pontifical Representations is always active and operative. For me, this is cause for great appreciation and gratitude. I say this thinking certainly of the dedication and organization, but, even more so, of the motivations that guide you, the pastoral style that should characterize us, the spirit of faith that inspires us. Thanks to these qualities, I too will be able to experience what Saint Paul VI wrote: that through his Representatives who reside in various nations, the Pope participates in the very life of his children and, by almost becoming part of it, he becomes familiar with their needs and their aspirations, in a quicker and safer way (cf. Apostolic Letter issued Motu Proprio Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesarium, Introduction).

And now I would like to share a biblical image with you that came to mind as I was thinking of your mission in relation to mine. At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles (3:1-10), the story of the healing of the cripple describes Peter’s ministry well. We are at the dawn of Christian experience, and the first community, gathered around the Apostles, knows it can count on a single reality: the risen and living Jesus. A crippled man sits begging at the door of the Temple. It appears to be the image of a humanity that has lost hope and is resigned. Still today, the Church often encounters men and women who no longer have any joy, whom society has sidelined, or whom life has in a certain sense forced into “begging for their lives”. This page of the Acts relates: “And Peter directed his gaze at him, with John, and said, ‘Look at us’. And he fixed his attention upon them, expecting to receive something from them. But Peter said, ‘I have no silver and gold, but I give you what I have; in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk’. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up; and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. And leaping up he stood and walked and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God” (3:4-8).

Peter’s request to this man makes us reflect: “Look at us”. To look into someone’s eyes means to build a relationship. The ministry of Peter is about creating relationships and bridges. And a Representative of the Pope is first and foremost at the service of this invitation to look into another’s eyes. Always be the eyes of Peter! Be men capable of building relationships where it is hardest to do. But in doing so, preserve the same humility and the same realism of Peter, who is well aware that he does not have the solution to everything: “I have no silver and gold”, he says; but he knows he has what counts, namely Christ, the deepest meaning of every existence: “in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk”.

To give Christ means to give love, to bear witness to the charity that is ready for everything. I am counting on you so that in the countries where you live, everyone may know that the Church is always ready for everything out of love, that she is always on the side of the last, the poor, and that she will always defend the sacrosanct right to believe in God, to believe that this life is not at the mercy of the powers of this world, but rather is traversed by a mysterious meaning. Only love is worthy of faith, in the face of the suffering of the innocent, the crucified of today, whom many of you know personally, as you serve peoples who are victims of war, violence, and injustice, or even of the false wellbeing that deludes and disappoints.

Dear brothers, may you always be consoled by the fact that your service is sub umbra Petri, as you will find engraved on the ring that you will receive as a gift from me. Always feel you are bound to Peter, protected by Peter, sent by Peter. Only in obedience and in effective communion with the Pope may your ministry be effective for the edification of the Church, in communion with the local bishops.

Always have a blessing gaze, because Peter’s ministry is to bless, that is, always to know how to see the good, even the one that is hidden, or is in “the minority”. Feel that you are missionaries, sent by the Pope to be tools of communion, unity, at the service of the dignity of the human person, promoting sincere and constructive relations everywhere with the authorities with whom you are required to cooperate. May your competence always be enlightened by the sound decision for holiness. The Saints who were in the diplomatic service of the Holy See, such as Saint John XXIII and Saint Paul VI, are examples for us.

Dear friends, your presence here today strengthens the awareness that the role of Peter is to confirm in faith. You are the first to need this confirmation in order to become its messengers, visible signs in every part of the world.

May the Holy Door we all passed through together yesterday spur us to be courageous witnesses of Christ, who is always our hope. Thank you.

General Audience

Wednesday, 11 June 2025

Never give up hope!

Dear brothers and sisters,

With this catechesis I would like to bring our attention to another essential aspect of Jesus’ life, namely his healings. For this reason, I invite you to bring before the Heart of Christ your most painful and fragile parts, those places in your life where you feel stuck and blocked. Let us trustfully ask the Lord to listen to our cry, and to heal us!

The character who accompanies us in this reflection helps us understand that we must never give up hope, even when we feel lost. He is Bartimaeus, a blind man and a beggar, whom Jesus met in Jericho (cf. Mk 10:46-52). The place is significant: Jesus is going to Jerusalem, but he begins his journey, so to speak, in the “underworld” of Jericho, a city situated below sea level. Indeed, with his death, Jesus went to bring back that Adam who had fallen to the bottom and who represents each one of us.

Bartimaeus means “son of Timaeus”: the man is described through a relationship, and yet he is dramatically alone. This name, though, could also mean “son of honour” or “of admiration”, exactly the opposite of the situation in which he finds himself [This is the interpretation also given by Augustine in The Harmony of the Gospels, 2, 65, 125: PL 34, 1138]. And since the name is so important in Jewish culture, it means that Bartimaeus fails to live up to what he is called to be.

Then, unlike the great movement of people who walk behind Jesus, Bartimaeus is still. The Evangelist says that he is sitting by the roadside, and so he needs someone to lift him up onto his feet and help him resume his journey.

What can we do when we find ourselves in a situation that seems to have no way out? Bartimaeus teaches us to appeal to the resources we have within us and which form a part of us. He is a beggar, he knows how to ask, indeed, he can shout! If you truly want something, you do everything in order to be able to reach it, even when others reproach you, humiliate you and tell you to let it be. If you really desire it, you keep on shouting!

Bartimaeus’ cry, in the Gospel of Mark — “Jesus, son of David, have mercy on me!” (v. 47) — has become a very well-known prayer in the Eastern tradition, which we too can use: “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner”.

Bartimaeus is blind, but, paradoxically, he sees better than others, he recognizes who Jesus is! Before his cry, Jesus stops and has him called (cf. 49), because there is no cry that God does not hear, even when we are not aware we are addressing Him (cf. Ex 2:23). It seems strange that, in front of a blind man, Jesus does not go immediately to him; but, if we think about it, it is the way to reactivate Bartimaeus’ life: He spurs him to get up again, He trusts in his ability to walk. That man can get back on his feet, he can rise from the throes of death. But in order to do this, he must perform a very meaningful gesture: he must throw away his cloak (cf. v. 50)!

For a beggar, the cloak is everything: it is safety, it is his house, it is the defence that protects him. Even the law protected the beggar’s cloak, and imposed that it be returned in the evening if taken as a pledge (cf. Ex 22:25). And yet, many times, it is precisely our apparent securities that stand in our way — what we have put on to defend ourselves and which instead prevent us from walking. To go to Jesus and let himself be healed, Bartimaeus must show himself to Him in all his vulnerability. This is a fundamental step in any journey of healing.

Even the question that Jesus asks him seems strange: “What do you want me to do for you?” (v. 51). But, in reality, it is not a given that we want to be healed from our ailments; at times we prefer to stay still so as not to take responsibility. Bartimaeus’ reply is profound: he uses the verb anablepein, which can mean “to see again”, but which we can also translate as “to look up”. Indeed, Bartimaeus does not want only to see again; he wants to regain his dignity! To look up, we must raise our heads. At times people are stuck because life has humiliated them, and they just want to find their worth again.

What saves Bartimaeus, and each one of us, is faith. Jesus heals us so that we can become free. The Lord does not call Bartimaeus to follow him, but tells him to go, to set out on his way again (cf. v. 52). However, Mark concludes the story by saying that Bartimaeus began to follow Jesus: he freely chose to follow him, He who is the Way!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us trustfully bring our ailments before Jesus, and also those of our loved ones; let us bring the pain of those who feel lost and without a way out. Let us cry out for them too, and may we be certain that the Lord will hear us and stop.

Message of His Holiness
Pope Leo XIV
for the Ninth World Day of the Poor
(Thirty-third Sunday of
Ordinary Time, 16 November 2025)

Released Friday, 13 June 2025

You are my hope (cf. Ps 71:5)

1. “You, O Lord, are my hope” (Ps 71:5). These words well up from a heart burdened by grave hardship: “You have made me see many troubles and calamities” (v. 20), the Psalmist exclaims. At the same time, his heart remains open and confident; steadfast in faith, he acknowledges the support of God, whom he calls “a rock of refuge, a strong fortress” (v. 3). Hence, his abiding trust that hope in God never disappoints: “In you, Lord, I take refuge; I shall never be put to shame” (v. 1).

Amid life’s trials, our hope is inspired by the firm and reassuring certainty of God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That hope does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Thus Saint Paul could write to Timothy: “To this end we toil and struggle, because we have our hope set on the living God” (1 Tim 4:10). The living God is in fact “the God of hope” (Rom 15:13), and Christ, by his death and resurrection, has himself become “our hope” (1 Tim 1:1). We must never forget that we were saved in this hope, and need to remain firmly rooted therein.

2. The poor can be witnesses to a strong and steadfast hope, precisely because they embody it in the midst of uncertainty, poverty, instability and marginalization. They cannot rely on the security of power and possessions; on the contrary, they are at their mercy and often victims of them. Their hope must necessarily be sought elsewhere. By recognizing that God is our first and only hope, we too pass from fleeting hopes to a lasting hope. Once we desire that God accompany us on the journey of life, material wealth becomes relativized, for we discover the real treasure that we need. The words that the Lord Jesus spoke to his disciples remain forceful and clear: “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume and where thieves do not break in and steal” (Mt 6:19-20).

3. The gravest form of poverty is not to know God. As Pope Francis wrote in Evangelii Gaudium: “The worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them his friendship, his blessing, his word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith” (No. 2000). Here we see a basic and essential awareness of how we can find our treasure in God. As the Apostle John insists: “If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 Jn 4:20).

This is a rule of faith and the secret of hope: all this earth’s goods, material realities, worldly pleasures, economic prosperity, however important, cannot bring happiness to our hearts. Wealth often disappoints and can lead to tragic situations of poverty — above all the poverty born of the failure to recognize our need for God and of the attempt to live without him. A saying of Saint Augustine comes to mind: “Let all your hope be in God: feel your need for him, and let him fill that need. Without him, whatever you possess will only make you all the more empty” (Enarr. in Ps., 85:3).

4. The word of God tells us that Christian hope is certainty at every step of life’s journey, since it does not depend on our human strength but upon the promise of God, who is always faithful. For this reason, from the beginning, Christians have identified hope with the symbol of the anchor, which provides stability and security. Christian hope is like an anchor that grounds our hearts in the promise of the Lord Jesus, who saved us by his death and resurrection and will come again among us. This hope continues to point us toward the “new heavens” and the “new earth” (2 Pet 3:13) as the true horizon of our existence, where every life will find its authentic meaning, for our real homeland is in heaven (cf. Phil 3:20).

The city of God, therefore, impels us to improve the cities of men and women. Our own cities must begin to resemble his. Hope, sustained by God’s love poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit (cf. Rom 5:5), turns human hearts into fertile soil where charity for the life of the world can blossom. The Church’s tradition has constantly insisted on the circular relationship between the three theological virtues of faith, hope and charity. Hope is born of faith, which nourishes and sustains it on the foundation of charity, the mother of all virtues. All of us need charity, here and now. Charity is not just a promise; it is a present reality to be embraced with joy and responsibility. Charity engages us and guides our decisions towards the common good. Conversely, those who lack charity not only lack faith and hope; they also rob their neighbors of hope.

