Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

When we listen to the Gospel, we frequently hear that Jesus performed signs, which are acts that reveal his special dedication to us and the salvation that he brings to the world. The Lord is presented as the One who gives meaning to our lives, freeing us from evil and sin.

By restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf, Christ is doing more than merely performing miraculous deeds; he is proclaiming to all that the Kingdom of God is near. In this way, today’s Gospel (Mt 14:13–21) bears witness that Jesus not only restores the senses of those who lack them, but that he also fills our senses with good things. To the deaf man, who regains his hearing, the Lord proclaims the Good News to be heard; to the blind man, who regains his sight, he shows the magnificent work of redemption being accomplished for him. Similarly, Jesus gives food to those who are hungry. The account of the multiplication of the loaves shows us that the encounter with the Lord is a nourishing experience. In the desert, that is, when we are in need, Christ is the bread of life. With him, our needs are abundantly met: “All ate and were filled,” and there were “twelve baskets full” left over (v. 20). This number highlights that the Lord’s gift is universal, and that his providential care for us never fails.

Dear friends, Christ truly satisfies humanity’s hunger, our hunger for truth and life. His gesture teaches us that nothing is discarded when it is shared. Hoarding and waste, on the contrary, are two sides of the same evil: greed. This spiritual sickness numbs the senses, which become intoxicated with wealth, to the point of making people forget those who weep from hunger and cry out from thirst. And so, in the face of an opulence that reeks of decay, we find the outstretched hands of those who have no nourishment, the burned homes of those who have no peace.

Faced with the deserts of war and arrogance, let us consider with what kindness the Lord “looked up to heaven, and blessed,” “broke the loaves, and gave them” to his disciples, so that they might distribute them to the crowd (cf. v. 19). In this miracle of charity, we recognise the characteristic actions of Jesus, which find their culmination in the Last Supper, for it was then that the Son of God gave us his very life as our brother in humanity. As we savor the grace of the Eucharist, let us commit ourselves to bearing witness to its beauty in our daily actions, beginning with blessing meals at the table with family and friends. In Jesus’ company, even vacations can become a time of fraternal serenity, if we reach out to our neighbours in need.

Let us therefore ask the Virgin Mary, our loving Mother, to help us grow in charity, so that no one may lack their daily bread.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am following with concern the alarming situation in Ceuta, praying to God that, through the intercession of Our Lady of Africa, solutions may be found to bring peace, stability and justice.

Let us continue to pray for peace, that wars may cease throughout the world and diplomatic solutions to conflicts may be found.  Let us remember all the victims of hostilities, especially the weakest and most defenceless: children, the elderly and the sick.  May the Lord comfort those who suffer and bless the work of those who bring aid and consolation.

In these days the “Pardon of Assisi” is celebrated.  Saint Francis obtained this Indulgence from Pope Honorius III in 1216, having been inspired — while praying at the Porziuncola — by a vision of Jesus and Mary surrounded by angels.  Let us thank the Lord for this great gift and treasure it, especially in this eighth centenary year of the Transitus of the Poor Man of Assisi, who died at the Porziuncola on 3 October 1226.

I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims from various countries: in particular, the “Giovanissimi” from the parishes of Saccolongo and Creola (Padua), the young people from the parish of Saint John Bosco in Altamura, and the youth from the Pastoral Collaboration of Castelfranco Veneto, accompanied by their priests and leaders.

I wish everyone a happy Sunday!

02.08.26

Pope Leo Angelus  02.08.26  

Pope Leo Angelus  26.07.26

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

At the heart of Jesus’ teachings lies the mystery of the Kingdom of God, which today’s Gospel likens to treasure and a pearl (cf. Mt 13:44–52). The parables convey the surprise of those who find something far beyond what they could have hoped for, so much so that selling or leaving everything behind no longer seems a sacrifice, but a gain. Indeed, from the very beginning, the evangelists portray Jesus’ call to follow him as irresistible. It is a free choice, yet also urgent and capable of eliciting a ready and wholehearted response. This is a first important aspect of how God is near and makes himself known: encountering his Kingdom marks a turning point that does not limit life but enlarges it. If anything must change on our part, it is only so that our lives may be opened to greater possibilities, not fewer.

