Papal Texts

General Audience

Wednesday, 26 February 2025

Recognizing God’s presence
in smallness

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good Morning!

Today we will contemplate the beauty of “Christ Jesus our hope” (1 Tim 1:1), in the mystery of His presentation at the Temple.

In the narratives of Jesus’ infancy, the evangelist Luke shows us Mary and Joseph’s obedience to the Law of the Lord and to all its provisions. In reality, in Israel there was no obligation to present the child at the Temple, but those who lived listening to the Word of the Lord and wished to conform to it, considered it a valuable practice. Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, who was barren, did the same; God heard her prayer and she, having had her son, took him to the temple and offered him to the Lord forever (cf. 1 Sam 1:24-28).

Luke therefore recounts Jesus’ first act of worship, celebrated in the holy city, Jerusalem, which will be the destination of His entire itinerant ministry from the moment He makes the firm decision to go up there (cf. Lk 9:51), heading towards the fulfilment of His mission.

Mary and Joseph do not simply embed Jesus in a history of the family, the people, of the covenant with the Lord God. They see to his care and growth, and introduce him into an atmosphere of faith and worship. And they too gradually grow in their comprehension of a vocation that far surpasses them.

In the Temple, which is a “house of prayer” (Lk 19:46), the Holy Spirit speaks to the heart of an elderly man: Simeon, a member of the holy people of God schooled in expectation and hope, who nurtures the desire for the fulfilment of the promises God made to Israel through the prophets. Simeon perceives in the Temple the presence of the Lord’s Anointed One, he sees the light that shines in the midst of the peoples plunged “in darkness” (cf. Is 9:1) and he goes to meet that child who, as Isaiah prophesies, “is born” to us; He is the son who “is given” to us, the “Prince of Peace” (Is 9:6). Simeon embraces that child who, small and helpless, rests in his arms; but it is he, in fact, who finds consolation and the fullness of his existence by holding Him to himself. He expresses this in a canticle full of heartfelt gratitude, which in the Church has become the prayer at the end of the day:

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word;

for mine eyes have seen thy salvation

which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to thy people Israel” (Lk 2:29-32).

Simeon sings the joy of those who have seen, who have recognized and are able to transmit to others the encounter with the Saviour of Israel and of the Gentiles. He is a witness of faith, which he receives as a gift and communicates to others; he is a witness of the hope that does not disappoint; he is a witness of God’s love, which fills the heart of man with joy and peace. Filled with this spiritual consolation, the elderly Simeon sees death not as the end, but as fulfilment, fullness; he awaits it like a “sister” that does not annihilate but introduces one to the true life that he has already foretasted and in which he believes.

On that day, Simeon is not the only one to see salvation made flesh in the child Jesus. The same also happens to Anna, a woman more than 80 years old, a widow, entirely devoted to service to the Temple and consecrated to prayer. Indeed, upon seeing the child, Anna celebrates the God of Israel, who has redeemed His people in that very child, and tells others about Him, generously spreading the prophetic word. The two elders’ song of redemption thus emits the proclamation of the Jubilee for all the people and for the world. Hope is rekindled in hearts in the Temple of Jerusalem because Christ our hope has entered it.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us, too, imitate Simeon and Anna, these “pilgrims of hope” who have clear eyes capable of seeing beyond appearances, who are able to detect the presence of God in smallness, who know how to welcome God’s visit with joy and rekindle hope in the heart of their brothers and sisters.

Angelus

Sunday, 2 March 2025

Sight and taste

Dear brothers and sisters,

In this Sunday’s Gospel (Lk 6:39-45), Jesus makes us reflect on two of the five senses: sight and taste.

With regard to sight, He asks us to train our eyes to observe the world well and to judge our neighbour with charity. He says: “Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye” (v. 42). Only with this gaze of care, not condemnation, can fraternal correction be a virtue. Because if it is not fraternal, it is not correction!

With regard to taste, Jesus reminds us that “every tree is known by its own fruit” (v. 44). And the fruits that come from man are, for example, his words, which ripen on his lips, since “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (v. 45). Rotten fruits are violent, false, vulgar words; good ones are the just and honest words that give flavour to our dialogues.

And so we can ask ourselves: how do I look at other people, who are my brothers and sisters? And how do I feel looked at by others? Do my words have a good flavour, or are they imbued with bitterness and vanity?

Sisters and brothers, I am sending you these thoughts still from the hospital, where as you know I have been for several days, accompanied by doctors and healthcare professionals, whom I thank for the attention with which they are taking care of me. I feel in my heart the “blessing” that is hidden within frailty, because it is precisely in these moments that we learn even more to trust in the Lord; at the same time, I thank God for giving me the opportunity to share in body and spirit the condition of so many sick and suffering people.

I would like to thank you for the prayers, which rise up to the Lord from the hearts of so many faithful from many parts of the world: I feel all your affection and closeness and, at this particular time, I feel as if I am “carried” and supported by all God’s people. Thank you all!

I pray for you too. And I pray above all for peace. From here, war appears even more absurd. Let us pray for tormented Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan and Kivu.

Let us entrust ourselves confidently to Mary, our Mother. Happy Sunday, and arrivederci.

Message to participants in the
General Assembly of the
Pontifical Academy for Life

From Gemelli Hospital
Monday, 3 March 2025

The end of the world? Crises, responsibilities, hopes

Dear Academicians,

It is always a pleasure for me to address the women and men of science, as well as those in the Church who cultivate dialogue with the scientific world. Together you can serve the cause of life and the common good. And I warmly thank Archbishop Paglia and the collaborators for their service to the Pontifical Academy for Life.

In this year’s General Assembly, you have proposed to consider the matter that is today defined as “polycrisis”. It relates to some fundamental aspects of your research activity in the field of life, health and care. The term “polycrisis” evokes the dramatic nature of the historical juncture we are currently witnessing, in which wars, climate change, energy problems, epidemics, the migratory phenomenon and technological innovation converge. The intertwining of these critical issues, which currently touch on various dimensions of life, lead us to ask ourselves about the destiny of the world and our understanding of it.

A first step to be taken is that of examining with greater attention our representation of the world and the cosmos. If we do not do this, and we do not seriously analyze our profound resistance to change, both as people and as a society, we will continue to do what we have always done with other crises, even very recent ones. Think of the Covid pandemic: we have, so to speak, “squandered” it; we could have worked more deeply in the transformation of consciences and social practices (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, 36).