5. The biblical summons to hope thus entails the duty to shoulder our responsibilities in history, without hesitation. Charity, in fact, “is the greatest social commandment” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, No. 1889). Poverty has structural causes that must be addressed and eliminated. In the meantime, each of us is called to offer new signs of hope that will bear witness to Christian charity, just as many saints have done over the centuries. Hospitals and schools, for instance, were institutions established to reach out to the most vulnerable and marginalized. These institutions should be a part of every country’s public policy, yet wars and inequalities often prevent this from happening. Today, signs of hope are increasingly found in care homes, communities for minors, centers for listening and acceptance, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and low-income schools. How many of these quiet signs of hope often go unnoticed and yet are so important for setting aside our indifference and inspiring others to become involved in various forms of volunteer work!

The poor are not a distraction for the Church, but our beloved brothers and sisters, for by their lives, their words and their wisdom, they put us in contact with the truth of the Gospel. The celebration of the World Day of the Poor is meant to remind our communities that the poor are at the heart of all our pastoral activity. This is true not only of the Church’s charitable work, but also of the message that she celebrates and proclaims. God took on their poverty in order to enrich us through their voices, their stories and their faces. Every form of poverty, without exception, calls us to experience the Gospel concretely and to offer effective signs of hope.

6. This, then, is the invitation extended to us by this Jubilee celebration. It is no coincidence that the World Day of the Poor is celebrated towards the end of this year of grace. Once the Holy Door is closed, we are to cherish and share with others the divine gifts granted us throughout this entire year of prayer, conversion and witness. The poor are not recipients of our pastoral care, but creative subjects who challenge us to find novel ways of living out the Gospel today. In the face of new forms of impoverishment, we can risk becoming hardened and resigned. Each day we encounter poor or impoverished people. We too may have less than before and are losing what once seemed secure: a home, sufficient food for each day, access to healthcare and a good education, information, religious freedom and freedom of expression.

In this promotion of the common good, our social responsibility is grounded in God’s creative act, which gives everyone a share in the goods of the earth. Like those goods, the fruits of human labor should be equally accessible to all. Helping the poor is a matter of justice before a question of charity. As Saint Augustine observed: “You give bread to a hungry person; but it would be better if none were hungry, so that you would have no need to give it away. You clothe the naked, but would that all were clothed and that there be no need to supply this lack” (In I Ioan., 8:5).

It is my hope, then, that this Jubilee Year will encourage the development of policies aimed at combatting forms of poverty both old and new, as well as implementing new initiatives to support and assist the poorest of the poor. Labor, education, housing and health are the foundations of a security that will never be attained by the use of arms. I express my appreciation for those initiatives that already exist, and for the efforts demonstrated daily on the international level by great numbers of men and women of good will.

Let us entrust ourselves to Mary Most Holy, Comforter of the Afflicted and, with her, let us raise a song of hope as we make our own the words of the Te Deum: “In you, O Lord, is our hope, and we shall never hope in vain.”

From the Vatican, 13 June 2025, Memorial of Saint Anthony of Padua, Patron Saint of the Poor

Leo PP. XIV

Jubilee Audience

Saturday, 14 June 2025

Jesus is a door that unites

In the name of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you!

Dear brothers and sisters,

This morning we will resume the special Jubilee audiences that Pope Francis had begun in the month of January, proposing each time a particular aspect of the theological virtue of hope and a spiritual figure who bore witness to it. Let us therefore continue the journey we started, as pilgrims of hope!

We are brought together by the hope transmitted by the Apostles ever since the beginning. The Apostles saw in Jesus the earth bound to heaven: with their eyes, ears and hands they welcomed the Word of life. The Jubilee is an open door to this mystery. The Jubilee year connects God’s world more radically to our own. It invites us to take seriously what we pray every day: “On earth as it is in heaven”. This is our hope. Here is the aspect we would like to explore today: to hope is to connect.

One of the greatest Christian theologians, Bishop Irenaeus of Lyon, will help us to understand how beautiful and relevant this hope is. Irenaeus was born in Asia Minor and was formed among those who had known the Apostles personally. He then came to Europe, because a community of Christians from his own land had already formed there. How good it is for us to remember this here, in Rome, in Europe! The Gospel was brought to this continent from outside. And even today, migrant communities are a presence that revives the faith in the countries that welcome them. The Gospel comes from outside. Irenaeus connects East and West. This is already a sign of hope, for it reminds us how peoples continue to enrich one another.

Irenaeus, however, had an even greater treasure to give to us. The doctrinal divisions he encountered within the Christian community, the internal conflicts and external persecutions, did not discourage him. On the contrary, in a fragmented world he learned how to think better, bringing his attention ever more deeply to Jesus. He became a cantor of his person, indeed of his flesh. Indeed, he recognized that in him, what seems to conflict is reconciled in unity. Jesus is not a wall that separates, but a door that unites us. We have to remain in him and distinguish reality from ideologies.

Dear brothers and sisters, today too ideas can run wild and words can kill. Instead, the flesh is what we are all made of; it is what links us to the earth and to other creatures. The flesh of Jesus has to be welcomed and contemplated in every brother and sister, in every creature. Let us listen to the cry of the flesh, let us hear ourselves called by name by the suffering of others. The commandment we received from the beginning is mutual love. It is inscribed in our flesh, before any other law.

Irenaeus, teacher of unity, teaches us not to oppose, but to connect. There is intelligence not where there is separation, but where there is connection. To distinguish is useful, but to divide, never. Jesus is the eternal life in our midst: he brings opposites together and makes communion possible.

We are pilgrims of hope, because among people, populations and creatures, we need someone who decides to move towards communion. Others will follow. Like Irenaeus in Lyon in the second century, so in each of our cities let us return to building bridges where today there are walls. Let us open doors, connect worlds, and there will be hope.

Appeal

I offer a warm greeting to all of you who are taking part in the Jubilee of Sport and in this international gathering on “The Momentum of Hope,” sponsored by the Dicastery for Culture and Education. The time you spend together in these days will offer you a valuable opportunity to think about the relationship between athletic activity and the virtue of hope. When we think of it, sports are animated by hope, in the sense that they involve striving towards a goal, constantly trying to improve our performance and learning to work with others as a team. At the same time, our deepest hopes challenge us to make the world of sports an arena where authentically human and Christian values can be exercised and communicated to others for the building of a better world.

In the spirit of this Jubilee, then, I encourage you, and also the participants in the International Motorbike Rally, each in your own way, to be “missionaries of hope,” working to bring about a culture of ever greater solidarity, acceptance and fraternity. To all of you I cordially impart my Blessing.

Video Message to the
young people of Chicago and
the entire world

Saturday, 14 June 2025

Beacons of hope

My dear friends,

It’s a pleasure for me to greet all of you gathered together at White Sox Park on this great celebration as a community of faith in the Archdiocese of Chicago. A special greeting to Cardinal Cupich, to the auxiliary bishops, to all my friends who are gathered today on this: the feast of the Most Holy Trinity.

And I begin with that because the Trinity is a model of God’s love for us. God: Father, Son and Spirit. Three persons in one God live united in the depth of love, in community, sharing that communion with all of us.

So, as you gather today in this great celebration, I want to both express my gratitude to you and also an encouragement to continue to build up community, friendship, as brothers and sisters in your daily lives, in your families, in your parishes, in the Archdiocese and throughout our world.

I’d like to send a special word of greeting to all the young people — those of you gathered together today, and many of you who are perhaps watching this greeting through technological means, on the internet. As you grow up together, you may realise, especially having lived through the time of the pandemic — times of isolation, great difficulty, sometimes even difficulties in your families, or in our world today. Sometimes it may be that the context of your life has not given you the opportunity to live the faith, to live as participants in a faith community, and I’d like to take this opportunity to invite each one of you to look into your own hearts, to recognise that God is present and that, perhaps in many different ways, God is reaching out to you, calling you, inviting you to know his Son Jesus Christ, through the Scriptures, perhaps through a friend or a relative… a grandparent, who might be a person of faith. But to discover how important it is for each one of us to pay attention to the presence of God in our own hearts, to that longing for love in our lives, for … searching, a true searching, for finding the ways that we may be able to do something with our own lives to serve others.

And in that service to others we may find that coming together in friendship, building up community, we too can find true meaning in our lives. Moments of anxiety, of loneliness. So many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness — they can discover that the love of God is truly healing, that it brings hope, and that actually, coming together as friends, as brothers and sisters, in community, in a parish, in an experience of living our faith together, we can find that the Lord’s grace, that the love of God can truly heal us, can give us the strength that we need, can be the source of that hope that we all need in our lives.

To share that message of hope with one another — in outreach, in service, in looking for ways to make our world a better place — gives true life to all of us, and is a sign of hope for the whole world.

To, once again, the young people who are gathered here, I’d like to say that you are the promise of hope for so many of us. The world looks to you as you look around yourselves and say: we need you, we want you to come together to share with us in this common mission, as Church and in society, of announcing a message of true hope and of promoting peace, promoting harmony, among all peoples.

We have to look beyond our own — if you will — egotistical ways. We have to look for ways of coming together and promoting a message of hope. Saint Augustine says to us that if we want the world to be a better place, we have to begin with ourselves, we have to begin with our own lives, our own hearts (cfr Speech 311; Comment on St John’s Gospel, Homily 77).

And so, in this sense, as you gather together as a faith community, as you celebrate in the Archdiocese of Chicago, as you offer your own experience of joy and of hope, you can find out, you can discover that you, too, are indeed beacons of hope. That light, that perhaps on the horizon is not very easy to see, and yet, as we grow in our unity, as we come together in communion, we can discover that that light will grow brighter and brighter. That light which is indeed our faith in Jesus Christ. And we can become that message of hope, to promote peace and unity throughout our world.

We all live with many questions in our hearts. Saint Augustine speaks so often of our “restless” hearts and says: “our hearts are restless until they rest in you, O God” (Confessions 1,1,1). That restlessness is not a bad thing, and we shouldn’t look for ways to put out the fire, to eliminate or even numb ourselves to the tensions that we feel, the difficulties that we experience. We should rather get in touch with our own hearts and recognise that God can work in our lives, through our lives, and through us reach out to other people.

And so I’d like to conclude this brief message to all of you with an invitation to be, indeed, that light of hope. “Hope does not disappoint”, Saint Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans (5,5). When I see each and every one of you, when I see how people gather together to celebrate their faith, I discover myself how much hope there is in the world.

In this Jubilee Year of Hope, Christ, who is our hope, indeed calls all of us to come together, that we might be that true living example: the light of hope in the world today.

So I would like to invite all of you to take a moment, to open up your own hearts to God, to God’s love, to that peace which only the Lord can give us. To feel how deeply beautiful, how strong, how meaningful the love of God is in our lives. And to recognise that while we do nothing to earn God’s love, God in his own generosity continues to pour out his love upon us. And as he gives us his love, he only asks us to be generous and to share what he has given us with others.

May you indeed be blessed as you gather together for this celebration. May the Lord’s love and peace come upon each and every one of you, upon your families, and may God bless all of you, so that you might always be beacons of hope, a sign of hope and peace throughout our world.

And may the blessing of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come upon you and remain with you always. Amen.

