Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

In today’s catechesis we will look at the profound and vital link that exists between the Word of God and the Church, a bond expressed by the Conciliar Constitution Dei Verbum, in the sixth chapter. The Church is the rightful home of Sacred Scripture. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Bible arose from the people of God, and is destined for the people of God. In the Christian community it has, so to speak, its habitat: indeed, in the life and the faith of the Church it finds the space where it can reveal its meaning and manifest its power.

Vatican Council II reminds us that “the Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God’s word and of Christ’s body”. Furthermore, “she has always maintained them, and continues to do so, together with sacred tradition, as the supreme rule of faith” (Dei Verbum, 21).

The Church never ceases to reflect on the value of the Sacred Scriptures. After the Council, a very important moment in this regard was the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on the theme “The Word of God in the life and mission of the Church” in October 2008. Pope Benedict XVI gathered its fruit in the post-Synodal Exhortation Verbum Domini (30 September 2010), in which he affirms: “The intrinsic link between the word and faith makes clear that authentic biblical hermeneutics can only be had within the faith of the Church, which has its paradigm in Mary’s fiat… the primary setting for scriptural interpretation is the life of the Church” (no. 29).

In the ecclesial community, Scripture therefore finds the sphere in which to carry out its particular task and achieve its purpose: to make Christ known and to open dialogue with God. Indeed, “ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”. [1] This well-known expression of Saint Jerome reminds us of the ultimate purpose of reading and meditating on the Scriptures: to get to know Christ and, through Him, to enter into a relationship with God, a relationship that can be understood as a conversation, a dialogue. And the Constitution Dei Verbum presented the Revelation to us precisely as a dialogue, in which God speaks to humans as though to friends (cf. DV, 2). This occurs when we read the Bible with an inner attitude of prayer: God then comes towards us and enters into conversation with us.

The Sacred Scripture, entrusted to the Church and preserved and explained by her, performs an active role: indeed, with its efficacy and power it sustains and invigorates the Christian community. All the faithful are called to drink from this wellspring, first and foremost in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other Sacraments. Love for the Sacred Scriptures and familiarity with them must guide those who carry out the ministry of the Word: bishops, priests, deacons, catechists. The work of exegetes and those who practise biblical sciences is invaluable, and Scriptures have a central place in theology, which finds its foundation and soul in the Word of God.

The Church ardently desires that the Word of God may reach every one of her members and nurture their journey of faith. But the Word of God also propels the Church beyond herself; it opens her continually to the mission towards everyone. Indeed, we live surrounded by so many words, but how many of these are empty! At times we even listen to wise words, which do not however affect our ultimate destiny. On the contrary, the Word of God responds to our thirst for meaning, for the truth about our life. It is the only Word that is always new: revealing the mystery of God to us, it is inexhaustible, it never ceases to offer its riches.

Dear friends, living in the Church one learns that the Sacred Scripture is totally relative to Jesus Christ, and one experiences that this is the deep reason for its value and its power. Christ is the living Word of the Father, the Word of God made man. All the Scriptures proclaim his Person and his saving presence, for each one of us and for all humanity. Let us therefore open our hearts and minds in order to receive this gift, following the example of Mary, Mother of the Church.

[1] S. Girolamo,  Comm. in Is., Prol.:  PL 24, 17 B.

I greet the English speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s audience, in particular the groups from England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Israel and the United States of America, Next Wednesday, the season of Lent begins. It is a time for deepening our knowledge and love of the Lord, for examining our hearts and our lives, as well as refocusing our gaze on Jesus and his love for us. May these coming days of prayer, fasting and almsgiving be a source of strength as we daily strive to take up our own crosses and follow Christ. Upon you and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you!

Finally, my thoughts turn to the young people, the sick, and newlyweds. May Our Lady of Lourdes, whom we celebrate today, accompany you maternally, intercede for you before God, and obtain for you the graces to sustain you on your journey.

At the end of the Audience, I will go to the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens and light a candle, a sign of my prayer for all the sick, whom today, World Day of the Sick, we remember with particular affection.

11.02.26

Pope Leo General Audience 11.02.26  

Pope Leo Angelus 08.02.26 

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

Message for the World Day of the Sick 11.02.26 

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click here

The compassion of the Samaritan:

loving by bearing another’s pain

Dear brothers and sisters,

The thirty-fourth World Day of the Sick will be solemnly celebrated in Chiclayo, Peru, on 11 February 2026. For this occasion, I would recommend reflecting once again on the figure of the Good Samaritan, for he is always relevant and essential for rediscovering the beauty of charity and the social dimension of compassion. This reflection further directs our attention towards the needy and all those who suffer, especially the sick.