And another important step to avoid remaining still, anchored in our certainties, habits and fears, is to listen carefully to the contribution of areas of scientific knowledge. The theme of listening is decisive. It is one of the key words of the entire synodal process we have undertaken, and which is now in its implementation phase. I therefore appreciate that your way of proceeding reflects its style. I see in it the attempt to practice in your specific sphere that “social prophecy” to which the Synod was dedicated (Final Document, 47). In the encounter with people and their stories, and in listening to scientific knowledge, we realize that our parameters regarding anthropology and culture require profound revision. This was also the origin of the intuition of the study groups on certain topics that emerged during the synodal process. I know that some of you are part of them, also valuing the work done by the Academy for Life over the past years, work for which I am very grateful.

Listening to the sciences continually offers us new knowledge. Consider what we are told about the structure of matter and the evolution of living beings: there emerges a far more dynamic view of nature compared to what was thought in Newton’s time. Our way of understanding “continuous creation” must be re-elaborated, in the knowledge that it will not be technology that saves us (cf. Encyclical Letter Laudato Si’, 101): endorsing utilitarian deregulation and global neoliberalism means imposing the law of the strongest as the only rule; and it is a law that dehumanizes.

We can cite as an example of this type of research Fr Teilhard de Chardin and his attempt — certainly partial and unfinished, but daring and inspiring — to enter seriously into dialogue with the sciences, practising an exercise in trans-disciplinarity. It is a risky path, which led him to wonder: “I ask whether it is necessary for someone to throw the stone into the pond — indeed, to end up being ‘killed’ — to open the way” (Quote from B. De Solanges, Teilhard de Chardin. Témoignage et étude sur le développement de sa pensée, Toulouse 1967, 54). Thus he launched his insights that focused on the category of relationship and interdependence between all things, placing homo sapiens in close connection with the entire system of living things.

These ways of interpreting the world and its evolution, with the unprecedented forms of relatedness that correspond to it, can provide us with signs of hope, which we are seeking as pilgrims during this Jubilee year (cf. Bull Spes Non Confundit, 7). Hope is the fundamental attitude that supports us on the journey. It does not consist of waiting with resignation, but of striving with zeal towards true life, which leads well beyond the narrow individual perimeter. As Pope Benedict xvi reminded us, hope “is linked to a lived union with a ‘people’, and for each individual it can only be attained within this ‘we’” (Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi, 14).

It is also because of this community dimension of hope, faced with a complex and planetary crisis, that we are urged to value instruments with a global reach. We must unfortunately note a progressive irrelevance of international bodies, which are also undermined by short-sighted attitudes, concerned with protecting particular and national interests. And yet we must continue to commit ourselves with determination for “more effective world organizations, equipped with the power to provide for the global common good, the elimination of hunger and poverty, and the sure defence of fundamental human rights” (Encyclical Letter Fratelli Tutti, 172). In such a way, a multilateralism is promoted that does not depend on changing political circumstances or the interests of the few, and which has stable effectiveness (cf. Apostolic Exhortation Laudate Deum, 35). It is an urgent task which regards the whole of humanity.

This vast scenario of motivations and objectives is also the scope of your Assembly and of your work, dear members of the Academy for Life. I entrust you to the intercession of Mary, Seat of Wisdom and Mother of Hope, “as we, the pilgrim people, the people of life and for life, make our way in confidence towards ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ (Rev 21:1)” (Saint John Paul ii, Encyclical Letter Evangelium Vitae, 105).

For all of you and for your work, I impart my heartfelt blessing.

Rome, from “Gemelli” Hospital, 26 February 2025

Francis

General Audience

Wednesday, 5 March 2025

God is a response of love

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good Morning!

In this last catechesis dedicated to Jesus’ childhood, we will start from the episode in which, at 12 years of age, He stays in the Temple without telling His parents, who are anxiously looking for Him and find Him after three days. This account presents us with a very interesting dialogue between Mary and Jesus, which helps us to reflect on the path of the mother of Jesus, a journey that was certainly not easy. Indeed, Mary set out on a spiritual itinerary during which she advanced in her understanding of the mystery of her Son.

Let us look back at the various stages of this journey. At the beginning of her pregnancy, Mary visits Elizabeth and stays with her for three months, until the birth of the little John. Then, when she is in her ninth month, due to the census she goes with Joseph to Bethlehem, where she gives birth to Jesus. After 40 days they go to Jerusalem for the presentation of the child; and they return on a pilgrimage to the Temple every year thereafter. But with Jesus still a baby they had taken refuge in Egypt for a long time to protect Him from Herod, and only after the king’s death did they settle again in Nazareth. When Jesus, having become an adult, begins His ministry, Mary is present and a protagonist at the wedding at Cana; then she follows Him “at a distance”, up to His last journey to Jerusalem, and until His passion and death. After the Resurrection, Mary remains in Jerusalem, as Mother of the disciples, sustaining their faith while awaiting the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Throughout this journey, the Virgin is a pilgrim of hope, in the strong sense that she becomes the “daughter of her Son”, the first of His disciples. Mary brought into the world Jesus, Hope of humanity; she nourished Him, made Him grow, followed Him, letting herself be the first to be shaped by the Word of God. As Benedict xvi said, “We see how completely at home Mary is with the Word of God… we see how her thoughts are attuned to the thoughts of God, how her will is one with the will of God. Since Mary is completely imbued with the Word of God, she is able to become the Mother of the Word Incarnate” (Encyclical Deus Caritas Est, 41). This unique communion with the Word of God does not however save her the effort of a demanding “apprenticeship”.

The experience of 12-year-old Jesus going missing during the annual pilgrimage to Jerusalem frightens Mary to the point that she also speaks for Joseph as they take their son back: “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously” (Lk 2:48). Mary and Joseph felt the pain of parents with a missing child: they both thought that Jesus was in the caravan with their relatives, but after not seeing Him for an entire day, they began the search that would lead them to retrace their steps. Upon returning to the Temple, they discover that He who, in their eyes, until a short time before, was still a child to protect, suddenly seems grown up, capable now of getting involved in discussions on the Scriptures, of holding His own with the teachers of the Law.

Faced with His mother’s rebuke, Jesus answers with disarming simplicity: “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” (Lk 2:49). Mary and Joseph do not understand: the mystery of God made child exceeds their intelligence. The parents want to protect that precious son under the wings of their love; instead, Jesus wants to live His vocation as the Son of the Father who is at His service and lives immersed in His Word.

Luke’s infancy narratives thus close with Mary’s final words, which recall Joseph’s paternity towards Jesus, and with Jesus’ first words, which recognize that this paternity traces its origins from that of His heavenly Father, whose undisputed primacy He acknowledges.