Homily on the Solemnity of the
Most Holy Trinity

Sunday, 15 June 2025

Sport a reflection of
God’s infinite beauty

Dear brothers and sisters,

In the first reading we heard these words: “Thus says the wisdom of God: The Lord possessed me, the beginning of his ways, the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago … When the Lord established the heavens I was there … then was I beside him as his craftsman, and I was his delight day by day, playing before him all the while, playing on the surface of his earth; and I found delight in the human race” (Prov 8:22, 27, 30-31) For Saint Augustine, the Trinity and wisdom are intimately connected. Divine wisdom is revealed in the Most Holy Trinity, and wisdom always leads us to truth.

While we are celebrating today the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, we are also marking the Jubilee of Sport. This combination of Trinity and Sport is somewhat unusual, yet the juxtaposition is not inappropriate. Every good and worthwhile human activity is in some way a reflection of God’s infinite beauty, and sport is certainly one of these. For God is not immobile and closed in on himself, but activity, communion, a dynamic relationship between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, which opens up to humanity and to the world. Theologians speak of perichoresis: the life of God is a kind of “dance”: a dance of mutual love.

This dynamism of God’s inner life gives birth to life. We were created by a God who finds joy in giving existence to his creatures, who “delights” in our world, as we heard in the first reading (cf. Prov 8:30-31). Some Fathers of the Church go so far as to speak of a Deus ludens, a God who “plays” (cf. Saint Salonius of Geneva, In Parabolas Salomonis expositio mystica; Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Carmina, I, 2, 589). Sport can thus help us to encounter the Triune God, because it challenges us to relate to others and with others, not only outwardly but also, and above all, interiorly. Otherwise, sport becomes nothing more than an empty competition of inflated egos.

Here in Italy, spectators at sporting events often cheer athletes on by shouting out, “Dai!” (Come one!). The Italian word, however, means, literally, “Give!” This can give us cause to reflect. Sports are not only about physical achievements, however extraordinary, but also about giving of ourselves, putting ourselves “in play”. It is about giving of ourselves for others — for our personal improvement, for our athletic supporters, for our loved ones, our coaches and colleagues, for the greater public, and even for our opponents. Being a “good sport” is more important than winning or not. Saint John Paul II — himself, as we know, a sportsman — put it this way: “Sport is joy of life, a game, a celebration. As such, it must be fostered... by recovering its sheer gratuity, its ability to forge bonds of friendship, to encourage dialogue and openness towards others... quite apart from the harsh laws of production and consumption and all other purely utilitarian and hedonistic approaches to life” (Homily for the Jubilee of Sports, 12 April 1984).

From this standpoint, let us reflect on three particular things that make sport, nowadays, a precious means for training in human and Christian virtues.

First, in a society marked by solitude, where radical individualism has shifted the emphasis from “us” to “me”, resulting in a deficit of real concern for others, sport — especially team sports — teaches the value of cooperating, working together and sharing. These, as we said, are at the very heart of God’s own life (cf. Jn 16:14-15). Sport can thus become an important means of reconciliation and encounter: between peoples and within communities, schools, workplaces and families.

Second, in an increasingly digital society, where technology brings distant people closer together, yet often creates distances between those who are physically close, sport proves a valuable and concrete means of bringing individuals together, providing a healthier sense of the body, of space, effort and real time. It counters the temptation to escape into virtual worlds and it helps to preserve a healthy contact with nature and with real life, where genuine love is experienced (cf. 1 Jn 3:18).

Third, in our competitive society, where it seems that only the strong and winners deserve to live, sport also teaches us how to lose. It forces us, in learning the art of losing, to confront one of the deepest truths of our human condition: our fragility, our limitations and our imperfections. This is important, because it is through the experience of these limits that we open our hearts to hope. Athletes who never make mistakes, who never lose, do not exist. Champions are not perfectly functioning machines, but real men and women, who, when they fall, find the courage to get back on their feet. Saint John Paul II hit the mark when he said that Jesus is “the true athlete of God” because he defeated the world not by strength, but by the fidelity of love (cf. Homily at the Mass for the Jubilee of Sportsmen and Sportswomen, 29 October 2000).

It is no coincidence that sport has played a significant role in the lives of many saints in our day, both as a personal discipline and as a means of evangelization. We can think of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, the patron saint of athletes, who will be canonized later this year on 7 September. His straightforward and luminous life reminds us that, just as no one is born a champion, no one is born a saint. It is daily training in love that brings us closer to final victory (cf. Rom 5:3-5) and enables us to contribute to the building of a new world. Saint Paul VI also observed this, twenty years after the end of the Second World War, when he reminded the members of a Catholic athletic association how much sports had helped to restore peace and hope in a society devastated by the consequences of war (cf. Address to the members of the C.S.I., 20 March 1965). He went on to say: “Your efforts are directed at the formation of a new society..., in the recognition that sport, by virtue of the sound educational values it promotes, can be a most useful means for the spiritual elevation of the human person, the primary and indispensable condition for an orderly, peaceful and constructive society.”

Dear athletes, the Church entrusts you with a beautiful mission: to reflect in all your activities the love of the Triune God, for your own good and for that of your brothers and sisters. Carry out this mission with enthusiasm: as athletes, as trainers, as associations and groups, and within your families. Pope Francis liked to point out that the Gospel presents the Virgin Mary as ever active, on the move, even “running” (cf. Lk 1:39), ever ready, as mothers are, to set out at a sign from God to help her children (cf. Address to the Volunteers of World Youth Day, 6 August 2023). Let us ask her to accompany our effort and enthusiasm, and to guide it always toward the greatest victory of all: the prize of eternal life on that playing-field where games will never end and our joy will be complete (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-25; 2 Tim 4:7-8).

Angelus

Sunday, 15 June 2025

May conflict end in
Myanmar, Nigeria and Sudan

Dear brothers and sisters, good day!

We have just concluded the Eucharistic celebration for the Jubilee of Sport, and now I would like to say a word to all of you, athletes of every age and background. I encourage you always to participate in sports, including competitive sports, with a spirit of generosity, and to see them as “re-creation,” in the noblest sense, for by engaging in this wholesome pastime we in some sense resemble our Creator.

I think it is important to emphasize that sport is a means of building peace, since, as a training-ground of fairness and respect for others, it fosters a culture of encounter and fraternity. Sisters and brothers, I encourage you always to keep this in mind, opposing all forms of violence and bullying.

The world today is in need of this message. There is currently so much armed conflict. In Myanmar, fighting persists despite the ceasefire, causing damage also to civilian infrastructures. I invite all parties to engage in inclusive dialogue, the only path that can lead to a peaceful and enduring solution.

During the night between 13 and 14 June, a terrible massacre took place in the city of Yelwata, located in the local administrative area of Gouman, in the state of Benue, Nigeria. Around two hundred people were killed with extreme cruelty. The majority of those killed were internally displaced people who were being housed at a local Catholic mission. I pray that security, justice and peace prevail in Nigeria, a beloved country that has suffered various forms of violence. I pray in particular for the rural Christian communities in the state of Benue, who have unceasingly been victims of violence.

My thoughts also turn to the Republic of Sudan, torn apart by violence for over two years now. I was saddened to receive the news of the death of Father Luke Jumu, parish priest of El Fasher, who was a victim of a recent bombing. I offer the assurance of my prayers for him and all the victims, and I renew my appeal to warring parties to stop the violence, protect civilians and engage in dialogue for peace. I also urge the international community to intensify efforts to provide at least essential assistance to the people, who have been severely affected by this grave humanitarian crisis.

Let us continue to pray for peace in the Middle East, in Ukraine and throughout the world.

This afternoon, in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls, Floribert Bwana Chui, a young Congolese martyr, will be beatified. He was killed at the age of twenty-six because, as a Christian, he stood up to injustice and defended the vulnerable and the poor. May his witness grant courage and hope to the young people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in all of Africa!

Have a wonderful Sunday! And to the young people: I look forward to seeing you in a month and a half at the Jubilee of Youth! May the Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of Peace, intercede for us.

Angelus Domini...

Address to Participants in the Vatican Observatory Summer School

Monday, 16 June 2025

The progress of science in the service of our one human family

Good morning, and welcome!

I am pleased to have this opportunity to greet all of you, students and scholars from various part of the world who are taking part in the Vatican Observatory Summer School. I offer you my prayerful good wishes that this experience of living and studying together will not only be academically and personally enriching, but also help to develop friendships and forms of collaboration that can only contribute to the progress of science in the service of our one human family.

This year’s Summer School — I am told — is devoted to the theme, Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope. Surely, this must be an exciting time to be an astronomer! Thanks to that truly remarkable instrument, for the first time we are able to peer deeply into the atmosphere of exoplanets where life may be developing and study the nebulae where planetary systems themselves are forming. With Webb, we can even trace the ancient light of distant galaxies, which speaks of the very beginning of our universe.

The authors of sacred Scripture, writing so many centuries ago, did not have the benefit of this privilege. Yet their poetic and religious imagination pondered what the moment of creation must have been like, when “the stars shone in their watches and rejoiced; and their Creator called them and they said, ‘Here we are!’, shining with gladness for him who made them” (Baruch 3:34). In our own day, do not the James Webb images also fill us with wonder, and indeed a mysterious joy, as we contemplate their sublime beauty?

The Space Telescope science team has worked hard to make these images available to the general public, for which all of us can be grateful. In a special way, though, all of you who are taking part in the Summer School have been given the knowledge and training that can enable you to use this amazing instrument in order to expand our knowledge of the cosmos of which we are a tiny but meaningful part.

Of course, none of you have come to this point all by yourself. Each of you is part of a much greater community. Think of all the people over the last thirty years who worked to build the Space Telescope and its instruments, and those who worked to develop the scientific ideas that it was designed to test. Along with the contribution of your fellow scientists, engineers and mathematicians, it was also with the support of your families and so many of your friends that you have been able to appreciate and take part in this wonderful enterprise, which has enabled us to see the world around us in a new way.

Never forget, then, that what you are doing is meant to benefit all of us. Be generous in sharing what you learn and what you experience, as best you can and however you can. Do not hesitate to share the joy and the amazement born of your contemplation of the “seeds” that, in the words of Saint Augustine, God has sown in the harmony of the universe (cf. De Genesis ad Litteram, V, 23, 44-45). The more joy you share, the more joy you create, and in this way, through your pursuit of knowledge, each of you can contribute to building a more peaceful and just world.

With these thoughts, my friends, I renew my thanks for your visit and I assure you of my prayers for you, your families and your work and upon all of you, I willingly invoke God’s blessings of wisdom and understanding, of joy and peace. God bless you!

[Blessing, in English]

Thank you.

General Audience

Wednesday, 18 June 2025

The Heart of Christ is the true house of mercy!

Dear brothers and sisters,

Let us continue to contemplate Jesus who heals. In a particular way, I would like to invite you to think about the situations in which we feel “stuck” and trapped in a dead end. At times, in fact, it seems pointless to continue to hope. We become resigned and no longer have the desire to fight. This situation is described in the Gospels with the image of paralysis. This is why today I would like to dwell on the healing of a paralytic, narrated in the fifth chapter of the Gospel of Saint John (5:1-9).

Jesus goes to Jerusalem for a Jewish feast. He does not immediately go to the Temple; instead, he stops at a gate, where the sheep were probably washed before being offered as a sacrifice. Near this gate, there were also many sick people who, unlike the sheep, were excluded from the Temple because they were considered unclean! And so it is Jesus himself who reaches out to them in their suffering. These people hoped for a miracle that might change their fate. Indeed, there was a pool beside the gate, whose waters were considered thaumaturgical, that is, capable of healing. Sometimes the water would stir and, according to the belief of the time, whoever immersed themselves first would be healed.