There is a second aspect that Jesus seems to attach great importance to: the one who finds the treasure hidden in the field is likely a peasant, while the pearl is recognized as precious by a merchant, perhaps a traveler. Two more parables follow, in which the protagonists are fishermen and a scribe well-versed in both the old and the new. Other parables compare the Kingdom to a woman kneading dough or tidying her house, to a king planning for war, a man designing a tower, administrators managing payments or investments, and to shepherds and farmers. In short, the Kingdom of God reveals its inestimable beauty in different ways, but calls everyone — men and women, young and old, rich and poor — to a profound renewal. Everyone is capable of understanding it and is drawn to it.

Today, too, the Church is a communion of people who differ in origin, culture, abilities and responsibilities. Yet all are called to recognize themselves as “one” in Jesus Christ: he is the hidden treasure, the pearl of great price, the net that gathers those who are scattered. From the beginning, Jesus called and gathered around himself people who would otherwise never have come to know one another. In this way, he demonstrated that God has no favourites, but instead offers his love freely, especially to the little ones or those cast aside.

Brothers and sisters, all we have to do is ask for this gift, the very same one sought by the young King Solomon (cf. 1 Kings 3:5, 7–12). It is the gift of recognizing the pearl of great price, of discerning the treasure for which it is worth selling everything. While the consumer culture influences our tastes, constantly creating new needs only to sell us solutions that never satisfy, and that sometimes even poison the heart, we must learn to grasp what truly matters: the treasure of a relationship with God that opens us to joy and helps us to live our relationships with one another more fully.

May the intercession of Mary, Seat of Wisdom, direct our desire for life toward Jesus, so that in him it may find its complete fulfilment.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Yesterday, in Lebanon, Elias Hoayek, Maronite Patriarch of Antioch from 1899 to 1931 and Founder of the Congregation of the Maronite Sisters of the Holy Family, was beatified. For more than thirty years, he led the Maronite Church with great dedication and pastoral sensitivity. A man of dialogue and hope, he was an outstanding ecclesial, social and political leader, so much so that he came to be known as the “Father of Greater Lebanon.” May the prayers and intercession of the new blessed always accompany the Maronite faithful throughout the world, and obtain the gift of peace for all the people of Lebanon, a country dear to my heart.

I continue to follow with deep concern the ongoing and escalating violence in the Holy Land, where, in recent days, many civilians, both in the West Bank and in Gaza, have once again fallen victim. I make a heartfelt appeal for a return to negotiations to achieve a just political solution, founded on the equal dignity and equal rights of every human person. At the same time, I urge the rejection of further military actions and unilateral decisions, especially those that violate the respect for and the status quo of the holy places of every religion.

I likewise renew my plea regarding the situation throughout the Middle East, where the intensification of military operations has again wreaked violence and destruction, endangering the lives of countless civilians and further aggravating the shortages of drinking water and electricity. From the depths of my heart, I exhort all parties involved to suspend the attacks and urgently reopen paths of dialogue and diplomacy, so that the longed-for peace for the entire region may be achieved without delay.

Let us continue to pray for all those peoples throughout the world who are suffering because of war. May the Lord touch the hearts and enlighten the minds of those in power, so that reconciliation and peace may soon prevail.

And I wish all of you a happy Sunday!

26.07.26

FAMINE

Pope Francis

Hunger

Hunger is an injustice that destroys men and women because they have nothing to eat, even if there is a lot food available in the world. Human exploitation; different forms of slavery; recently I saw a film shot inside a prison where migrants are locked up and tortured to turn them into slaves. This is still happening 70 years after the Declaration of Human Rights. Cultural colonization. This is exactly what the Devil wants, to destroy human dignity – and that is why the Devil is behind all forms of persecution.

01.06.18

Pope Leo Angelus  19.07.26

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

Following the parable of the sower, Jesus continues to address the crowds using a series of images: the good wheat and the weeds, the mustard seed and the yeast in the dough (cf. Mt 13:24–43).

These three short parables recall the coming of the Kingdom of God in history, its action in human lives, and the way it grows, expands and transforms the world from within. Through these images, Jesus warns us against the temptation of thinking that God is a powerful figure who imposes himself by force, who takes over and dominates, or who arrives triumphantly. Instead, God favours smallness, a sign of his discreet love, by which he leaves us free to accept or reject him. His love makes its presence felt even among the weeds, acts in a hidden and invisible way like the smallest of all seeds, and leavens the dough without making a sound.