Dear brothers and sisters, like Mary and Joseph, full of hope, let us also set out in the footsteps of the Lord, who does not allow Himself to be contained by our precepts, and allows Himself to be found not so much in a place, but in the response of love to the tender divine paternity, a response of love that is filial life.

Homily

Basilica of Santa Sabina
Ash Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Memory and hope

Cardinal Angelo De Donatis read out the homily prepared by Pope Francis, who could not attend Holy Mass, as he was still undergoing treatment at Rome’s Gemelli Hospital.

This evening, we receive the imposition of the holy ashes. This brings to mind the memory of what we are, but also the hope of what we will be. The ashes remind us that we are dust, but they also set us on a journey towards the hope to which we are called. For Jesus descended to the dust of the earth and, by his Resurrection, has drawn us with himself into the Father’s heart.

Thus the Lenten journey towards Easter unfolds amidst the remembrance of our fragility and the hope that, at the end of the road, the Risen Lord is waiting for us.

First, we must remember. We bow our heads in order to receive the ashes as if to look at ourselves, to look within ourselves. Indeed, the ashes help to remind us that our lives are fragile and insignificant: we are dust, from dust we were created, and to dust we shall return. Moreover, there are so many times when, looking at ourselves or at the reality that surrounds us, we realise that “everyone stands as a mere breath [...] for nothing they are in turmoil; they heap up, and do not know who will gather” (Ps 39:5-6).

We learn this above all through the experience of our own fragility: our weariness, the weaknesses we have to come to terms with, the fears that dwell in us, the failures that consume us, the fleetingness of our dreams and the realisation that what we possess is ephemeral. Made of ashes and earth, we experience fragility through illness, poverty, and the hardships that can suddenly befall us and our families. We also experience it when, in the social and political realities of our time, we find ourselves exposed to the “fine dust” that pollutes our world: ideological opposition, the abuse of power, the re-emergence of old ideologies based on identity that advocate exclusion, the exploitation of the earth’s resources, violence in all its forms and war between peoples. This “toxic dust” clouds the air of our planet impeding peaceful coexistence, while uncertainty and the fear of the future continue to increase.

Furthermore, the condition of fragility reminds us of the tragedy of death. In many ways, we try to banish death from our societies, so dependent on appearances, and even remove it from our language. Death, however, imposes itself as a reality with which we have to reckon, a sign of the precariousness and brevity of our lives.

Despite the masks we wear and the cleverly crafted ploys meant to distract us, the ashes remind us of who we are. This is good for us. It reshapes us, reduces the severity of our narcissism, brings us back to reality and makes us more humble and open to one another: none of us is God; we are all on a journey.

Lent, however, is also an invitation to rekindle our hope. Although we receive the ashes with our heads bowed in remembrance of who we are, the Lenten season does not end there. On the contrary, we are invited to lift our eyes to the One who rises from the depths of death and brings us from the ashes of sin and death to the glory of eternal life.

The ashes remind us of the hope to which we are called in Jesus, the Son of God, who has taken upon himself the dust of the earth and raised it to the heights of heaven. He descended into the abyss of dust, dying for us and reconciling us to the Father, as we heard from Saint Paul: “For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21).

This, brothers and sisters, is the hope that restores to life the “ashes” of our lives. Without such hope, we are doomed passively to endure the fragility of our human condition. Particularly when faced with the experience of death, a lack of hope can lead us to fall into sadness and desolation, and we end up reasoning like fools: “Short and sorrowful is our life, and there is no remedy when a life comes to its end [...] the body will turn to ashes, and the spirit will dissolve like empty air” (Wis 2:1-3). Yet the hope of Easter that we journey towards reassures us of God’s forgiveness. Even while submerged in the ashes of sin, hope opens us up to the joyful acknowledgment of life: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth” (Job 19:25). Let us remember this: “Man is dust and to dust he shall return, but dust is precious in God’s eyes because God created man, destining him to immortality” (Benedict xvi , General Audience, 17 February 2010).

Brothers and sisters, having received the ashes, we walk towards the hope of Easter. Let us turn back to God. Let us return to him with all our hearts (cf. Joel 2:12). Let us place him at the centre of our lives, so that the memory of what we are — fragile and mortal as ashes scattered upon the wind — may finally be filled with the hope of the Risen Lord. Let us direct our lives towards him, becoming a sign of hope for the world. Let us learn from almsgiving to go beyond ourselves, sharing each other’s needs and nurturing the hope of a fairer world. Let us learn from prayer to discover our need for God or, as Jacques Maritain put it, that we are “beggars for heaven”, and so foster the hope that beyond our frailties there is a Father waiting for us with open arms at the end of our earthly pilgrimage. Finally, let us learn from fasting that we do not live merely to satisfy our needs, but that, hungry for love and truth, only the love of God and of one another can truly satisfy us and give us hope for a better future.

Let us persevere in the certainty that ever since the Lord took upon himself the ashes of humanity, “the history of the earth is the history of heaven. God and man are bound together in a single destiny” (C. Carretto, Il deserto nella città, Roma 1986, 55), and he will forever sweep away the ashes of death and make us shine with newness of life.

With this hope in our hearts, let us begin our journey. Let us be reconciled with God.

Message of the Holy Father
to participants in the
Pilgrimage of the Movement for Life

Saint Peter’s Basilica
Saturday, 8 March 2025

Saying yes to a society of love

The Message prepared by Pope Francis was read out by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State.

Dear Sisters and Dear Brothers of the Movement for Life!

Thank you for remembering me in prayer. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! I greet you all, in particular the President, Ms Marina Casini, and the board members.

I know the value of the service you provide to the Church and society. Together with concrete solidarity, lived with an attitude of closeness and proximity to mothers who are struggling due to a difficult or unexpected pregnancy, you promote the culture of life in a broad sense. And you seek to do so with frankness, love and tenacity, keeping truth closely united to charity towards everyone. You are guided in this by the examples and teachings of Carlo Casini, who had made service to life the centre of his lay apostolate and his political commitment.

The occasion that has brought you to Rome is important: the 50th anniversary of the Movement for Life, whose first shoot was the Centre for Help for Life, established in Florence in 1975. Since then, throughout Italy, the Centres for Help for Life have multiplied. They have been joined by the Reception Centres, the SOS Vita services, the Gemma Project and the Culle per la Vita, [Cradles for Life]. Countless initiatives have been undertaken to promote the culture of welcome and human rights at all levels of society. Therefore, I encourage you to pursue the social protection of motherhood and the acceptance of human life at every stage.