This created a sort of “war among the poor”: we can imagine the sorry scene of these sick people who wearily dragged themselves to enter the pool. That pool was called Bethesda, which means “house of mercy”, and could be an image of the Church, where the sick and the poor gather and where the Lord comes to heal and give hope.

Jesus specifically addresses a man who had been paralysed for 38 years. By now he is resigned, because he never manages to immerse himself in the pool when the water stirs (cf. v. 7). Indeed, what paralyses us, very often, is disappointment. We feel discouraged and risk falling into apathy.

Jesus asks the paralytic a question that may seem superfluous: “Do you want to be healed?” (v. 6). Instead, it is a necessary question, because when one is stuck for so many years, even the will to heal may fade. Sometimes we prefer to remain in the condition of sickness, forcing others to take care of us. It is sometimes also an excuse for not deciding what to do with our lives. Jesus instead takes this man back to his truest and deepest desire.

Indeed, this man replies in a more articulate way to Jesus’ question, revealing his view of life. He says first of all that he has no-one to immerse him in the pool: so he is not to blame, but the others who do not take care of him. This attitude becomes the pretext for avoiding responsibility. But is it really true that he had no-one to help him? Here is Saint Augustine’s enlightening answer: “Truly he had need of a ‘man’ to his healing, but that ‘man’ one who is also God. … He came, then, the Man who was needed: why should the healing be delayed?” (cf. Tractate 17, 7).

The paralytic then adds that when he tries to immerse himself in the pool, there is always someone who arrives before him. This man is expressing a fatalistic view of life. We think that things happen to us because we are not fortunate, because destiny is against us. This man is discouraged. He feels defeated in the struggle of life.

Instead, Jesus helps him to discover that his life is also in his hands. He invites him to get up, to raise himself up from his chronic situation, and to take his stretcher (cf. v. 8). That mat is not to be left or thrown away: it represents his past of sickness, his history. Until that moment, the past had blocked him; it had forced him to lie like a dead man. Now it is he who can take that mat and carry it wherever he wishes: he can decide what to make of his story! It is a matter of walking, taking responsibility for choosing what road to take. And this is thanks to Jesus!

Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord for the gift of understanding where our life has gotten stuck. Let us try to give voice to our desire to be healed. And let us pray for all those who feel paralysed, who do not see a way out. Let us ask to return to dwell in the Heart of Christ, which is the true house of mercy!

Appeal

The Church is tormented by the cry of pain rising from places devastated by war, especially Ukraine, Iran, Israel and Gaza. We must never get used to war! Indeed, we must reject the fascination with powerful and sophisticated weapons, as we reject temptation. Today, when “every kind of weapon produced by modern science is used in war, the fierce character of warfare threatens to lead the combatants to a savagery far surpassing that of the past” (SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 79). Thus, in the name of human dignity and international law, I reiterate to those in positions of responsibility what Pope Francis often said: War is always a defeat! And what Pope Pius XII said: “Nothing is lost with peace. Everything may be lost with war.”

Message to Participants in the Second Annual Conference on Artificial Intelligence, Ethics, and Corporate Governance (Rome, 19-20 June 2025)

Released Friday, 20 June 2025

For a more authentically just and human global society

On the occasion of this Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence I extend my prayerful good wishes to those taking part. Your presence attests to the urgent need for serious reflection and ongoing discussion on the inherently ethical dimension of AI, as well as its responsible governance. In this regard, I am pleased that the second day of the Conference will take place in the Apostolic Palace, a clear indication of the Church’s desire to participate in these discussions that directly affect the present and future of our human family.

Together with its extraordinary potential to benefit the human family, the rapid development of AI also raises deeper questions concerning the proper use of such technology in generating a more authentically just and human global society. In this sense, while undoubtedly an exceptional product of human genius, AI is “above all else a tool” (POPE FRANCIS, Address at the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, 14 June 2024). By definition, tools point to the human intelligence that crafted them and draw much of their ethical force from the intentions of the individuals that wield them. In some cases, AI has been used in positive and indeed noble ways to promote greater equality, but there is likewise the possibility of its misuse for selfish gain at the expense of others, or worse, to foment conflict and aggression.

For its part, the Church wishes to contribute to a serene and informed discussion of these pressing questions by stressing above all the need to weigh the ramifications of AI in light of the “integral development of the human person and society” (Note Antiqua et Nova, 6). This entails taking into account the well-being of the human person not only materially, but also intellectually and spiritually; it means safeguarding the inviolable dignity of each human person and respecting the cultural and spiritual riches and diversity of the world’s peoples. Ultimately, the benefits or risks of AI must be evaluated precisely according to this superior ethical criterion.

Sadly, as the late Pope Francis pointed out, our societies today are experiencing a certain “loss, or at least an eclipse, of the sense of what is human,” and this in turn challenges all of us to reflect more deeply on the true nature and uniqueness of our shared human dignity (Address at the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, 14 June 2024). AI, especially Generative AI, has opened new horizons on many different levels, including enhancing research in healthcare and scientific discovery, but also raises troubling questions on its possible repercussions on humanity’s openness to truth and beauty, on our distinctive ability to grasp and process reality. Acknowledging and respecting what is uniquely characteristic of the human person is essential to the discussion of any adequate ethical framework for the governance of AI.

All of us, I am sure, are concerned for children and young people, and the possible consequences of the use of AI on their intellectual and neurological development. Our youth must be helped, and not hindered, in their journey towards maturity and true responsibility. They are our hope for the future, and society’s well-being depends upon their being given the ability to develop their God-given gifts and capabilities, and to respond to the demands of the times and the needs of others with a free and generous spirit. No generation has ever had such quick access to the amount of information now available through AI. But again, access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence, which necessarily “involves the person’s openness to the ultimate questions of life and reflects an orientation toward the True and the Good” (Antiqua et Nova, No. 29). In the end, authentic wisdom has more to do with recognizing the true meaning of life, than with the availability of data.

In this light, dear friends, I express my hope that your deliberations will also consider AI within the context of the necessary intergenerational apprenticeship that will enable young people to integrate truth into their moral and spiritual life, thus informing their mature decisions and opening the path towards a world of greater solidarity and unity (cf. ibid., 28). The task set before you is not easy, but it is one of vital importance. In thanking you for your efforts now and in the future, I cordially invoke upon you and your families the divine blessings of wisdom, joy and peace.

From the Vatican, 17 June 2025

LEO PP. XIV

Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV
to Members of the International Inter-Parliamentary Union

Saturday, 21 June 2025

Politics the highest form of charity

Madam President of the Council of Ministers, and Mr President of the Chamber of Deputies of the Republic of Italy,

Madam President and Mr Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union,

Distinguished Representatives of Academic Institutions and Religious Leaders,

I am pleased that we can meet in the context of the Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union, during the present Jubilee of Governments. I offer a warm greeting to the members of the Delegations coming from sixty-eight different countries, and, in a particular way, the Presidents of the respective Parliamentary Institutions.

Politics has rightly been defined as “the highest form of charity,” quoting Pope Pius XI (Address to the Italian Catholic University Federation, 18 December 1927). Indeed, if we consider the service that political life renders to society and to the common good, it can truly be seen as an act of Christian love, which is never simply a theory, but always a concrete sign and witness of God’s constant concern for the good of our human family (cf. Francis, Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 176-192).

In this regard, I would like to share with you this morning three considerations that I deem important in the current cultural context.

The first concerns your responsibility to promote and protect, independent of any special interest, the good of the community, the common good, particularly by defending the vulnerable and the marginalized. This would mean, for example, working to overcome the unacceptable disproportion between the immense wealth concentrated in the hands of a few and the world’s poor (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Letter Rerum Novarum, 15 May 1891, 1). Those who live in extreme conditions cry out to make their voices heard, and often find no ears willing to hear their plea. This imbalance generates situations of persistent injustice, which readily lead to violence and, sooner or later, to the tragedy of war. Sound politics, on the other hand, by promoting the equitable distribution of resources, can offer an effective service to harmony and peace both domestically and internationally.

My second reflection has to do with religious freedom and interreligious dialogue. This area has taken on greater significance in the present time, and political life can achieve much by encouraging the conditions for there to be authentic religious freedom and that a respectful and constructive encounter between different religious communities may develop. Belief in God, with the positive values that derive from it, is an immense source of goodness and truth for the lives of individuals and communities. Saint Augustine spoke of the need to pass from amor sui — egotistic, myopic and destructive self-love — to amor Dei — a free and generous love, grounded in God and leading to the gift of self. That passage, he taught, is essential for the building of the civitas Dei, a society whose fundamental law is charity (cf. De Civitate Dei, XIV, 28).

In order to have a shared point of reference in political activity, and not exclude a priori any consideration of the transcendent in decision-making processes, it would be helpful to seek an element that unites everyone. To this end, an essential reference point is the natural law, written not by human hands, but acknowledged as valid in all times and places, and finding its most plausible and convincing argument in nature itself. In the words of Cicero, already an authoritative exponent of this law in antiquity, I quote from De Re Publica: “Natural law is right reason, in accordance with nature, universal, constant and eternal, which with its commands, invites us to do what is right and with its prohibitions deters us from evil... No change may be made to this law, nor may any part of it be removed, nor can it be abolished altogether; neither by the Senate nor by the people, can we free ourselves from it, nor is it necessary to seek its commentator or interpreter. And there shall be no law in Rome, none in Athens, none now, none later; but one eternal and unchanging law shall govern all peoples at all times” (III, 22).

Natural law, which is universally valid apart from and above other more debatable beliefs, constitutes the compass by which to take our bearings in legislating and acting, particularly on the delicate and pressing ethical issues that, today more than in the past, regard personal life and privacy.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, approved and proclaimed by the United Nations on 10 December 1948, is now part of humanity’s cultural heritage. That text, which is always relevant, can contribute greatly to placing the human person, in his or her inviolable integrity, at the foundation of the quest for truth, thus restoring dignity to those who do not feel respected in their inmost being and in the dictates of their conscience.

This brings us to a third consideration. The degree of civilization attained in our world and the goals you are charged to achieve are now facing a major challenge in the form of artificial intelligence. This is a development that will certainly be of great help to society, provided that its employment does not undermine the identity and dignity of the human person and his or her fundamental freedoms. In particular, it must not be forgotten that artificial intelligence functions as a tool for the good of human beings, not to diminish them, not to replace them. What is emerging is in fact a significant challenge, one that calls for great attention and foresight in order to project, also in the context of new scenarios, healthy, fair and sound lifestyles, especially for the good of younger generations.

Our personal life has greater value than any algorithm, and social relationships require spaces for development that far transcend the limited patterns that any soulless machine can pre-package. Let us not forget that, while able to store millions of data points and answer many questions in a matter of seconds, artificial intelligence remains equipped with a “static memory” that is in no way comparable to that of human beings. Our memory, on the other hand, is creative, dynamic, generative, capable of uniting past, present and future in a lively and fruitful search for meaning, with all the ethical and existential implications that this entails (cf. Francis, Address to the G7 Session on Artificial Intelligence, 14 June 2024).