Brothers and sisters, through these parables, Jesus reveals something important about the manner in which God works in our lives and in history. We sometimes expect God to do something spectacular; we want him to intervene from on high, immediately uprooting the weeds of evil. We imagine a strong and powerful God, and, unfortunately, we also model our way of being Christians and way of being the Church on this image. However, the Kingdom of God spreads even amidst the weeds, requiring us to train our vision so we can discern the good that sprouts despite the darkness of evil, and avoiding rash judgments. It comes like the smallest of seeds and thus calls for patience in accompanying these processes, so that we can recognize it in the little things of daily life and in the simplicity of ordinary existence.  It grows invisibly like yeast in flour, and so we are freed from discouragement and invited to have faith even when it seems that God is absent. In fact, he is always with us, and his love is always ready to help us.

God’s way of acting must also become the way in which we live, both as individuals and as the Church, amidst the reality that surrounds us. We are called to adopt a Gospel-centered approach, without hastily opposing others through arrogant judgments, without imposing ourselves through power and force, and without losing trust in God’s work. As the then-Cardinal Ratzinger said, it is a matter of submitting ourselves to the logic of the seed — which is not that of success and greatness, but that of making ourselves small and serving others (cf. Address to Catechists and Religion Teachers, 10 December 2000). In this way, we will become like small seeds of the Gospel that sprout, and leavens of love that transform the dough of the world.

Let us ask the Blessed Virgin Mary, who knew how to welcome the seed of the Word in her smallness, to sustain us on our journey and intercede for us.

Dear brothers and sisters,

While I am taking a few days for rest, I once again extend my greetings and gratitude to all of you, residents of Castel Gandolfo, and I joyfully welcome the pilgrims arriving from every part of the world!

We continue to follow with concern the events unfolding in various countries torn apart by war and violence.  Let us not forget those who are suffering and dying because of these conflicts, and let us add our constant prayers to the generous efforts for peace.

I greet Mother Elvira’s Cenacolo Community, gathered in Saluzzo for the Festival of Life; the New Families Movement of the Focolari gathered for the International School; the Mexican students participating in the APRA Summer School; and the group from the Catholic Worldview Fellowship.

I extend my greetings to the young adult Regnum Christi members who are participating in the International Formators Course, and I also greet those taking part in “The Lion Pilgrimage,” accompanied by Bishop Anthony Percy, the Auxiliary Bishop from Sydney, Australia.

I also greet the families and the children assisted by Sisters of Charity of the Assumption of Rome, the young people from the parish of Holy Saviour in Jerusalem, the children’s group from the parish of Saint Augustine of Bovolenta and the pilgrims from the Liturgical Academy of Rzeszów.

I wish all of you a peaceful Sunday!

19.07.26

Pope Leo Angelus  12.07.26

How do we receive the Word of God? The response is clear: As one receives Jesus Christ. The Church tells us that Jesus is present in the Scripture, in His Word.

Always carry a small Gospel with you in your purse, in your pocket, and read a passage from the Gospel during the day. Not so much to learn something, but mostly to find Jesus, because Jesus actually is in His Word, in His Gospel.  Every time I read the Gospel, I find Jesus.  - Pope Francis 01.09.14

Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period (reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)

The Bible Online

Thank you, Francis

Every month, you have invited us to pray with you for the challenges of humanity and the mission of the Church, teaching us to learn compassion for others from the heart of Christ. Thank you, Francis, for your life and your witness.

Your Worldwide Prayer Network.

Pope Francis Easter Message and Urbi et Orbi Blessing   20.04.25

Easter Sunday

for the full transcript click on the picture link above

Pope Francis

Care for Our Common Home 

- Laudato Si'

Pope Francis 

Refugees and Migrants

Pope Francis

 Marriage

Pope Francis - The ‘foreverness’ and beauty of Love 

Pope Francis - The Family in the Light of the Word of God

Pope Francis 

Fraternity

Pope Francis

Compassion

Pope Francis

Happiness

Pope Leo Holy Mass 04.07.26

 Pastoral Visit to Lampedusa

Pope Francis Message for the 58th World Day of Peace 01.01.25