In this half-century, while some ideological prejudices have diminished, and sensitivity for the care of creation has grown among young people, unfortunately the throwaway culture has spread. Therefore, there is still, and more than ever, a need for people of all ages to concretely dedicate themselves to the service of human life, especially when it is at its most fragile and vulnerable; because it is sacred, created by God for a great and beautiful destiny; and because a just society is not built by eliminating the unwanted unborn children, the elderly who are no longer independent, or the incurably ill.

Dear sisters and dear brothers, you have come from many parts of Italy to renew once again your “yes” to the civilization of love, aware that freeing women from the conditioning that drives them not to give birth to their own child is a principle for the renewal of civil society. Indeed, it is before everyone’s eyes how society today is structured on the categories of possessing, doing, producing, and appearing. Your commitment, in harmony with that of the entire Church, points to a different approach, one that places the dignity of the person at the centre and prioritizes those who are weakest. The unborn child represents, par excellence, every man and woman who does not count, who has no voice. Taking their side means standing in solidarity with all the world’s discarded. And the gaze of the heart that recognizes him or her as one of us is the lever that moves this project.

Continue to count on women, on their capacity for acceptance, generosity and courage. Women must be able to count on the support of the entire civil and ecclesial community, and the Centres for Help for Life can become a point of reference for all. Thank you for the pages of hope and tenderness you help to write in the history books, and which remain indelible; they bear, and will bear, much fruit.

May the Lord bless you and the Holy Virgin keep you. I entrust every one of you, your groups and your efforts to the intercession of Mother Teresa of Calcutta, spiritual president of the Movements for Life throughout the world. And do not forget to pray for me. Thank you.

Rome, Gemelli Hospital, 5 March 2025

Francis

Homily
Jubilee of the World of Volunteering

Saint Peter’s Square
Sunday, 9 March 2025

Small gestures make a new humanity blossom

The homily prepared by Pope Francis was read out by Cardinal Michael Czerny, sj.

Jesus is led by the Spirit into the desert (cf. Lk 4:1). Every year, our Lenten journey begins by following the Lord there and sharing in that experience, which he transformed for our benefit. When Jesus entered the desert, a decisive change occurred: the place of silence became a place of listening. In the desert, our ability to listen is put to the test, because a choice must be made between two completely different voices. In this regard, the Gospel tells us that Jesus’ journey began with an act of listening and obedience: it is the Holy Spirit, the very power of God, who leads him to a place where nothing good springs from the ground or rains down from the sky. In the desert, we experience material and spiritual poverty, our need for bread and for God’s word.

Jesus, who is true man, experienced that hunger (cf. v. 2). He was tempted for forty days by a word that came not from the Holy Spirit, but from the evil one, the devil. Having begun the forty days of Lent, let us reflect on the fact that we too are tempted, yet are not alone. Jesus is with us, to guide us through the desert. The Son of God made man does not simply give us an example of how to combat evil. He gives us something much greater: the strength to resist its attacks and to persevere on our journey.

So let us consider three aspects of Jesus’ temptation and of our own: its beginning, the way it takes place and its result. In this way, we will find inspiration for our journey of conversion.

First of all, the beginning. Jesus’ temptation is intentional: the Lord does not go into the desert to show the strength of his will, but out of filial openness to the Spirit of the Father, whose guidance he readily and freely accepts. Our temptation, on the other hand, is not intentional: evil is prior to our freedom, attacking it from within, like an inner shadow and a constant threat. Whenever we ask God not to lead us into temptation (cf. Mt 6:13), we need to remember that he has already answered that prayer through Jesus, his incarnate Word, who remains with us always. The Lord is close to us and cares for us, especially in times of trial and uncertainty, when the tempter makes his voice heard. He is the father of lies (cf. Jn 8:44), perverse and perversive, for he knows God’s word without understanding it. Quite the opposite: just as he had done since the days of Adam in the Garden of Eden (cf. Gen 3:1-5), so he does now in the case of Jesus, the new Adam, in the desert.

Here we see the remarkable way in which Christ is tempted, namely, through his relationship with God, his Father. The devil is the one who separates and divides, whereas Jesus is the one who unites God and man, the mediator. In his perversion, the devil wants to destroy that bond and have Jesus exploit his position. He says: “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread” (Lk 4:3), and again: “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” (v. 9) from the pinnacle of the Temple. In response to these temptations, Jesus, the Son of God, led by the Spirit, chooses the way that he will live out his filial relationship to the Father. This is what the Lord chooses: his unique and exclusive relationship with God, whose only Son he is, becomes a relationship that embraces everyone, without excluding anyone. Jesus’ relationship with the Father is not something to be grasped at (cf. Phil 2:6), or boasted of, in order to achieve success and attract followers, but rather a gift that he shares with the world for our salvation.

We too are tempted in our relationship with God, but in a completely different way. The devil whispers into our ear that God is not really our Father, that he has in fact abandoned us. Satan tries to convince us that there is no bread for the hungry, least of all from stones, that angels will not come to our aid when we are falling, and that at best, the world is in the hands of evil powers that crush nations by their arrogant schemes and the brutality of war. Yet just when the devil would have us believe that the Lord is far from us, and would tempt us to despair, God draws all the closer to us, giving his life for the redemption of the world.

The third aspect is the result of these temptations. Jesus, God’s Anointed One, vanquishes evil; he drives away the devil, who will nonetheless return to tempt him, waiting for “another opportunity” (v. 13). So the Gospel tells us, and we will keep this in mind when, on Golgotha, Jesus is tempted again: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Mt 27:40; cf. Lk 23:35). In the desert, the Tempter is defeated, yet Christ’s victory is not yet definitive, as it will be in the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection.

As we prepare to celebrate this, the central mystery of our faith, we realize that the result of our own trials is different. In the face of temptation, we sometimes fall; we are all sinners. Our defeat, however, is not definitive, because following our every fall, God lifts us up by his infinite love and forgiveness. Our testing does not end in failure, because, in Christ, we are redeemed from evil. As we journey through the desert with him, we follow a road previously untravelled: Jesus himself opens up before us this new path of liberation and redemption. By following the Lord in faith, from drifters we become pilgrims.