Politics cannot ignore a challenge of this magnitude. On the contrary, it is called to respond to many citizens who rightly look with both confidence and concern at the issues raised by this new digital culture.

During the Jubilee of the Year 2000, Saint John Paul II indicated Saint Thomas More as a witness for political leaders to revere and an intercessor under whose protection to place their work. Sir Thomas More was a man faithful to his civic responsibilities, a perfect servant of the state precisely because of his faith, which led him to view politics not as a profession but as a mission for the spread of truth and goodness. He “placed his public activity at the service of the person, especially the weak and poor; he handled social disputes with an exquisite sense of justice; he protected the family and defended it with strenuous commitment; and he promoted the integral education of youth” (Apostolic Letter E Sancti Thomae Mori, 31 October 2000, 4). The courage he showed by his readiness to sacrifice his life rather than betray the truth makes him, also for us today, a martyr for freedom and for the primacy of conscience. May his example be a source of inspiration and guidance for each of you!

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, I thank you for your visit. I offer my prayerful good wishes for your work and upon you and your loved ones, I invoke God’s abundant blessings.

Thank you to all of you. God’s blessings upon you and your work. Thank you.

Homily of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV
for ‘Corpus Christi’

Sunday, 22 June 2025

Our hungry nature satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist

Dear brothers and sisters, it is wonderful to be in the presence of Jesus. The Gospel passage we just heard attests to this; it recounts how the crowds spent long hours listening to him speak about the Kingdom of God and seeing him heal the sick (cf. Lk 9:11). Jesus’ compassion for the suffering shows us the loving closeness of God, who comes into our world to save us. Where God reigns, we are set free from all evil. Yet even for those who accept the good news brought by Jesus, the hour of trial comes. In that deserted place, where the crowds were listening to the Master, evening fell and there was nothing to eat (cf. v. 12). The hunger of the people and the setting of the sun speak to us of a limit that looms over the world and every creature: the day ends, as does the life of every human being. At that hour of need and of gathering shadows, Jesus remains present in our midst.

Precisely when the day is ending and hunger sets in, as the Apostles themselves ask him to dismiss the crowds, Christ surprises us with his mercy. He feels compassion for those who are hungry and he invites his disciples to provide for them. Hunger is not foreign to the preaching of the Kingdom and the message of salvation. On the contrary, it speaks to us of our relationship with God. At the same time, five loaves and two fish seem completely inadequate to feed the people. The disciples’ calculations, apparently so reasonable, reveal their lack of faith. For where the Lord is present, we find all that we need to give strength and meaning to our lives.

Jesus responds to the appeal of hunger with the sign of sharing: he raises his eyes, recites the blessing, breaks the bread, and feeds all present (cf. v. 16). The Lord’s actions are not some complicated magical rite; they simply show his gratitude to the Father, his filial prayer and the fraternal communion sustained by the Holy Spirit. Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish by sharing what is available. As a result, there is enough for everyone. In fact, more than enough. After all had eaten their fill, twelve baskets-full were gathered up (cf. v. 17).

That is how Jesus satisfies the hunger of the crowd: he does what God does, and he teaches us to do the same. Today, in place of the crowds mentioned in the Gospel, entire peoples are suffering more as a result of the greed of others than from their own hunger. In stark contrast to the dire poverty of many, the amassing of wealth by a few is the sign of an arrogant indifference that produces pain and injustice. Rather than sharing, it squanders the fruits of the earth and human labour. Especially in this Jubilee Year, the Lord’s example is a yardstick that should guide our actions and our service: we are called to share our bread, to multiply hope and to proclaim the coming of God’s Kingdom.

In saving the crowds from hunger, Jesus proclaims that he will save everyone from death. That is the mystery of faith, which we celebrate in the sacrament of the Eucharist. For just as hunger is a sign of our radical needs in this life, so breaking bread is a sign of God’s gift of salvation.

Dear friends, Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his Body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you! Jesus’ invitation reflects our daily experience: in order to remain alive, we need to nourish ourselves with life, drawing it from plants and animals. Yet eating something dead reminds us that we too, no matter how much we eat, will one day die. On the other hand, when we partake of Jesus, the living and true Bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God. Our hungry nature bears the mark of a need that is satisfied by the grace of the Eucharist. As Saint Augustine writes, Christ is truly “panis qui reficit, et non deficit; panis qui sumi potest, consumi non potest” (Serm. 130, 2): he is bread that restores and does not run short; bread that can be eaten but not exhausted. The Eucharist, in fact, is the true, real, and substantial presence of the Saviour (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1413), who transforms bread into himself in order to transform us into himself. Living and life-giving, the Corpus Domini makes us, the Church herself, the Body of the Lord.

For this reason, echoing the Apostle Paul (cf. 1 Cor 10:17), the Second Vatican Council teaches that “in the sacrament of the Eucharistic bread, the unity of believers, who form one body in Christ, is both expressed and achieved. All are called to this union with Christ, who is the light of the world, from whom we come, through whom we live, and towards whom we direct our lives” (Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 3). The procession that we are about to undertake is a sign of that journey. Together, as shepherds and flock, we will feed on the Blessed Sacrament, adore him and carry him through the streets. In doing so, we will present him before the eyes, the consciences and the hearts of the people. To the hearts of those who believe, so that they may believe more firmly; to the hearts of those who do not believe, so that they may reflect on the hunger present within them and the bread that alone can satisfy it.

Strengthened by the food that God gives us, let us bring Jesus to the hearts of all, because Jesus involves everyone in his work of salvation by calling each of us to sit at his table. Blessed are those who are called, for they become witnesses of this love!

Angelus
Corpus Christ

Sunday, 22 June 2025

War does not solve problems

Dear brothers and sisters,

Alarming news continues to emerge from the Middle East, especially from Iran. Against this tragic backdrop, which includes Israel and Palestine, people’s daily suffering, especially in Gaza and the other territories, where the need for adequate humanitarian aid is becoming increasingly urgent, risks being forgotten.

Today more than ever, humanity cries out and calls for peace. This is a cry that requires responsibility and reason, and it must not be drowned out by the din of weapons or the rhetoric that incites conflict. Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable chasm. There are no “distant” conflicts when human dignity is at stake.

War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures.

May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!

I greet all of you, people of Rome and pilgrims! I am pleased to welcome the parliamentarians and mayors here present on the occasion of the Jubilee of Governments.

I greet the faithful from Bogotá and Sampués in Colombia; those from Poland, including students and teachers from a technical institute in Krakow; the Strengberg Music Band from Austria; the faithful from Hanover, Germany; the confirmandi from Gioia Tauro and the young people from Tempio Pausania.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday, and I bless those who are actively participating in the feast of Corpus Christi today, including those who are singing, playing music, decorating with flowers, displaying crafts and, above all, praying and taking part in the procession. Thanks to you all, and have a good Sunday!

General Audience

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

‘Do not fear, only believe’

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we will again reflect on Jesus’ healings as a sign of hope. In him, there is a strength that we too can experience when we enter into a relationship with him.

A very widespread ailment of our time is the fatigue of living: reality seems to us to be too complex, burdensome, difficult to face. And so we switch off, we fall asleep, in the delusion that, upon waking, things will be different. But reality has to be faced, and together with Jesus, we can do it well. At times we feel blocked by the judgment of those who put labels on others.

It seems to me that these situations can find an answer in a passage from the Gospel of Mark, where two stories intertwine: that of the 12-year-old girl who is sick in bed and is dying; and that of a woman who has been bleeding for precisely 12 years, and seeks out Jesus in order to be healed (cf. Mk 5:21-43).

Between these two female figures, the Evangelist places the character of the girl’s father: he does not stay at home complaining about his daughter’s illness, but rather he goes out and asks for help. Although he is a ruler of the synagogue, he makes no demands on account of his social position. When it is necessary to wait, he does not lose his patience, and he waits. And when they come to tell him that his daughter is dead and it is pointless to disturb the Teacher, he continues to have faith and to hope.

The conversation between this father and Jesus is interrupted by the bleeding woman, who manages to come close to Jesus and to touch his cloak (v. 27). This woman, with great courage, made the decision that would change her life: everyone continued to tell her to keep her distance, to keep out of view. They had condemned her to stay hidden and isolated. At times, we too can be victims of the judgment of others, who presume to put an “outfit” on us that is not our own. And then we suffer, and cannot get out of it.

That woman embarks on the path of salvation when the faith that Jesus can heal her begins to grow in her: so, she finds the strength to come out and go in search of him. She wants to at least manage to touch his garment.

Around Jesus there is a large crowd, and therefore many people were touching him, and yet nothing happens to them. Instead, when this woman touches Jesus, she is healed. Where does the difference lie? In his commentary on this point of the text, Saint Augustine says — speaking for Jesus — “The crowd jostles, faith touches” (Sermon 243, 2, 2). It is thus: every time we perform an act of faith addressed to Jesus, contact is established with him, and immediately his grace comes out from him. At times we are unaware of it, but in a secret and real way, grace reaches us and gradually transforms our life from within.

Perhaps today too, many people approach Jesus in a superficial way, without truly believing in his power. We walk the surfaces of our churches, but maybe our heart is elsewhere! This woman, silent and anonymous, conquers her fears, touching the heart of Jesus with her hands, which were considered unclean because of her illness. And she immediately feels healed. Jesus says to her: “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace” (Mk 5:34).

In the meantime, the father receives the news that his daughter is dead. Jesus says to him: “Do not fear, only believe” (v. 36). He then goes to his house and, seeing that everyone is weeping and wailing, says: “The child is not dead but sleeping” (v. 39). He enters the chamber where the child is lying, takes her hand, and says to her: “Tal’itha cu’mi”, “Little girl, arise!”. The girl stands up and starts to walk (cf. vv. 41-42). Jesus’ act shows us that not only does he heal from every illness, but he also awakens from death. For God, who is eternal Life, death of the body is like sleep. True death is that of the soul: of this we must be afraid!

One last detail: Jesus, after reviving the child, tells the parents to give her something to eat (cf. v. 43). Here is another very concrete sign of Jesus’ closeness to our humanity. But we can also understand it in a deeper sense, and ask ourselves: when our children are in crisis and need spiritual nourishment, do we know how to give it to them? And how can we, if we ourselves are not nourished by the Gospel?

Dear brothers and sisters, in life there are moments of disappointment and discouragement, and there is also the experience of death. Let us learn from that woman, from that father: let us go to Jesus. He can heal us, He can revive us. Jesus is our hope!

Appeal

Last Sunday, a heinous terrorist attack was carried out against the Greek Orthodox community in the Church of Mar Elias in Damascus. We entrust the victims to God’s mercy and we offer our prayers for the wounded and their families. I say to the Christians of the Middle East: I am close to you! The whole Church is close to you!

This tragic event recalls the profound fragility that Syria still faces after years of conflict and instability. It is therefore essential that the international community not ignore this country, but continue to offer support through gestures of solidarity and a renewed commitment to peace and reconciliation.

We continue to follow carefully and with hope the developments in Iran, Israel and Palestine. The words of the prophet Isaiah resound with urgent relevance: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Is 2:4). May this voice, which comes from the Most High, be heard! May the wounds caused by the bloody actions of recent days be healed. Let us reject arrogance and revenge, and instead resolutely choose the path of dialogue, diplomacy and peace.

Address to Bishops on the occasion of
their Jubilee

Wednesday, 25 June 2025

Men of communion

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you!

