Pope Francis Homilies

Books of the Bible Index of Homilies

Matthew Mark Luke John The Acts Romans 1 Corinthians 2 Corinthians Galatians Ephesians Philippians Colossians 1 Thessalonians 2 Thessalonians 1 Timothy 2 Timothy Titus Philemon Hebrews James 1 Peter 2 Peter 1 John 2 John 3 John Jude Revelation Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings 1 Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Tobit Judith Esther 1 Maccabees 2 Maccabees Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes The Song of Songs The Book of Wisdom Sirach Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch Ezekiel Daniel Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi

Pope Leo Holy Mass 02.11.26

Commemoration of all the Faithful departed

Pope Leo Angelus 01.11.26

The Solemnity of All Saints

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The Solemnity of All Saints, which we celebrate today, invites us to share in the joy of that countless family of men and women who, following the Lord Jesus, have made their lives a gift to God and to their neighbours. Along their different paths to holiness, they have longed for “the ocean of infinite love,” to use a beautiful expression of Pope Benedict XVI (Spe Salvi, 12).

The Liturgy of the Word describes this family as “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Rev 7:9). Today, in fact, we celebrate all the saints: those whom the Church has recognised as such as well as the countless others who have not been formally recognised but are known to God. As today’s Gospel reminds us (Mt 5:1-12), they are poor in spirit, yet rich in God’s love. Their faces are streaked with tears, yet they find consolation in prayer. They are meek in the face of violence and rewarded by the Father. They hunger for justice, yet are filled in the depths of their consciences. They are ready to forgive and embraced by mercy. They are disarmed in heart, yet protected by God. They are peacemakers, called by name by God. They are persecuted and insulted, yet strong in faith and charity.

It is indeed true that it is impossible to count this multitude of brothers and sisters, and not just in numerical terms. Holiness, in fact, cannot be reduced to any calculation, for such is the good that all the saints have spread around them in the world. As we admire them, we ask ourselves: what have these people, with God’s grace, brought forth? Essentially, actions and choices of love that transcend the calculations of greed and the arrogance of evil, which at times seems to prevail. The saints are the most beautiful and powerful sign of the Kingdom of God that is coming — or rather, as Jesus teaches us, is already among us (cf. Lk 17:20-21). Moreover, this blessed multitude embraces people from the most diverse backgrounds, cultures and walks of life. Holiness is not a privilege reserved for a few, but a universal vocation that speaks to each of us where we live. This is the hope-filled message of today’s feast: God sees the good that we do not see, knows stories that we do not know and reaches hearts to which we have no access.

May the Blessed Virgin Mary, blessed because she believed the word of the Lord, accompany us along the path to holiness, so that we may never grow weary of fostering peace, both in the most important situations and in the ordinary circumstances of everyday life.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Yesterday, in Savannah, Georgia, in the United States of America, Pedro de Corpa and four companions, religious of the Order of Friars Minor, who were killed in odium fidei in 1597, were beatified. Originally from Spain, they responded generously to the Lord's call to evangelize the peoples of the Americas, even to the point of giving their lives. Let us invoke the intercession of these martyrs for all missionaries of the Gospel.

In recent days, a humanitarian operation has been carried out to assist the civilian population in the city of Oleshky. I hope that the cooperation between the parties, which made this necessary humanitarian act possible, will strengthen the desire for dialogue and lead to new concrete peace initiatives. Let us entrust to Mary, Queen of Peace and of All Saints, all those throughout the world who are suffering because of war.

From yesterday until November 13, the Youth Olympic Games are taking place in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, for athletes aged 15 to 18. This is the first Olympic event to be held on the African continent. In addition to the competitions, these Games include educational and cultural gatherings aimed at promoting Olympic values and fostering understanding among young people from all over the world. Once again, we see a sign of hope coming from the world of sport! I warmly greet and bless all the participants.

From November 8 to 15, the Mission with the Poor, promoted by the Friars Minor, will take place in Rome. I congratulate the sons of Saint Francis who, through this initiative, are placing the poor at the centre, as the Lord Jesus did and as Saint Francis of Assisi did. I also thank the civil authorities and law enforcement agencies for their cooperation.

And now I greet all of you, Romans and pilgrims from various countries!

I am pleased to welcome the Syro-Malabar faithful together with their Pastors. Dear friends, together with you I give thanks to the Lord for the growth of your communities throughout Europe.