We are all familiar with the moving account found in the Gospel of Saint Luke (cf. Lk 10:25-37). Jesus responds to a scholar of the law, who asks him to identify the neighbour he must love, with this story: a man travelling from Jerusalem to Jericho was attacked by robbers and left for dead. While a priest and a Levite passed him by, a Samaritan took pity on him, bandaged his wounds, took him to an inn and provided for his care. I have chosen to reflect on this biblical passage through the lens of the Encyclical Fratelli Tutti, written by my beloved predecessor Pope Francis. There, compassion and mercy towards those in need are not reduced to a merely individual effort, but are realised through relationships: with our brothers and sisters in need, with those who care for them and, ultimately, with God who gives us his love.

1. The gift of encounter: the joy of offering closeness and presence

We live immersed in a culture of speed, immediacy and haste – a culture of “discard” and indifference that prevents us from pausing along the way and drawing near to acknowledge the needs and suffering that surround us. In the parable, when the Samaritan saw the wounded man, he did not “pass by.” Instead, he looked upon him with an open and attentive gaze – the very gaze of Jesus – which led him to act with human and compassionate closeness. The Samaritan “stopped, approached the man and cared for him personally, even spending his own money to provide for his needs… [Above all] he gave him his time.” [1] Jesus does not merely teach us who our neighbour is, but rather how to become a neighbour; in other words, how we can draw close to others. [2]  In this respect, we can affirm with Saint Augustine that the Lord did not intend to show us who that man’s neighbour was, but rather to whom he should become a neighbour. Indeed, no one is truly a neighbour until they freely draw near to another. Thus, the one who became a neighbour was the one who showed mercy. 

Love is not passive; it goes out to meet the other. Being a neighbour is not determined by physical or social proximity, but by the decision to love. This is why Christians become neighbours to those who suffer, following the example of Christ, the true divine Samaritan who drew near to a wounded humanity. These are not mere gestures of philanthropy, but signs through which we perceive that personal participation in another’s suffering involves the gift of oneself. It means going beyond the simple satisfaction of needs, so that our very person becomes part of the gift. [4]  This kind of charity is necessarily nourished by an encounter with Christ, who gave himself for us out of love. Saint Francis expressed this beautifully when, speaking of his encounter with lepers, he said: “The Lord himself led me among them,” [5] because through them he had discovered the sweet joy of loving.

The gift of encounter flows from our union with Jesus Christ. We recognise him as the Good Samaritan who has brought us eternal salvation, and we make him present whenever we reach out to a wounded brother or sister. Saint Ambrose said: “Since no one is more truly our neighbour than he who has healed our wounds, let us love him as Lord and also as neighbour; for nothing is so close as the head to its members. Let us also love those who imitate Christ; let us love those who suffer due to the poverty of others, for the sake of the unity of the Body.” [6] “To be one in the One” – through closeness, presence, and love received and shared – is to rejoice, like Saint Francis, in the sweetness of having encountered the Lord.

2. The shared mission of caring for the sick

Saint Luke continues, noting that the Samaritan “was moved with pity.” Compassion, in this sense, implies a profound emotion that compels us to act. It is a feeling that springs from within and leads to a committed response to another’s suffering. In this parable, compassion is the defining characteristic of active love; it is neither theoretical nor merely sentimental, but manifests itself through concrete gestures. The Samaritan drew near, tended the wounds, took charge and provided care. Notably, he does not act in isolation: “The Samaritan discovered an innkeeper who would care for the man; we too are called to unite as a family that is stronger than the sum of small individual members.” [7]  In my experience as a missionary and bishop in Peru, I have personally witnessed many who show mercy and compassion in the spirit of the Samaritan and the innkeeper. Family members, neighbours, healthcare workers, those engaged in pastoral care for the sick, and many others stop along the way to draw near, heal, support and accompany those in need. By offering what they have, they give compassion a social dimension. This experience, occurring within a network of relationships, transcends mere individual commitment. For this reason, in the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi Te , I referred to the care of the sick not only as an “important part” of the Church’s mission, but as an authentic “ecclesial action” (n. 49). I quoted Saint Cyprian to illustrate how this dimension serves as a measure of a society’s health: “This pestilence and plague, which seems so horrible and deadly, searches out the righteousness of each one, and examines the minds of the human race, to see whether the healthy serve the sick; whether relatives love each other with sincerity; whether masters have pity on their sick servants; whether doctors do not abandon the sick who beg for help.” 

“To be one in the One” means truly recognising that we are members of a single Body that brings the Lord’s compassion to the suffering of all people, each according to our own vocation. [9]  Moreover, the pain that moves us to compassion is not the pain of a stranger; it is the pain of a member of our own Body, to whom Christ our Head commands us attend, for the good of all. In this sense, our service is identified with Christ’s own suffering and, when offered in a Christian spirit, hastens the fulfilment of the Saviour’s prayer for the unity of all. [10]

3. Always driven by love for God, to encounter ourselves and our neighbour

In the double commandment, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself” ( Lk 10:27), we recognise the primacy of love for God and its direct consequences for every dimension of human love and relationship. 

11.02.26

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

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 11.01.26 

Feast of the Baptism of the Lord