Dear brothers, good morning and welcome!

I deeply appreciate the effort all of you have made to come on pilgrimage to Rome, since I realize how pressing are the demands of your ministry. Yet each of you, like myself, before being a shepherd, is a sheep, a member of the Lord’s flock. So we too, even before others, are asked to pass through the Holy Door, the symbol of Christ the Saviour. If we are to lead the Churches entrusted to our care, we must let ourselves be profoundly renewed by Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in order to conform ourselves fully to his heart and to the mystery of his love.

“Spes non confundit,” “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). How often did we hear Pope Francis repeat those words of Saint Paul! They became one of his trademark phrases, so much so that he chose them to be the opening words of the Bull of Indiction of this Jubilee Year.

We, as Bishops, are the primary heirs of that prophetic legacy, which we must preserve and transmit to the People of God by our words and the way we live our lives. At times, preaching the message that hope does not disappoint means swimming against the tide, even in certain painful situations that appear to be hopeless. Yet it is precisely at those times when it becomes all the more apparent that our faith and our hope do not come from ourselves, but from God. If we are truly close to those who suffer, the Holy Spirit can revive in their hearts even a flame that has all but died out (cf. Bull Spes Non Confundit, 3).

Dear friends, a Bishop is a witness to hope by his example of a life firmly grounded in God and completely devoted to the service of the Church. This will be the case only insofar as he is conformed to Christ in his personal life and in his apostolic ministry. The Spirit of the Lord will then shape his way of thinking, his feelings and his actions. Let us stop for a moment and together consider a few aspects of this witness.

First, the Bishop is the visible principle of unity in the particular Church entrusted to him. It is his duty to build communion among its members and with the universal Church by fostering the variety of gifts and ministries given for its own growth and for the spread of the Gospel. In this service, as in his entire mission, the Bishop can count on the special divine grace conferred on him at his episcopal ordination. This grace sustains him as a teacher of the faith, a minister of sanctification and a spiritual leader; it strengthens his commitment to the Kingdom of God, to the eternal salvation of souls and to the transformation of history by the power of the Gospel.

The second aspect I would like to consider, again in the light of Christ as the model of the Bishop’s life, could be put this way: the Bishop is a man who lives the theological life. In a word, he is a person completely docile to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, who fills him with faith, hope and charity, and fans them into flame amid the various situations and challenges of daily life.

The Bishop, then, is a man of faith. Here I think of that marvelous passage in the Letter to the Hebrews (cf. Heb 11), where the author lists an entire genealogy of “witnesses” of faith, beginning with Abel. I think specifically of Moses, who was called by God to lead the people to the promised land, and who, we are told, “remained steadfast, as if seeing him who is unseen” (Heb 11:27). Here we have a magnificent portrayal of a man of faith: he is one who, by the grace of God, sees ahead, glimpses the goal, and perseveres in times of trial. Think of all the times that Moses interceded for the people before God. So too, the Bishop in his Church acts as an intercessor, because the Spirit keeps the flame of faith alive in his heart.

Then too, the Bishop is a man of hope, since “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Especially at moments of difficulty in people’s lives, the Bishop, by this theological virtue, helps them not to despair: not simply by his words but by his closeness. When families are greatly burdened and public institutions fail to provide adequate support; when young people are disillusioned and fed up with empty promises; when the elderly and those with grave disabilities feel abandoned, the Bishop is close to them, not offering easy solutions, but rather the experience of communities that strive to live the Gospel in simplicity and solidarity.

Faith and hope then come together in him as a man of pastoral charity. The whole life of the Bishop, his entire ministry, diverse and multifaceted as it is, finds its unity in what Saint Augustine calls the amoris officium. Here his theological life is expressed and shines forth in the highest degree. Whether preaching, visiting communities, listening to priests and deacons, or making administrative decisions, all that he does is inspired and motivated by the charity of Christ the Shepherd. With the help of God’s grace, drawn daily from the celebration of the Eucharist and his prayer, the Bishop gives an example of fraternal love to his Coadjutor or Auxiliary, to the Bishop Emeritus and to the Bishops of neighboring dioceses, to the priests, his closest collaborators, particularly those experiencing moments of difficulty or illness. His heart is open and welcoming, and so is his home.

Dear brothers, this is the theological core of the life of a Bishop. Centered on these aspects, and always awakened by the same Spirit, a number of other essential virtues can be added: pastoral prudence, poverty, perfect continence in celibacy, and human virtues.

Pastoral prudence is the practical wisdom that guides the Bishop in his decisions, in his governance, in his relations with the faithful and with their associations. A clear sign of prudence is his exercise of dialogue as a style and method, both in his relationships with others and in his presiding over participatory bodies: in other words, in his overseeing of synodality in his particular Church. Pope Francis taught us much in this regard, insisting with pedagogical wisdom on synodality as a dimension of the life of the Church. Pastoral prudence also enables the Bishop to guide the diocesan community by cherishing its traditions and by promoting new directions and initiatives.

To bear witness to the Lord Jesus, the Bishop lives a life of evangelical poverty. His is a simple, sober and generous lifestyle, dignified and at the same time suited to the conditions of the majority of his people. The poor must find in him a father and a brother, and never feel uncomfortable in meeting him or entering his home. In his personal life, he must be detached from the pursuit of wealth and from forms of favoritism based on money or power. The Bishop must never forget that, like Jesus, he has been anointed with the Holy Spirit and sent to bring good news to the poor (cf. Lk 4:18).

Together with material poverty, the life of the Bishop is also marked by that specific form of poverty which is celibacy and virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven (cf. Mt 19:12). Here, it is not just a question of living as a celibate, but of practicing chastity of heart and conduct, and in this way living a life of Christian discipleship and presenting to all the authentic image of the Church, holy and chaste in her members as in her Head. He must be firm and decisive in dealing with situations that can cause scandal and with every case of abuse, especially involving minors, and fully respect the legislation currently in force.

Finally, the Bishop is called to cultivate those human virtues which the Council Fathers also chose to mention in the Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis (No. 3). These are of great help to him in his ministry and in his relationships with others. They include fairness, sincerity, magnanimity, openness of mind and heart, the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice and to suffer with those who suffer, as well as self-control, delicacy, patience, discretion, great openness to listening and engaging in dialogue, and willingness to serve. These virtues, which each of us possess to a greater or lesser extent by nature, can and must be cultivated in conformity to the Lord Jesus, with the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Dear brothers, may the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saints Peter and Paul obtain for you and your communities the graces that you most need. In particular, may they help you to be men of communion, always promoting unity in the diocesan presbyterate. May every priest, without exception, sense the fatherhood, brotherhood and friendship of his Bishop. That spirit of communion encourages priests in their pastoral outreach and makes the particular Church grow in unity.

Thank you for remembering me in your prayers! I am also praying for you and from my heart, I offer all of you my blessing.

Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to Participants in the Meeting of Aid Agencies for the Oriental Churches (ROACO)

Thursday, 26 June 2025

Christian East devastated by wars as never before

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Your Eminence, Your Excellencies,

Dear priests, brothers and sisters,

Peace be with you! I offer you a warm welcome and I am pleased to meet you as you conclude your Plenary Assembly. I greet His Eminence Cardinal Gugerotti, the other Superiors of the Dicastery, the Officials, and all of you, members of the ROACO Agencies.

“God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor 9:7). I realize that, for you, supporting the Eastern Churches is not primarily a task, but a mission carried out in the name of the Gospel, which, as the word itself indicates, is a proclamation of joy, which before all else gladdens the heart of God, who never allows himself to be outdone in generosity. I thank you because, together with all your benefactors, you are sowing seeds of hope in the lands of the Christian East, which today, as never before, are devastated by wars, plundered by special interests, and covered by a cloud of hatred that renders the air unbreathable and toxic. You provide a breath of oxygen to the Eastern Churches, so worn down by the conflicts in course. For many people, poor in means but rich in faith, you are a light that shines amid the dark shadows of hatred. I ask you with all my heart to continue to do everything possible to help these Churches, so precious and so greatly afflicted.

The history of the Eastern Catholic Churches has often been marked by suffering and violence. Sadly, there have also been instances of oppression and misunderstanding within the Catholic community itself, which at times failed to acknowledge and appreciate the value of traditions other than those of the West. Yet today, violent conflict seems to be raging in the Christian East with a diabolical intensity previously unknown. Your annual meeting has itself been affected by the physical absence of those who were to have come from the Holy Land but proved unable to make the journey. Our hearts bleed when we think of Ukraine, the tragic and inhumane situation in Gaza and the Middle East, ravaged by the spread of war. All of us, by virtue of our humanity, are called upon to examine the causes of these conflicts, to identify those that are real and to attempt to resolve them. But also to reject those that are false, the result of emotional manipulation and rhetoric, and to make every effort to bring them to light. People must not die because of fake news.

It is truly distressing to see the principle of “might makes right” prevailing in so many situations today, all for the sake of legitimizing the pursuit of self-interest. It is troubling to see that the force of international law and humanitarian law seems no longer to be binding, replaced by the alleged right to coerce others. This is unworthy of our humanity, shameful for all mankind and for the leaders of nations. After centuries of history, how can anyone believe that acts of war bring about peace and not backfire on those who commit them? How can we think that we are laying the foundations of the future apart from cooperation and a global vision inspired by the common good? How can we continue to betray the desire of the world’s peoples for peace with propaganda about weapons buildup, as if military supremacy will resolve problems instead of fueling even greater hatred and desire for revenge? People are beginning to realize the amount of money that ends up in the pockets of merchants of death; money that could be used to build new hospitals and schools is instead being used to destroy those that already exist!

I ask myself: as Christians, in addition to feeling outraged, speaking out and rolling up our sleeves as peacemakers and promoters of dialogue, what else can we do? I believe that first and foremost we really need to pray. It is up to us to make every tragic news story, every newsreel that we see, a cry of intercession before God. And then to offer help, just as you do and as many others can do through you.

Yet there is more, and I say this, thinking in particular of the Christian East: there is witness. It is our call to remain faithful to Jesus, without allowing ourselves to end up in the clutches of power. It is our call to imitate Christ, who conquered evil by the love he showed on the cross, and to show a way of reigning quite different from that of Herod and Pilate. Herod, for fear of being deposed, murdered children, who even today continue to be torn apart by bombs; Pilate washed his hands, as we risk doing every day until we arrive at the point of no return. Let us look to Jesus, who calls us to heal the wounds of history solely by the gentle power of his glorious cross, which radiates the strength of forgiveness, the hope of new beginnings, and the resolve to remain honest and transparent in a sea of corruption. Let us follow Christ, who freed hearts from hatred, and show by our example how to break free of the mindset of division and revenge. I would like to thank and spiritually embrace all those Eastern Christians who respond to evil with good. Thank you, dear brothers and sisters, for the witness you give, especially when you remain in your lands as disciples and witnesses of Christ.

Dear friends of ROACO, in your work, you see the immense sufferings caused by war and terrorism — and here I think of the recent terrible attack on the Church of Saint Elias in Damascus — but you also see the seeds of the Gospel taking root in the desert. You encounter the People of God who persevere by looking up to heaven, praying to God, and loving their neighbors. You experience firsthand the grace and beauty of Eastern traditions, of liturgies that allow God to dwell in time and space, of centuries-old chants imbued with praise, glory, and mystery, which raise an incessant plea for forgiveness for humanity. You encounter men and women who, often nameless, join the great ranks of martyrs and saints of the Christian East. In the dark night of conflict, you are witnesses to the light of the East.

