Pope Francis Homilies

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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 Angelus 25.10.26

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.

My prayers go out to all those who were injured or lost their lives last Friday in the terrorist attack on worshippers at the Orthodox Church of Saint George in Hamoud, Jordan. I express my closeness to the community and the entire country, which is known for its peaceful coexistence and respect between different religions.

Let us continue to pray together for peace. The day after tomorrow, on 27 October, let us join in spirit with the heads of churches and religious leaders who will gather in Assisi to mark the 40th anniversary of the meeting convened by Saint John Paul II. Never before has it been so clear that wars, as well as sowing death and destruction, impoverish and harm the world. May the Lord inspire choices of dialogue and peace!

I greet you all, dear faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries!

I welcome the members of the Centro Académico Romano Fundación from Spain; the group from Saint Ciaran’s College in Ballygawley, Ireland; and the group from the “Saint John Paul II” schools of the Diocese of Opole, Poland.

I am pleased to welcome the heads of protocol from a number of Italian ministries and government departments.

I greet the members of the “Solidarietà in Buone Mani” Association from Castiglion Fiorentino, and the group of friends from Concorezzo who have come on a pilgrimage to mark their 70th birthdays.

I wish you all a happy Sunday.

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.).

The teaching of Gaudium et Spes on the conjugal and family community thus goes on to highlight the social function of the family, defined as “a school of deeper humanity” and “the foundation of society” (GS, 52), calling upon all those with social responsibilities, especially in the political and cultural spheres, to fulfil their duty to “work efficiently for the welfare of marriage and the family” (ibid.).

21.10.26

Pope Leo General Audience 21.10.26

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 Angelus 18.10.26

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

The Gospel proclaimed in today’s liturgy (Mt 22:15-21) presents us with one of Jesus’ best-known sayings: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (cf. v. 21). For this reason, it is important to consider these words in the context in which they were originally spoken.

The evangelist Matthew describes a situation of hostility towards Jesus: the Pharisees gather together to see how they might catch him in his words (cf. v. 15). They decide to send some people to question him on a controversial matter: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” (v. 17). The Teacher’s response is astute, for it allows him to avoid the trap and exposes the hypocrisy of those who seek to put him to the test. He asks them to show him the coin used to pay the tax, that is, a denarius. They hand it to him, and Jesus asks: “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They reply: “The emperor’s.” He then declares: “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (vv. 17-21).

In Jesus, we contemplate a God who is not afraid of history but comes instead to dwell within it. His Kingdom does not abolish human roles and responsibilities. It does, however, call us to live without compromise, free from selfish ambitions and unjust motives, seeking above all the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (cf. Mt 6:33). In this regard, it is striking that those same people praise Jesus, even though their intentions are far from good: “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality” (v. 16).

Dear friends, this is precisely what it means to “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”: to be truthful, free from servile fear or hypocrisy, free to do good. Let us pray to the Lord to help us live in this way. And let us entrust ourselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate the 100th World Mission Day. Let us think of how much missionary history has unfolded over these one hundred years! Let us pray that the Church may always remain faithful to the mandate of the Risen Lord: “Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation” (Mk 16:15).

I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days. I have truly sensed your support. Thank you!

I wish to express my particular gratitude to the doctors, nurses and all the staff of the Gemelli Hospital.

This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity.

Now that I have overcome this delicate phase, as you know, I will gradually resume my activities, always with God’s help and your prayers.

Thank you once again. Thank you all! Have a good Sunday!

18.10.26

Homily of Pope Leo - Holy Mass 14.10.26

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

I will now read the homily prepared by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV.

“The joy of love experienced by families is also the joy of the Church” (Pope Francis, Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia, 19 March 2016, 1). With these words, ten years ago, Pope Francis began his Apostolic Exhortation Amoris Laetitia.

Today, as we celebrate the Eucharist, we offer to the Lord the fruits of the work we have carried out on this document, and we seek to take its riches to heart and put its pastoral guidance into practice.

In this regard, today’s liturgy offers us several points for reflection. In the first reading, we heard Saint Paul’s “hymn to love” (cf. 1 Cor 12:31–13:13). In Chapter 4 of the Apostolic Exhortation, this same text provides the basis of a rich meditation on the virtues of Christian marriage, a union that is “affective… spiritual and sacrificial” (no. 120), and an icon of God’s love (cf. no. 121). Through living out these values, and with the help of grace, spouses grow together day by day in the image of the Trinity. Both spouses mature in their own distinctive ways, and at the same time grow to resemble one another through the “stable commitment to share and shape together the whole of life” (no. 123). Thus, the true joy of love is a gradual deepening of union, in which each person’s uniqueness blossoms through the gift of self and the presence of the other.

Moreover, the Apostle was addressing a community rich in gifts and charisms (cf. 1 Cor 12:4-11), yet one that needed to mature in love. He reminded the Corinthians that persons without love, despite all the talents they may have received, are like “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (13:1), like a voice without love, unable to speak to the heart, cut off from others, distant, cold and impenetrable.

We were not made to live that way. The responsorial Psalm also calls this to mind by calling us the “people” and “flock” of a God whose “steadfast love endures for ever” and whose faithfulness extends “to all generations” (Ps 100:5). He is a Lord who loves without holding back, who never ceases to seek us, place his trust in us and renew his friendship with us.

This is the love that Amoris Laetitia invites us to make the foundation of our families. This is the true love that, in a particular way, we are urged to teach to young people preparing for marriage, instructing them about “the importance of the virtues,” among which a special place is given to chastity, which is “invaluable for the genuine growth of love between persons” (no. 206). Marriage preparation programs conscientiously developed for this purpose in parishes and pastoral areas are commendable. Yet such courses alone are insufficient, for they must be preceded and supported by an education in love that accompanies a person’s growth from childhood. In this regard, Pope Francis observed that “learning to love someone does not happen automatically, nor can it be taught in a workshop just prior to the celebration of marriage” (no. 208). He explained: “For every couple, marriage preparation begins at birth,” (ibid.) and everything a young person experiences within the family should help to make that person capable of “a full and definitive commitment” (ibid.).

In this way, love lived within the family — with its moments of struggle, mistakes and failures, yet also with the marvel of its unpredictable, everyday life — becomes the first school of human affection, the first precious and irreplaceable apprenticeship in the “joy of love.” For this reason, we should recognise and support the efforts of so many families who live out their vocation and mission day by day, without fanfare, yet at times with heroic fidelity. They offer a generous and compelling witness to the words of Jesus we heard in the Gospel: “you did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last” (Jn 15:16). Through the witness of parents, children, grandparents, young people and the elderly, the Gospel’s message of truth and the fullness of life reaches the world.

The Evangelist John handed down to us the simple and clear instruction that Jesus spoke at the end of his earthly life: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Jn 15:12). Let us put it into practice, so that we may grow as a Church that is a “family of families” (Amoris Laetitia, no. 87), in an atmosphere of reciprocal care that will benefit us all. Thus, young couples will feel encouraged as they begin their married life; parents will find support as they face the demanding challenges of raising their children and managing family life; and older people will be recognized and valued in their role as witnesses to wisdom and virtue, even as their physical strength wanes.

14.10.26

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