Dear sisters and brothers, I invite you to begin your Lenten journey in this way. And since, along the way, we need the “good will” (buona volontà) that the Holy Spirit always sustains in us, I am pleased to greet all the “volunteers” (volontari) who are here in Rome today for their Jubilee pilgrimage. I thank you heartily, dear friends, because, following the example of Jesus, you serve your neighbours unstintingly. On the streets and in homes, in the company of the sick, the suffering and the imprisoned, with the young and the elderly, your generosity and commitment offer hope to our entire society. In the deserts of poverty and loneliness, all those small gestures are helping to make a new humanity blossom in the garden that is God’s dream, always and everywhere, for all of us.

Angelus
Jubilee of the World of Volunteering

Sunday, 9 March 2025

May violence in Syria cease

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Last Wednesday, with the rite of the Ashes, we began Lent, the 40-day-long penitential itinerary that calls us to the conversion of the heart and leads us to the joy of Easter. Let us commit ourselves to making it a time of purification and spiritual renewal, a journey of growth in faith, hope and charity.

This morning, in Saint Peter’s Square, holy Mass was celebrated for the world of volunteering, which is experiencing its own Jubilee. In our societies, too enslaved to market logic, where everything risks being subject to the criterion of interest and the quest for profit, volunteering is a prophecy and sign of hope, because it bears witness to the primacy of gratuitousness, solidarity and service to those most in need. I express my gratitude to those who are engaged in this field: thank you for offering your time and abilities; thank you for the closeness and tenderness with which you care for others, reawakening hope in them!

Brothers and sisters, during my prolonged hospitalization here, I too experience the thoughtfulness of service and the tenderness of care, in particular from the doctors and healthcare workers, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart. And while I am here, I think of the many people who in various ways are close to the sick, and who are for them a sign of the Lord’s presence. We need this, the “miracle of tenderness” which accompanies those who are in adversity, bringing a little light into the night of pain.

I would like to thank all those who are showing their closeness to me in prayer: heartfelt thanks to you all! I pray for you too. And I join spiritually with those who in the coming days will participate in the Spiritual Exercises of the Roman Curia.

Together let us continue to invoke the gift of peace, in particular in martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In particular, I have learned with concern about the renewed outbreaks of violence in parts of Syria: I hope that they will cease for good, with full respect for all ethnic and religious components of society, especially civilians.

I entrust you all to the maternal intercession of the Virgin Mary. Happy Sunday, and arrivederci!

Angelus

Sunday, 16 March 2025

Being signs of hope even in times of trial

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy Sunday!

Today, the second Sunday of Lent, the Gospel tells us about the Transfiguration of Jesus (Lk 9:28-36). Having climbed to the top of a mountain with Peter, James and John, Jesus immerses Himself in prayer and becomes radiant with light. In this way, He shows the disciples what is hidden behind the gestures He performs in their midst: the light of His infinite love.

I am sharing these thoughts with you while I am facing a moment of trial, and I join with so many brothers and sisters who are sick — fragile, at this time, like me. Our bodies are weak, but even like this, nothing can prevent us from loving, praying, giving ourselves, being signs of hope for each other, in faith. How much light shines, in this sense, in hospitals and places of care! How much loving care brightens the rooms, the corridors, the clinics, the places where the humblest services are performed! That is why I would like to invite you, today, to join me in praising the Lord, who never abandons us and who, in times of sorrow, places people beside us who reflect a ray of His love.

I thank you all for your prayers, and I thank those who assist me with such dedication. I know that many children are praying for me; some of them came here today to “Gemelli” as a sign of closeness. Thank you, dearest children! The Pope loves you and is always waiting to meet you.

Let us continue to pray for peace, especially in the countries wounded by war: martyred Ukraine, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

And let us also pray for the Church, called to translate into concrete choices the discernment made in the recent Synodal Assembly. I thank the General Secretariat of the Synod, which over the coming three years will accompany the local Churches in this undertaking.

May the Virgin Mary keep you and help you to be, like her, bearers of Christ’s light and peace.

Letter to
Luciano Fontana,
Editor-in-Chief of the Italian daily newspaper ‘Corriere della Sera’

Released Tuesday, 18 March 2025

War is absurd.
Let’s disarm the Earth

Dear Director,

I wish to thank you for the words of closeness with which you have expressed your presence in this moment of illness, in which, as I have already said, war appears even more absurd. Human fragility has the power to make us more aware of what endures and what passes, what brings life and what kills. Perhaps for this reason, we so often tend to deny limits and avoid fragile and wounded people: they have the power to question the direction we have chosen, both as individuals and as a community.

I would like to encourage you and all those who dedicate their work and intelligence to informing, through tools of communication that now connect our world in real time, to feel the full importance of words. They are never just words: they are facts that shape human environments. They can connect or divide, serve the truth or use it for other ends. We must disarm words, to disarm minds and disarm the Earth. There is a great need for reflection, calmness, and an awareness of complexity.

While war only devastates communities and the environment, without offering solutions to conflicts, diplomacy and international organizations are in need of new vitality and credibility. Religions, moreover, can draw from the spirituality of peoples to rekindle the desire for fraternity and justice, the hope for peace.

All this requires commitment, work, silence and words. Let us feel united in this effort, which heavenly Grace will continue to inspire and accompany.

Francis

Rome, Policlinico Gemelli
14 March 2025

General Audience

Wednesday, 19 March 2025

‘You must be born from above’

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Good Morning!

With this catechesis we begin to contemplate some of the encounters narrated in the Gospels, to understand the way in which Jesus gives hope. Indeed, there are encounters that brighten life and bring hope. It can happen, for example, that someone helps us to see a difficulty or a problem we are experiencing from a different perspective; or it can happen that someone simply says something to us that makes us feel that we are not alone in the pain we are going through. At times there can even be silent encounters, in which nothing is said, and yet those moments help us to get back on track.

The first encounter I would like to look at is that of Jesus with Nicodemus, narrated in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John. I will start with this episode because Nicodemus is a man who, with his history, shows that it is possible to emerge from darkness and find the courage to follow Christ.

Nicodemus goes to Jesus at night: it is an unusual time for a meeting. In John’s language, temporal references often have symbolic value: here the night probably refers to what is in Nicodemus’ heart. He is a man who finds himself in the darkness of doubt, in that darkness that we experience when we no longer understand what is happening in our lives and do not see the way forward clearly.

If you are in the dark, of course you seek the light. And John, at the beginning of his Gospel, writes: “The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world” (1:9). Nicodemus therefore seeks Jesus because he has sensed that He can illuminate the darkness of his heart.