I would like this light of wisdom and salvation to be better known in the Catholic Church, where it is still largely unknown and where, in some places, the faith is in danger of becoming lifeless, also because the hope expressed repeatedly by Saint John Paul II has not yet been realized. Forty years ago, he said: “The Church must learn once again to breathe with both lungs, the Eastern and the Western” (Address to the Sacred College of Cardinals, 28 June 1985). The Christian East, however, can only be preserved if it is loved, and it can only be loved if it is known. Hence, it is necessary to implement the clear bidding of the Magisterium to become familiar with their treasures, for example by organizing basic courses on the Eastern Churches in Seminaries, Theological Faculties, and Catholic Universities (cf. SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Orientale Lumen, 24; CONGREGATION FOR CATHOLIC EDUCATION, Circular Letter Eu égard au développement, 9-14). There is also a need for encounter and the sharing of pastoral activity, since Eastern Catholics today are no longer our distant cousins who celebrate unfamiliar rites, but our brothers and sisters who, due to forced migration, are our next-door neighbors. Their sense of the sacred, their deep faith, confirmed by suffering, and their spirituality, redolent of the divine mysteries, can benefit the thirst for God, latent yet at the same present, in the West.

Let us entrust this shared growth in faith to the intercession of the Holy Mother of God and of the Apostles Peter and Paul, who united East and West. I bless you and encourage you to persevere in charity, animated by the hope of Christ. Thank you.

Homily of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV for Mass and Priestly Ordinations on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, 27 June 2025

United and transformed by the love that flows from the Heart of Christ

Today, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, we celebrate this Eucharist with great joy as part of the Jubilee of Priests.

Before all else, dear brother priests, I wish to say a word to you, who have passed through the Holy Door to pray at the tomb of the Apostle Peter and to immerse your baptismal and priestly garments once more in the Heart of the Savior. For some of you, this is happening on a unique day in your lives: the day of your Ordination.

To speak of the Heart of Christ in this context is to reflect on the entire mystery of the Lord’s incarnation, death and resurrection, which is entrusted in a special way to us, so that we can make it present in our world. In the light of the readings that we have just heard, let us reflect on how we can contribute to this work of salvation.

In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel describes God as a shepherd who watches over his flock, counting his sheep one by one. He seeks out the lost, binds up the wounded, and strengthens the weak and sick (cf. Ezek 34:11-16). He thus reminds us, in this age of vast and devastating conflicts, that the love of God has no limits. We are called to let ourselves be embraced and shaped by that love, and to realize that in God’s eyes — and our own as well — there is no place for division and hatred of any kind.

In the second reading (cf. Rom 5:5-11), Saint Paul reminds us that God reconciled us to himself “while we were still weak” (v. 6) and “sinful” (v. 8), and exhorts us to entrust ourselves, along a daily path of conversion, to the transforming power of his Spirit who dwells in our hearts. Our hope is grounded in the knowledge that the Lord never abandons us: he is always at our side. At the same time, we are called to cooperate with him, above all by putting the Eucharist at the center of our lives, inasmuch as it is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 11). Then too, “through the fruitful reception of the sacraments, and especially by the frequent practice of sacramental penance” (Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, 18), and finally through prayer, meditation on God’s word, and the exercise of charity, conforming our hearts ever more closely to that of “the Father of mercies” (ibid.).

This brings us to today’s Gospel (cf. Lk 15:3-7), which speaks of the joy of God — and of every shepherd who loves in the manner of his Heart — at the return of even one of his sheep to the fold. We are called to exercise pastoral charity with a generous love, like that of the Father, and to foster in our hearts the desire that no one be lost (cf. Jn 6:39) but that everyone, also through our ministry, may come to know Christ and have eternal life in him (cf. Jn 6:40). We are called to deepen our closeness to Jesus (cf. Presbyterorum Ordinis, 14) and to be a source of harmony in the midst of our brother priests. We do so by bearing on our shoulders those who are lost, granting forgiveness to those who have erred, seeking out those who have gone astray or been left behind, and caring for those who suffer in body or spirit. And to do all this in a great exchange of love that, flowing from the pierced side of the crucified Lord, embraces all people and fills the entire world. For, in the words of Pope Francis, “the wounded side of Christ continues to pour forth that stream which is never exhausted, never passes away, but offers itself time and time again to all those who wish to love as he did. For his love alone can bring about a new humanity” (Encyclical Letter Dilexit Nos, 219).

The priestly ministry is one of sanctification and reconciliation for the building up of the Body of Christ in unity (cf. Lumen Gentium, 7). For this reason, the Second Vatican Council exhorted priests to make every effort to “lead all to the unity of charity” (Presbyterorum Ordinis, 9), harmonizing differences so that “no one… may feel left out” (ibid.). It also encouraged priests to remain united with their bishop and within the presbyterate (ibid., 7-8). For the more we are united among ourselves, the more we will be able to lead others to the fold of the Good Shepherd, and to live as brothers and sisters in the one house of the Father.

Saint Augustine, in a homily delivered on the anniversary of his ordination, spoke of the joyful fruit of communion that unites the faithful, priests and bishops, grounded in the recognition that all of us are redeemed and saved by the same gracious mercy of God. It was in that context that he spoke the celebrated words: “For you I am a bishop, with you I am a Christian” (Serm. 340, 1).

In the solemn Mass inaugurating my Pontificate, I voiced before the People of God my great desire for “a united Church, a sign of unity and communion, which becomes a leaven for a reconciled world” (18 May 2025). Today, I share this desire once more with all of you. Reconciled with one another, united and transformed by the love that flows abundantly from the Heart of Christ, let us walk together humbly and resolutely in his footsteps, firm in faith and open to all in charity. Let us bring the peace of the risen Lord to our world, with the freedom born of the knowledge that we have been loved, chosen and sent by the Father.

Now, before concluding, I would like to say a word to you, dear Ordinands, who in a few moments, by the laying on of hands of the bishop and a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit, will become priests. What I have to say is simple, but I consider it important for your future and for the future of the souls entrusted to your care. Love God and your brothers and sisters, and give yourselves to them generously. Be fervent in your celebration of the sacraments, in prayer, especially in adoration before the Eucharist, and in your ministry. Keep close to your flock, give freely of your time and energy to everyone, without reserve and without partiality, as the pierced side of the crucified Jesus and the example of the saints teach us to do. Remember that the Church, in the two thousand years of her history, has had — and today continues to have — wonderful examples of priestly holiness. From the earliest communities on, the Church has raised up priests who have been martyrs, tireless apostles, missionaries, and champions of charity. Cherish this treasure: learn their stories, study their lives and work, imitate their virtues, be inspired by their zeal, and invoke their intercession often and insistently! All too often, today’s world offers models of success and prestige that are dubious and short-lived. Do not let yourselves be taken in by them! Look rather to the solid example and apostolic fruitfulness, frequently hidden and unassuming, of those who, with faith and dedication, have spent their lives in service of the Lord and their brothers and sisters. Keep their memory alive by your own example of fidelity.

Let us now entrust ourselves to the loving protection of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of priests and Mother of hope. May she direct and sustain our steps, so that each day we may conform our hearts more closely to that of Christ, the supreme and eternal Shepherd.

Message of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to Priests on the occasion of the Day for the Sanctification of Priests — Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Friday, 27 June 2025

Builders of unity and peace

Dear brothers in the priesthood!

On this Day for the Sanctification of Priests, celebrated on the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, I address each of you with gratitude and great confidence.

The Heart of Christ, pierced for love, is the living and life-giving flesh that embraces each of us and conforms us to the image of the Good Shepherd. There we discover the true nature of our ministry. Consumed by God’s mercy, we become joyful witnesses of his love that heals, accompanies and redeems.

Today’s Solemnity thus renews in our own hearts the call to be completely committed to the service of God’s holy people. This mission starts with prayer and is carried out in union with the Lord, who constantly revives in us the sacred gift of our vocation to the priesthood.

To be mindful of this grace means, as Saint Augustine tells us, to enter into “a vast and deep inner chamber” (cf. Confessions, X, 8.15), which does not simply preserve a memory of the past, but makes its riches ever new and present. Only by such remembrance, can we experience and renew that gift which the Lord entrusted to us and charged us to pass on in his name. Remembrance joins our hearts together in the Heart of Christ and our lives in his life, and thus enables us to bring the word and the sacraments of salvation to God’s holy people, in order to bring about a world reconciled in love. Only in the Heart of Jesus do we discover our authentic humanity as children of God, brothers and sisters of one another. For all these reasons, I would make this heartfelt appeal to you today: Be builders of unity and peace!

In a world marked by growing tensions, even within families and ecclesial communities, priests are called to promote reconciliation and foster communion. Building unity and peace demands that we be pastors capable of wise discernment, skilled in the art of piecing together the fragments of the lives entrusted to our care, so that we can enable people to see the light of the Gospel in the midst of life’s trials. It calls for the ability to understand and interpret complex situations, and to rise above immediate emotions, fears and the pressure of passing fashions. It means providing pastoral solutions that generate and regenerate faith by building good relationships, bonds of solidarity and communities in which the style of communion shines forth. Being builders of unity and peace means serving and not domineering. Priestly fraternity becomes a credible sign of the presence of the Risen Lord in our midst precisely when it is the hallmark of our shared journey as priests.

Today, then, I invite you to renew before the Heart of Christ the “yes” that you said to God and to his holy People on the day of your Ordination. Let yourselves be shaped by grace and guard the fire of the Spirit received on that day, so that, in union with him, you may be a sacrament of Jesus’ love in the world. Do not be daunted by your personal frailty: the Lord does not look for perfect priests, but for humble hearts that are open to conversion and prepared to love others as he himself loved us.

Dear brother priests, Pope Francis called us to renewed devotion to the Sacred Heart as the locus of our personal encounter with the Lord (cf. Dilexit Nos, 103), the place where we can bring and resolve not only our inner conflicts but also those that are tearing apart the world in which we live. For in him, “we learn to relate to one another in wholesome and happy ways, and to build up in this world God’s kingdom of love and justice. Our hearts, united with the heart of Christ, are capable of working this social miracle” (ibid., 28).

Throughout this Holy Year, in which all of us are called to be pilgrims of hope, our ministry will be all the more fruitful the more it is rooted in prayer and forgiveness, and in closeness to the poor, to families and to young people who are searching for truth. Never forget that a holy priest makes holiness flourish around him.

Entrusting all of you to Mary, Queen of Apostles and Mother of Priests, I bless each of you from my heart.

From the Vatican, 27 June 2025

LEO PP. XIV

Homily of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul

Sunday, 29 June 2025

Ecclesial communion and
vitality of faith

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate two brothers in faith, Peter and Paul, whom we honour as pillars of the Church and venerate as patrons of the diocese and city of Rome.

The story of these two Apostles has much to say to us, the community of the Lord’s disciples, as we make our pilgrim way in today’s world. Upon reflection, I would like to emphasize two specific aspects of their faith: ecclesial communion and the vitality of faith.