I greet the “Capiteo” group from Borbiago di Mira, in the Province of Venice, as well as the participants in the “Race of the Saints,” which the Don Bosco Missions have once again organised in Rome this year to promote sport as an educational experience.

Tomorrow afternoon, on the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, I will celebrate Mass at the Verano Cemetery. During these days, let us feel united in the Communion of Saints with the immense family of our brothers and sisters who have gone before us on our earthly pilgrimage, and let us pray for the departed, especially those whom no one remembers.

Thank you all, and have a happy feast day!

01.11.26

Pope Leo General Audience 28.10.26

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

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

The Second Vatican Council could not fail to address the subject of culture and its relationship with the Christian faith. It does so in the second chapter of the second part of the Constitution Gaudium et Spes (GS).

The Catholic Church has always been concerned with accompanying the preaching of the Gospel with the establishment of schools of every kind, aimed at advancing the human, cultural and spiritual formation of men and women across the five continents. Medieval universities, as we know, were born from the heart of the Church, making a decisive contribution to the development of Western civilization. At the same time, the progress of culture and knowledge raises ever new and deeper questions, prompting believers to give an account of their faith (cf. 1 Pet 3:15–17). Finally, as expressions of the spiritual dimension of the human being, the various manifestations of culture contribute to opening minds to the perennial questions on the meaning of the world and of human existence, thus preparing people to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

The relationship between faith and culture finds its primary foundation in the Incarnation: if the divine Word became flesh and came to dwell among us (cf. Jn 1:14), then faith too is an incarnate reality, interwoven with the culture in which it is immersed. It is also required to become culture, that is, to reach the person in their living environment, made up of human words, traditions, religious meaning, art and poetry, thought and science. As Saint John Paul II loved to repeat, “a faith that does not become culture is a faith not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived”. [1]

Faith can be embodied in all cultures, because it does not identify itself with any of them in a specific one. It dwells within them, shaping them from within according to the “form” of Jesus Christ; that is, through charity, service and the filial recognition of God’s fatherhood. In this way, the Church draws from the various cultures all that is good, beautiful and true, in order to embody and transmit the message of the Gospel. At the same time, “the Church, sent to all peoples of every time and place, is not bound exclusively and indissolubly to any race or nation, any particular way of life or any customary way of life recent or ancient. Faithful to her own tradition and at the same time conscious of her universal mission, she can enter into communion with the various civilizations, to their enrichment and the enrichment of the Church herself” (GS, 58).

The Church promotes culture because it is a good in itself, a service to the human being and to the fulfilment of her vocation on earth. For this reason, Gaudium et Spes exhorts the international community to ensure that everyone has access to fundamental cultural goods, by overcoming illiteracy and the lack of education. All those who are capable of accessing higher education – the Council boldly states – must be placed in a position to do so in practice. Furthermore, “it will belong to all to acknowledge and favour the proper and necessary participation of women in the cultural life” (GS, 60).

In addition, Gaudium et Spes upholds the need to direct teaching towards a certain unity of knowledge, even though changing living conditions may make this more difficult (cf. GS, 61). Christians are the first who must strive to bring about this unity of wisdom, first and foremost within themselves.

28.10.26

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 General Audience 28.10.26

Pope Leo Angelus 25.10.26

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

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

In today’s Gospel, the Lord once again leads us to the heart of our faith (cf. Mt 22:34–40). A teacher of the Law, seeking to test Jesus, asks him, “Which commandment in the law is the greatest?” (v. 36). The Teacher responds by quoting a passage from Deuteronomy: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (v.37; cf. Deut 6:5). Christ places love at the very centre of our relationship with God. Indeed, it is not enough to know that God exists, that he is the only God, or that he is the Almighty. The Lord seeks a personal relationship with us: the one true God wants to become our God.

In our encounter with him, the commandment of love is neither an obligation nor an imposition. Indeed, one cannot love “on command.” Love for God is the very essence of human desire, which finds its fulfillment in communion with him. For this reason, our love can be authentic only when it is a response to his love, which always precedes us. From this arises the need for a total commitment that involves the whole person: heart, soul and mind.

To the first commandment, the Lord adds a second: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mt 22:39). This rule of life springs from the same source; that is why Jesus says that it is similar to the first. Thanks to our close relationship with God, we are able to look at ourselves and our neighbours through the eyes of Christ, from his perspective. In this way, selfishness is overcome and even love for oneself becomes charity: our existence turns toward the other and becomes a gift for those around us.

Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus understood this well: “Love alone,” she wrote, makes “the Church’s members act, and if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel” (cf. Complete Works, Manuscript B, 3v°, Rome 1997, 223). Indeed, without love, our faith would be deprived of its essence, our good works would be reduced to mere moralism, and our hope would be in vain.

Dear friends, we cannot truly love God unless this love overflows into love for our brothers and sisters. And we cannot truly love our neighbour except as children of the same Father who loved us first in his Son, Jesus.

Let us ask the Lord for the grace of a new heart, capable of embracing and living out the greatest of all commandments. May the Blessed Virgin Mary intercede for us, in whose Immaculate Heart there is nothing but love.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I am following with concern the grave humanitarian situation in Yemen, particularly in the city of Taiz, where the population is suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care. I make a heartfelt appeal for hostilities to cease and for the Yemeni people and all the peoples of the region to be guaranteed the right to live in peace.

25.10.26

Pope Leo General Audience 21.10.26

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

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

The first think I would like to say is thank you!. Thank you for the support of your prayers. Thanks be to God for His generosity. Let us all renew our trust in God’s goodness and mercy.

The pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes (GS) of the Second Vatican Council, having illustrated in the first part the dignity of the person and his or her vocation in the world, goes on to consider, in the second part, “in the light of the Gospel and of human experience”, some of the most pressing contemporary issues (cf. GS, 46). It focuses primarily on marriage and the family, in the conviction that “the well-being of the individual and of human and Christian society is intimately linked with the healthy condition of that community produced by marriage and family” (GS, 47).

To this end, it does not merely reaffirm their values and aims, but proposes a renewed conception of marriage as an “intimate partnership of married life and love” (GS, 48). By incorporating the legal dimension of marriage as a contract, the foundation of this union is recognized in the “conjugal covenant”, understood as the “human act whereby spouses mutually bestow and accept each another” (ibid.). The mutual self-giving of man and woman, such that ‘they are no longer two but one flesh’ (Mt 19:6), underlies the requirement for “total fidelity” and the “unbreakable oneness” of the spouses, finding vivid expression in the procreation and upbringing of children (cf. GS, 48). As a reflection of the Divine Trinity, conjugal and parental love, through the Sacrament of Marriage, is “governed and enriched by Christ’s redeeming power”, so that spouses may love one another “just as He loved the Church and handed Himself over on her behalf” (ibid.).

Having shed light on the reality of marriage in the light of Christ’s love, which is the truth of both human and divine love, Gaudium et Spes turns its attention to conjugal love and marital fruitfulness. Not limited to erotic attraction, which it nonetheless encompasses, conjugal love involves the entire will of the spouses, enlivening the affections of their hearts and expressing itself through sentiments and gestures of tenderness (cf. GS, 49). Embracing the good of the whole person of both man and woman, who are equal in dignity, this love pervades the entire life of the spouses, finding expression in acts proper exclusively to marriage (cf. ibid.). Whilst signifying integral love from person to person, the unique intimacy between the spouses fosters their mutual self-giving and enriches their shared joy (cf. ibid.).

Furthermore, the fruitfulness of conjugal love is expressed in the procreation of children, “the supreme gift of marriage” (GS, 50). By transmitting and educating human life, which must never be rejected, spouses become “cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love” (ibid.). Called to this human and Christian responsibility, they are bound to allow themselves to be guided by a sound judgement regarding their own good and that of their children, whether already born or yet to be born. Such a judgement, which, in the final analysis, the spouses themselves must form before God, requires that their conscience conform to divine law, as interpreted by the Magisterium of the Church in the light of the Gospel (cf. ibid.).

The emphasis on loving communion and procreative fruitfulness within marriage leads the Council to rule out the possibility of there being “a true contradiction … between the divine laws pertaining to the transmission of life, and those pertaining to authentic conjugal love” (GS, 51) and to affirm, instead, that “when there is question of harmonizing conjugal love with the responsible transmission of life”, one must “preserve the full sense of mutual self-giving and human procreation in the context of true love” (ibid.). From this it follows both that “from the moment of its conception life must be guarded with the greatest care”, renouncing “abortion and infanticide”; and that “the acts themselves which are proper to conjugal love and which are exercised in accord with genuine human dignity must be honoured with great reverence” (ibid.).

21.10.26

The Gospel in your pocket

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

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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