However, the Gospel tells us that Nicodemus does not understand immediately what Jesus is saying to him. And so we see that there are many misunderstandings in this dialogue, and also a lot of irony, which is a characteristic of the evangelist John. Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus is telling him because he continues to think with his own logic and categories. He is a man with a well-defined personality; he has a public role, he is one of the leaders of the Jews. But probably something no longer adds up for him.

Nicodemus senses that something in his life no longer works. He feels the need to change, but he does not know where to begin.

This happens to all of us in some phases of life. If we do not accept changing, if we close ourselves up in our inflexibility, in habits or in our ways of thinking, we risk dying. Life resides in the capacity to change to find a new way to love. Indeed, Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of a new birth, which is not only possible, but even necessary at certain moments in our journey. To tell the truth, the expression used in the text is already ambivalent in itself, because anōthen can be translated as either “from above” or “again”. Slowly, Nicodemus will understand that these two meanings go together: if we allow the Holy Spirit to generate new life in us, we will be born again. We will rediscover that life, which was perhaps fading in us.

I chose to begin with Nicodemus also because he is a man who, with his very life, shows that this change is possible. Nicodemus will succeed: in the end he will be among those who go to Pilate to ask for Jesus’ body (cf. Jn 19:39)! Nicodemus has finally come to the light, he is reborn, and he no longer needs to stay in the night.

Changes sometimes frighten us. On the one hand, they attract us, at times we desire them, but on the other, we would prefer to remain in comfort. Therefore the Spirit encourages us to face these fears. Jesus reminds Nicodemus — who is a teacher in Israel — that even the Israelites were afraid when they were walking in the desert. And they focused so much on their worries that at a certain point those fears took the form of venomous snakes (cf. Nm 21:4-9). In order to be freed, they had to look at the copper serpent that Moses had placed on a pole, that is, they had to look up and stand before the object that represented their fears. Only by looking into the face of that which frightens us can we begin to be set free.

Nicodemus, like all of us, will be able to look at the Crucified One: the One who defeated death, the root of all our fears. Let us, too, lift our gaze to the One they pierced, let us, too, allow ourselves to be met by Jesus. In Him we find the hope to face the changes in our lives and be born anew.

Message for the 62nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations
to be celebrated Sunday, 11 May 2025

Wednesday, 19 March 2025

Pilgrims of hope: the gift of life

Dear sisters and brothers,

On this, the 62nd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, I wish to extend to you a joyful and encouraging invitation to become pilgrims of hope by generously offering your lives as a gift.

A vocation is a precious gift that God sows in our heart, a call to leave ourselves behind and embark on a journey of love and service. Every vocation in the Church, whether lay, ordained or consecrated, is a sign of the hope that God has for this world and for each of his children.

Nowadays, many young people feel dismayed as they look to the future. Often they experience insecurity about their prospects of employment and a profound identity crisis, a crisis of meaning and values, which the confused messages of the digital world only aggravate. The unjust treatment of the poor and vulnerable, the indifference of a complacent and self-centred society, and the brutality of war all threaten the hopes for a fulfilling life that young people cherish in their hearts. Yet the Lord, who knows the human heart, does not abandon us in our uncertainty. He wants us to know that we are loved, called and sent as pilgrims of hope.

We, the adult members of the Church, and priests in particular, are called to acknowledge, discern and accompany the young on their vocational path. You, young people, for your part, are called to set out on that path, together with the Holy Spirit, who awakens in you the desire to make your lives a gift of love.

Embracing our specific vocation

Dear young people, “your youth is not an ‘in-between time.’ You are the now of God” (Christus Vivit, 178). Realize that the gift of life calls for a generous and faithful response. Look to the young saints and blesseds who responded joyfully to the Lord’s call: Saint Rose of Lima, Saint Dominic Savio, Saint Therese of the Child Jesus, Saint Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, the soon-to-be canonized saints Blessed Carlo Acutis and Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati, among many others. They experienced their vocation as a path towards true happiness through friendship with the risen Lord. Whenever we listen to Jesus’ words, our hearts burn within us (cf. Lk 24:32) and we feel the desire to consecrate our lives to God. Naturally, we want to find the way of life that will best allow us to return the love with which he loved us first.

Every vocation, once perceived in the depths of the heart, gives rise to an impulse to love and service, as an expression of hope and charity, rather than a means of self-promotion. Vocation and hope go together in God’s plan for the happiness of each man and woman, all of whom are called by name to give their lives for others (cf. Evangelii Gaudium, 268). Many young people seek to know the path God is calling them to take. Some find, often to their surprise, that they are called to the priesthood or to the consecrated life. Others discover the beauty of the call to marriage and family life, to the pursuit of the common good and to a life of witness to the faith among their friends and acquaintances.

Every vocation is inspired by hope, marked by confident trust in God’s providence. For Christians, hope is more than mere human optimism: it is a certainty based on our faith in God, who is at work in each of our lives. Vocations mature through the daily effort to be faithful to the Gospel, and through prayer, discernment and service.

Dear young friends, hope in God does not disappoint, because at every step of the way he accompanies those who entrust their lives to him. Our world needs young people who are pilgrims of hope, who courageously devote their lives to Christ and rejoice in being his disciples and missionaries.

Discerning our vocational path

The discovery of our vocation comes about as the result of a journey of discernment. That journey is never solitary, but develops within a Christian community and as a part of that community.

Dear friends, the world pushes you to make hasty decisions and bombards you with a constant blare that prevents you from experiencing a silence that is open to God who speaks to the heart. Have the courage to pause, to listen to what your heart tells you, and to ask God about his dreams for you. The silence of prayer is indispensable if we are to learn how to hear God’s call amid the specific circumstances of our lives and to respond consciously and freely.

Prayerful recollection helps us to realize that all of us can be pilgrims of hope if we make our lives a gift, above all by placing ourselves at the service of those who live on the world’s material and existential peripheries. Those who heed God’s call cannot turn a deaf ear to the cry of so many of our brothers and sisters who feel excluded, wounded and abandoned. Every vocation confirms us in our mission of being Christ’s presence wherever light and consolation are most needed. In a particular way, the lay faithful are called to be the “salt, light and leaven” of the Kingdom of God through their social and professional commitments.

Accompanying vocations

Consequently, pastoral ministers and vocation directors, especially spiritual directors, should readily accompany young people with the hope, patience and trust that reflect God’s own “pedagogy.” They should be capable of listening to them respectfully and sympathetically, and show themselves trustworthy, wise and helpful guides, ever attentive to discerning the signs of God’s presence in their journey.

I urge that every effort be made to foster vocations in the various spheres of human life and activity, and to help individuals to be spiritually open to the Lord’s voice. It is important, then, that adequate space be given to the accompaniment of vocations in educational and pastoral planning.