First, ecclesial communion. Today’s liturgy reminds us how Peter and Paul were called to share a single fate, that of martyrdom, which united them definitively to Christ. In the first reading, we see Peter in prison awaiting judgment (cf. Acts 12:1-11). In the second reading, the Apostle Paul, also in chains, tells us, in a kind of last will and testament, that his blood is about to be poured out and offered to God (cf. 2 Tim 4:6-8, 17-18). Peter and Paul were both ready to lay down their lives for the sake of the Gospel.

Yet this communion of the two Apostles in the one confession of faith was the conclusion of a long journey on which each embraced the faith and lived out his apostolate in his own particular way. Their brotherhood in the Spirit did not erase their different backgrounds. Simon was a fisherman from Galilee, while Saul was highly educated and a member of the party of the Pharisees. Peter immediately left everything to follow the Lord, while Paul persecuted Christians before his life-changing encounter with the risen Christ. Peter preached mainly to the Jews, whereas Paul was driven to bring the Good News to the gentiles.

As we know, the two were at odds over the proper way to deal with gentile converts, so much so that Paul tells us that, “when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood self-condemned” (Gal 2:11). At the Council of Jerusalem, the two Apostles would once more debate the issue.

Dear friends, the history of Peter and Paul shows us that the communion to which the Lord calls us is a unison of voices and personalities that does not eliminate anyone’s freedom. Our patron saints followed different paths, had different ideas and at times argued with one another with evangelical frankness. Yet this did not prevent them from living the concordia apostolorum, that is, a living communion in the Spirit, a fruitful harmony in diversity. As Saint Augustine remarks, “the feast of the two Apostles is celebrated on one day. They too were one. For although they were martyred on different days, they were one” (Serm. 295, 7.7).

All this invites us to reflect on the nature of ecclesial communion. Awakened by the inspiration of the Spirit, it unites differences and builds bridges of unity thanks to the rich variety of charisms, gifts and ministries. It is important that we learn to experience communion in this way — as unity within diversity — so that the various gifts, united in the one confession of faith, may advance the preaching of the Gospel. We are called to persevere along this path, following the example of Peter and Paul, since all of us need that kind of fraternity. The whole Church needs fraternity, which must be present in all of our relationships, whether between lay people and priests, priests and bishops, bishops and the Pope. Fraternity is also needed in pastoral care, ecumenical dialogue and the friendly relations that the Church desires to maintain with the world. Let us make an effort, then, to turn our differences into a workshop of unity and communion, of fraternity and reconciliation, so that everyone in the Church, each with his or her personal history, may learn to walk side by side.

Saints Peter and Paul also challenge us to think about the vitality of our faith. In our life as disciples, we can always risk falling into a rut, a routine, a tendency to follow the same old pastoral plans without experiencing interior renewal and a willingness to respond to new challenges. The two Apostles, however, can inspire us by the example of their openness to change, to new events, encounters and concrete situations in the life of their communities, and by their readiness to consider new approaches to evangelization in response to the problems and difficulties raised by our brothers and sisters in the faith.

At the heart of today’s Gospel lies the question that Jesus asked his disciples. Today he asks us that same question, challenging us to examine whether our faith life retains its energy and vitality, and whether the flame of our relationship with the Lord still burns bright: “Who do you say that I am?” (Mt 16:15).

Every day, at every moment in history, we must always take this question to heart. If we want to keep our identity as Christians from being reduced to a relic of the past, as Pope Francis often reminded us, it is important to move beyond a tired and stagnant faith. We need to ask ourselves: Who is Jesus Christ for us today? What place does he occupy in our lives and in the life of the Church? How can we bear witness to this hope in our daily lives and proclaim it to those whom we meet?

Brothers and sisters, the exercise of a discernment born of these questions can enable our faith and the faith of the Church to be constantly renewed and to find new paths and new approaches to preaching the Gospel. This, together with communion, must be our greatest desire. Today I would like to speak to the Church in Rome in particular, because it, above all, is called to be a sign of unity and communion, a Church on fire with vibrant faith, a community of disciples who testify to the joy and consolation of the Gospel wherever people find themselves.

In the joy of the communion that the lives of Saints Peter and Paul invite us to cultivate, I greet my brother Archbishops who today receive the Pallium. Dear brothers, this sign of the pastoral responsibility entrusted to you also expresses your communion with the Bishop of Rome, so that in the unity of the Catholic faith, each of you may build up that communion in your local Churches.

I would also like to greet the members of the Synod of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. I thank you for your presence here and for your pastoral zeal. May the Lord grant peace to your people!

And with deep gratitude, I greet the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, sent here by my dear brother, His Holiness Bartholomew.

Dear brothers and sisters, strengthened by the witness of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, let us walk together in faith and communion and invoke their intercession upon ourselves, the city of Rome, the Church, and the whole world.

Angelus on the Solemnity of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul

Sunday, 29 June 2025

May weapons be silenced

Dear brothers and sisters, Happy Sunday!

Today is the great feast of the Church of Rome, which was born of the witness of the Apostles Peter and Paul, and made fruitful by the outpouring of their blood and that of many martyrs. Even today, throughout the world, there continue to be Christians whom the Gospel inspires to be generous and courageous even to the sacrifice of their lives. We can speak of an ecumenism of blood, an unseen yet profound unity among Christian Churches that are not yet in full and visible communion. I would like to confirm on this solemn feast that my episcopal ministry is at the service of unity, and that the Church of Rome is committed by the blood shed by Saints Peter and Paul to serving in love the communion of all Churches.

The rock from which Peter received his name is Jesus Christ. He is the rock rejected by the builders, whom God made the cornerstone. This very Square, and the Papal Basilicas of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, are a sign of how that reversal continues in our own day. They are located on the outskirts of the city, “Outside the Walls,” as we say even today. What appears great and glorious to us today, was originally rejected and excluded because it ran counter to the thinking of this world. Those who follow Jesus must tread the path of the Beatitudes, where poverty of spirit, meekness, mercy, hunger and thirst for justice, and peace-making are often met with opposition and even persecution. Yet God’s glory shines forth in his friends and continues to shape them along the way, passing from conversion to conversion.

Dear brothers and sisters, at the tombs of the Apostles, which have been the object of pilgrimage for almost 2,000 years, we come to realize that we too can pass from conversion to conversion. The New Testament does not conceal the errors, contradictions and sins of those whom we venerate as the greatest Apostles. Their greatness was shaped by forgiveness. The risen One reached out to them more than once, to put them back on his path. Jesus never calls just one time. This is why we can all always have hope, as the Jubilee reminds us.

Unity in the Church and among the Churches, dear sisters and brothers, is fostered by forgiveness and mutual trust, beginning with our families and communities. Indeed, if Jesus can trust us, then we too can trust one another in his name. May the Apostles Peter and Paul, together with the Virgin Mary, intercede for us, so that the Church may always be a home and school of communion in our wounded world.

After the Angelus

Dear brothers and sisters, I offer the assurance of my prayers for the Barthélémy Boganda High School community in Bangui, Central African Republic, which is in mourning following the tragic accident that caused numerous deaths and injuries among the students. May the Lord comfort the families and the entire community!

I extend my greetings to all of you, especially the faithful of Rome on the feast of your patron saints! My thoughts affectionately turn to the parish priests and all the priests who work in the parishes of Rome. I offer my gratitude and encouragement for their service.

This feast also marks the annual Peter’s Pence collection, which is a sign of communion with the Pope and participation in his apostolic ministry. I offer my heartfelt gratitude to all those who support my first steps as the Successor of Peter, with their donations.

I bless all those who participated in the “Quo Vadis?” event [visiting] the Roman sites linked to Saints Peter and Paul. I thank those who worked hard to organize this initiative, which helps people know and honour the patron saints of Rome.

I greet the faithful from various countries who have come to accompany their Metropolitan Archbishops who received the Pallium today. I greet the pilgrims from Ukraine — I always pray for the Ukrainian people — from Mexico, Croatia, Poland, the United States of America, Venezuela, Brazil, the Saints Peter and Paul Choir from Indonesia, as well as numerous Eritrean faithful living in Europe; the groups from Martina Franca, Pontedera, San Vendemiano and Corbetta; the altar servers from Santa Giustina in Colle and the young people from Sommariva del Bosco.

I thank the Pro Loco of Rome and the artists who created the flower display in the Via della Conciliazione and Piazza Pio XII. Thank you!

I greet the Guanellian Collaborators of Central and Southern Italy, the Chiari Volunteer Association, the cyclists from Fermo and Varese, the Aniene 80 sports group and the pilgrims from “Connessione Spirituale”.

Sisters and brothers, let us continue to pray that weapons may be silenced everywhere and that peace may be achieved through dialogue.

Happy Sunday to everyone!

Address of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to the Representatives of Certain Women’s Religious Institutes

Monday, 30 June 2025

Undertaking new paths of self-giving

In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

Dear Sisters, good morning and welcome!

I am pleased to meet with you. For some of you it is the occasion of your General Chapter, others are here for your Jubilee pilgrimage. In both cases, you have come to the tomb of Peter in order to renew your love for the Lord and your fidelity to the Church.

You belong to Congregations that were founded at different times and in distinct circumstances: Sisters of the Order of Saint Basil the Great; Daughters of Divine Charity; Augustinian Sisters of Amparo; Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Hearts. Yet your histories share a common thread that can be seen in the light of such great historical witnesses to the spiritual life as Augustine, Basil and Francis, whose asceticism, courage and holiness of life inspired your founders to foster new ways of serving others. This is evident especially in your care for the weakest: children, poor girls and boys, orphans, migrants, and more recently for the elderly and the sick as well as many other ministries of charity.

Your response to the challenges of the past and the vitality of your present make clear that fidelity to the ancient wisdom of the Gospel is the best way forward for those who, led by the Holy Spirit, undertake new paths of self-giving, dedicated to loving God and neighbor and listening attentively to the signs of the times (cf. SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 4; 11).

With this in mind, the Second Vatican Council, referring to religious institutes dedicated to works of charity, emphasized how important it is that in them “the entire religious life of the members should be imbued with an apostolic spirit, and all their apostolic activity with a religious spirit,” so that they “may first answer their call to follow Christ and to serve Christ himself in his members... in intimate union with him” (Decree Perfectae Caritatis, 8).

Saint Augustine, speaking of the primacy of God in the Christian life, affirms that, “God is your everything. If you are hungry, God is your bread; if you are thirsty, God is your water; if you are in darkness, God is your light that never fades; if you are naked, God is your everlasting garment” (In Ioannis Evangelium, 13, 5). Indeed, we would do well to ask ourselves: to what extent are these words true for me? How much does the Lord satisfy my thirst for life, love or light? These are important questions. Moreover, this rootedness in Christ is what led those who went before us — men and women like us, with gifts and limitations like ours — to do things they perhaps never thought they could achieve. This rootedness enabled them to sow seeds of goodness that, enduring throughout the centuries and across continents, have now reached practically the entire world, as your presence here demonstrates.

As I mentioned, some of you are engaged in your General Chapters, others are here for the Jubilee. In any case, you are faced with important choices that will determine your future, that of your sisters and of the Church herself. For this reason, it seems most appropriate to conclude by reiterating, for all of us, the beautiful hope expressed by Saint Paul in addressing the Christians of Ephesus: I pray that “Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph 3:17-19). Thank you for your work and your fidelity. May the Blessed Virgin Mary accompany you. And I give you my blessing.