The Church needs pastors, religious, missionaries and spouses capable of saying “yes” to the Lord with trust and hope. A vocation is never a treasure stored away in the heart; rather, it grows and is strengthened within a community that believes, loves and hopes. No one can respond to God’s call alone, for all of us need the prayers and support of our brothers and sisters.

Dearly beloved, the Church is alive and fruitful when she generates new vocations. Our world looks, often unknowingly, for witnesses of hope who proclaim with their lives that following Christ is a source of true joy. Let us never tire, then, of asking the Lord for new labourers for his harvest, certain that with great love he continues to call them. Dear young people, I entrust your efforts to follow the Lord to the intercession of Mary, Mother of the Church and Mother of vocations. Keep walking as pilgrims of hope on the path of the Gospel! I accompany you with my blessing and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

Rome, Policlinico A. Gemelli, 19 March 2025

Francis

Angelus

Sunday, 23 March 2025

Trusting patience and
unfailing love

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy Sunday!

The parable we find in today’s Gospel tells us about the patience of God, who urges us to make our life a time of conversion. Jesus uses the image of a barren fig tree, which has not borne the anticipated fruit and which, nevertheless, the farmer does not want to cut down: he wants to fertilize it again to see “if it bears fruit next year” (Lk 13:9). This patient farmer is the Lord, who works the soil of our lives with care and waits confidently for our return to Him.

In this long period of my hospitalization, I have had the opportunity to experience the Lord’s patience, which I also see reflected in the tireless care of the doctors and healthcare workers, as well as in the care and hopes of the relatives of the sick. This trusting patience, anchored in God’s unfailing love, is indeed necessary for our lives, especially to face the most difficult and painful situations.

I was saddened by the resumption of heavy Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, with many deaths and injuries. I call for an immediate halt to the weapons; and may people have the courage to resume dialogue, so that all hostages may be released and a definitive ceasefire reached. In the Strip, the humanitarian situation is again very serious and requires urgent commitment from the conflicting parties and the international community.

On the other hand, I am pleased that Armenia and Azerbaijan have agreed on the final text of the peace agreement. I hope that it may be signed as soon as possible, and may thus contribute to establishing lasting peace in the South Caucasus.

You are continuing to pray for me with great patience and perseverance: thank you very much! I pray for you too. And together, let us pray for an end to wars and for peace, especially in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, Myanmar, Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

May the Virgin Mary watch over us and continue to accompany us on our journey towards Easter.

Message to participants in the
Plenary Assembly of the
Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors

Released Tuesday, 25 March 2025

A safe environment for every child and vulnerable person

Dear brothers and sisters,

I warmly send you my greetings and some guidance for your valuable service. Indeed, it is like “oxygen” for local Churches and religious communities, because wherever a child or vulnerable person is safe, there you serve and honour Christ. In the daily pattern of your work — especially in the most disadvantaged areas — a prophetic truth becomes reality: abuse prevention is not a blanket to be spread over emergencies, but one of the foundations on which to build communities faithful to the Gospel. For this, I express my gratitude.

Your work cannot be reduced to protocols to be applied, since it advocates for safeguarding through a formation that educates, measures that prevent, and listening that restores dignity. When you establish prevention policies, even in the remotest communities, you are making a promise: that every child, every vulnerable person, will find a safe environment in the ecclesial community. This is the driving force of what should be for us an integral conversion.

Today, I ask you for three commitments:

1. To develop cooperate more closely with the Dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

2. To offer hospitality and care for the spiritual wounds of victims and survivors, in the style of the good Samaritan. To listen with the ear of the heart, so that every testimony is not treated as a record to be compiled, but a profound opportunity for mercy and newness of life.

3. To build partnerships with entities outside the Church — civil authorities, experts, associations — so that safeguarding may become a universal language.

In these ten years, you have enabled a safety network to grow within the Church. Keep moving forward! Continue to be sentinels that keep watch while the world sleeps. May the Holy Spirit, teacher of living memory, preserve us from the temptation to dismiss grief instead of healing it.

Thank you for your remembrance in prayer. I too accompany you and I ask the Lord and the Blessed Virgin to sustain you, so that you may continue on your journey with dedication and hope.

Rome, “A. Gemelli” Hospital, 20 March 2025.

Francis

General Audience

Wednesday, 26 March 2025

Thirsting for our salvation

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

After contemplating the encounter between Jesus and Nicodemus, who had gone in search of Jesus, today we will reflect on those moments in which it really seems that He is waiting right there, at that crossroads in our life. They are encounters that surprise us, and at the beginning perhaps we are even a little diffident; we try to be prudent and to understand what is happening.

This was probably also the experience of the Samaritan woman, mentioned in chapter four of John’s Gospel (cf. 4:5-26). She did not expect to find a man at the well at noon; indeed she hoped to find no one at all. In fact, she goes to fetch water from the well at an unusual hour, when it is very hot. Perhaps this woman is ashamed of her life, perhaps she has felt judged, condemned, misunderstood, and for this reason she has isolated herself, she has broken off relations with everyone.

To go to Galilee from Judea, Jesus would have been able to choose another road and not pass through Samaria. It would also have been safer, given the tense relations between the Jews and the Samaritans. Instead, He wants to pass through there, and He stops at that very well, right at that time! Jesus waits for us and lets Himself be found precisely when we think that there is no hope left for us. The well, in the ancient Middle East, is a place of encounter, where at times marriages are arranged; it is a place of betrothal. Jesus wants to help this woman understand where to find the true answer to her desire to be loved.

The theme of desire is fundamental to understanding this encounter. Jesus is the first to express His desire: “Give me a drink” (v. 10). In order to start a conversation, Jesus makes Himself appear weak, putting the other person at ease, making sure that she is not frightened. Thirst is often the image of desire, even in the Bible. But Jesus here thirsts first of all for that woman’s salvation. “He who was asking drink”, says Saint Augustine, “was thirsting for the faith of the woman herself” (Homily 15, 11).

Whereas Nicodemus had gone to Jesus at night, here Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at midday, the time when there is most light. It is indeed a moment of revelation. Jesus makes Himself known to her as the Messiah and also sheds light on her life. He helps her to reread her history, which is complicated and painful, in a new way: she has had five husbands and is now with a sixth who is not a husband. The number six is not accidental, but usually indicates imperfection. Perhaps it is an allusion to the seventh bridegroom, the one who will finally satiate this woman’s desire to be truly loved. And that bridegroom can only be Jesus.

When she realizes that Jesus knows her life, the woman shifts the conversion to the religious question that divided Jews and Samaritans. This sometimes happens to us too when we pray: at the moment in which God is touching our life, with its problems, we lose ourselves at times in reflections that give us the illusion of a successful prayer. In reality, we have raised defensive barriers. However, the Lord is always greater, and He gives that Samaritan woman, to whom according to cultural precepts He should not even have spoken, the highest revelation: He speaks to her of the Father, who is to be adored in spirit and truth. And when she, once again surprised, observes that on these things it is better to wait for the Messiah, He tells her: “I am he, the one who is speaking with you” (v. 26). It is like a declaration of love: I am the One you are waiting for, the One who can finally respond to your desire to be loved.

At that point the woman runs to call the people of the village, because mission springs precisely from the experience of feeling loved. And what proclamation could she have brought, if not her experience of being understood, welcomed, forgiven? It is an image that should make us reflect on our search for new ways to evangelize.

Just like a person in love, the Samaritan forgets her water jar, leaving it at Jesus’ feet. The weight of that jar on her head, every time she returned home, reminded her of her situation, her troubled life. But now the jar is left at Jesus’ feet. The past is no longer a burden; she is reconciled. And it is like this for us too: to go and proclaim the Gospel, we first need to set down the burden of our history at the Lord’s feet, to consign to Him the weight of our past. Only reconciled people can bring the Gospel.

Dear brothers and dear sisters, let us not lose hope! Even if our history appears burdensome, complicated, perhaps even ruined to us, we always have the possibility of consigning it to God and setting out anew on our journey. God is merciful, and awaits us always!

Message to participants in the 35th Course on the Internal Forum, organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary (24 to 28 March 2025)

Released Thursday, 27 March 2025

Peace also springs from Mercy

Dear brothers!

I greet all of you who are participating in the 35th Course on the Internal Forum, organized by the Apostolic Penitentiary, and I thank the Major Penitentiary, the Regent, the Prelates, the Officials and the staff of the Penitentiary, as well as the Colleges of the ordinary and extraordinary Penitentiaries of the Papal Basilicas. The course is taking place during Lent of the Holy Year 2025: a time of conversion, penance and welcoming God’s mercy.

Celebrating Mercy, especially with Jubilee pilgrims, is a privilege: God has made us ministers of Mercy by His grace, a gift we welcome because we were, and are, the first recipients of His forgiveness.

Dear brothers, I urge you to be men of prayer, because prayer is where your ministerial action takes root. With it, you prolong the work of Jesus, who repeats, always and forever: “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again” (Jn 8:11).

May this liberating word of the Lord, which flows from reconciliation with God and opens to new fraternal relationships, echo throughout the Church in the Jubilee Year, for the renewal of hearts. Peace, so greatly longed for, also springs from Mercy, like the hope that does not disappoint.

Thank you for your indispensable sacramental ministry! May Our Lady keep you in Christ’s love and patience. I bless you from my heart, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.

From the Vatican, 27 March 2025

Francis

Message to Missionary priests of Mercy on the occasion of their Jubilee Pilgrimage

Released Saturday, 29 March 2025

Conversion and forgiveness

The following Message prepared by Pope Francis was read out by Archbishop Rino Fisichella.

Dear Brothers,

I would have liked to meet you on the occasion of your Jubilee pilgrimage and to express to you, Missionaries of Mercy, in person, my gratitude and my encouragement.

Thank you, for with your service you bear witness to the paternal face of God, infinitely great in love, who calls everyone to conversion and renews us always with His forgiveness. Conversion and forgiveness are the two gentle touches with which the Lord dries every tear from our eyes; they are the hands with which the Church embraces us, sinners; they are the feet on which we walk in our earthly pilgrimage. Jesus, Saviour of the world, opens for us the way that we travel together, following Him with the strength of His Spirit of peace.

I encourage you, therefore, in your ministry as confessors, to be attentive in listening, ready to welcome and constant in accompanying those who wish to renew their own lives and return to the Lord. Indeed, with His mercy, God transforms us inwardly, He changes our heart: the Lord’s forgiveness is a source of hope, because we can always count on Him, in any situation. God made Himself man to reveal to the world that He never abandons us!

Dear friends, I wish you an abundantly fruitful pilgrimage. I heartily bless your apostolate, asking Mary Immaculate to watch over you as Mother of mercy. And do not forget, please, to pray for me.

Rome, “Gemelli” Hospital
19 March 2025, Solemnity of Saint Joseph

Francis

Angelus

Sunday, 30 March 2025

Lent as a
time of healing

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Happy Sunday!

In today’s Gospel (Lk 15:1-3, 11-32) Jesus notices that the Pharisees are scandalised and murmur behind His back, instead of being happy because sinners come to Him. So Jesus tells them about a father who has two sons: one leaves home, but then, having been reduced to poverty, he returns and is welcomed with joy. The other, the “obedient” son, is indignant at his father and does not want to join the feast. This is how Jesus reveals God’s heart: always merciful towards all; he heals our wounds so that we can love each other as brothers and sisters.

Dearest friends, let us live this Lent as a time of healing, all the more as it is the Jubilee. I too am experiencing it this way, in my soul and in my body. That is why I give heartfelt thanks to all those who, in the Saviour’s image, are instruments of healing for their neighbour with their word and their knowledge, with kindness and with prayer. Frailty and illness are experiences we all have in common; all the more, however, we are brothers and sisters in the salvation Christ has given us.

Trusting in the mercy of God the Father, we continue to pray for peace: in martyred Ukraine, in Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Myanmar, which is also suffering so much because of the earthquake.

I am following the situation in South Sudan with concern. I renew my heartfelt appeal to all leaders to do their utmost to lower the tension in the country. We must put aside our differences and, with courage and responsibility, sit around a table and engage in constructive dialogue. Only in this way will it be possible to alleviate the suffering of the beloved South Sudanese people and to build a future of peace and stability.

And in Sudan, the war continues to claim innocent victims. I urge the parties involved in the conflict to put the safeguarding of the lives of their civilian brothers and sisters first; and I hope that new negotiations will begin as soon as possible, capable of securing a lasting solution to the crisis. May the international community increase its efforts to address the appalling humanitarian catastrophe.

Thanks be to God, there are also positive events: I note, for example, the ratification of the Agreement on the demarcation of the border between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which is an excellent diplomatic achievement. I encourage both countries to continue on this path.

May Mary, Mother of Mercy, help the human family to be reconciled in peace.