Brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

After his baptism, Jesus began his preaching and called his first disciples: Simon, who is called Peter, his brother Andrew, and James and John (cf. Mt 4:12-22). Reflecting more closely on this scene from today’s Gospel, we can ask ourselves two questions. The first concerns the timing of Jesus’ mission, and the second regards the place he chose to preach and to call his apostles. We may ask: When did he begin? And where did he begin?

First of all, the Gospel tells us that Jesus began his preaching “when he heard that John had been arrested” (v. 12). He began, therefore, at what might appear to be an inopportune moment. John the Baptist had just been imprisoned, and the leaders of the people were seemingly reluctant to embrace the newness of the Messiah. Apparently, it was a time that called for caution. Yet, it was precisely in this dark situation that Jesus began to bring the light of the Good News: “The kingdom of heaven has come near” (v. 17).

In our lives, both individually and as a Church, interior struggles or circumstances we deem unfavorable can lead us to believe that it is not the right time to proclaim the Gospel, to make a decision, to make a choice, or to change a situation. In this way, however, we risk becoming paralyzed by indecision or imprisoned by excessive prudence, whereas the Gospel calls us to dare to trust. God is at work at all times; every moment is “God’s time,” even when we do not feel ready or when the situation seems unfavourable.

The Gospel also offers us insight into the specific place where Jesus began his public mission. We are told that he “left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum” (v. 13). By doing so, he remained in Galilee – a predominantly pagan territory that trade had transformed into a crossroads and a place of encounter. We might describe it as a multicultural region, traversed by people of diverse origins and religious affiliations. In this sense, the Gospel reveals that the Messiah, while coming from Israel, transcends the borders of his own land to proclaim a God who draws close to everyone. He is a God who excludes no one, and who comes not only for the “pure,” but enters fully into the complexity of human situations and relationships. As Christians, therefore, we too must overcome the temptation toward isolation. The Gospel must be proclaimed and lived in every setting, serving as a leaven of fraternity and peace among all individuals, cultures, religions and peoples.

Brothers and sisters, like the first disciples, we are called to embrace the Lord’s invitation with joy, knowing that every time and every place in our lives is permeated by his presence and his love. Let us pray to the Virgin Mary, that she may obtain for us this inner trust and accompany us on our journey.

Dear brothers and sisters,

This Sunday, the third Sunday in Ordinary Time, is the Sunday of the Word of God. Pope Francis instituted it seven years ago to promote throughout the Church knowledge of Sacred Scripture and greater attention to the Word of God in the Liturgy and in the life of communities. I thank and encourage all those who are committed with faith and love to this priority.

Even in these days, Ukraine is being hit by continuous attacks, leaving entire populations exposed to the cold of winter. I am following the situation with sorrow, and I am close to and pray for those who suffer. The continuation of hostilities, with increasingly serious consequences for civilians, widens the rift between peoples and pushes further back the opportunity for a just and lasting peace. I invite everyone to intensify their efforts to end this war.

Today is World Leprosy Day.  I express my closeness to all those affected by this disease.  I offer a word of support to the Italian Association of Friends of Raoul Follereau and all those who care for leprosy patients, especially their commitment to protecting the dignity of patients.

I welcome all of you, faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries!  In particular, I greet the parish choir of Rakovski, Bulgaria, the group of Quinceañeras from Panamá, the students of the Zurbarán Institute in Badajoz, Spain; as well as the confirmands from the parish of San Marco Vecchio in Florence, the school community of the Erodoto Comprehensive Institute in Corigliano-Rossano, and the Cuori Aperti Volunteer Association in Lecce.

I warmly greet the young people of Catholic Action of Rome, together with their parents, educators and priests, who have organised the Caravan for Peace. Dear children and young people, I thank you because you help us adults to look at the world from another perspective: that of cooperation between people and among diverse peoples. Thank you!  Be peacemakers at home, at school, in sports, everywhere. Never be violent, neither with words nor with gestures.  Never!  Evil can only be overcome with good.

Together with these young people, let us pray for peace: in Ukraine, in the Middle East, and in every region where, unfortunately, there is fighting going on for interests that are not those of the people.  Peace is built on respect for peoples!

Today concludes the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  In the afternoon, as is tradition, I will celebrate Vespers in the Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls together with representatives of other Christian denominations.  I thank all those who will participate, including through the media, and I wish everyone a happy Sunday.

25.01.26 a

Pope Leo Second Vespers 25.01.26

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  Second Vespers 25.01.26 

Pope Leo General Audience 21.01.26

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

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

We will continue the catecheses on the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, of Vatican Council II, on divine Revelation. We have seen that God reveals himself in a dialogue of covenant, in which he addresses us as friends. It is therefore a relational knowledge, which not only communicates ideas, but shares a history and calls for communion in reciprocity. The fulfilment of this revelation takes place in a historical and personal encounter in which God himself gives himself to us, making himself present, and we discover that we are known in our deepest truth. It is what happens in Jesus Christ. The Document states that the deepest truth about God and the salvation of man shines out for our sake in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation (cf. DV, 2).

Jesus reveals the Father to us by involving us in his own relationship with Him. In the Son sent by God the Father “man might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature” (ibid.). We therefore reach full knowledge of God by entering into the Son’s relationship with his Father, by virtue of the action of the Spirit. This is attested to, for example, by the Evangelist Luke when he recounts the Lord’s prayer of jubilation: “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Lk 10:21-22).

Thanks to Jesus we know God as we are known by Him (cf. Gal 4:9); 1 Cor 13:13). Indeed, in Christ, God has communicated himself to us and, at the same time, he has manifested to us our true identity as his children, created in the image of the Word. This “eternal Word … enlightens all men” (DV 4), revealing their truth in the eyes of the Father: “Your Father, who sees in secret will reward you” (Mt 6:5; 6:8), says Jesus, and he adds that “your Father knows that you need all these things” (cf. Mt 6:32). Jesus Christ is the place where we recognize the truth of God the Father, while we discover ourselves known by Him as sons in the Son, called to the same destiny of full life. Saint Paul writes: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption as children. And because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba!’, Father!” (Gal 4:4-6).

Finally, Jesus Christ reveals the Father with his own humanity. Precisely because he is the Word incarnate that dwells among men, Jesus reveals God to us with his own true and integral humanity: “To see Jesus is to see His Father (Jn 14:9). For this reason, Jesus perfected revelation, fulfilling it through his whole work of making Himself present and manifesting Himself through His words and deeds, His signs and wonders, but especially through His death and glorious resurrection from the dead and final sending of the Spirit of truth” (DV, 4). In order to know God in Christ, we must welcome his integral humanity: God’s truth is not fully revealed where it takes something away from the human, just as the integrity of Jesus’ humanity does not diminish the fullness of the divine gift. It is the integral humanity of Jesus that tells us the truth of the Father (cf. Jn 1:18).

It is not only the death and resurrection of Jesus that saves us and calls us together, but his very person: the Lord who becomes incarnate, is born, heals, teaches, suffers, dies, rises again and remains among us. Therefore, to honour the greatness of the Incarnation, it is not enough to consider Jesus as the channel of transmission of intellectual truths. If Jesus has a real body, the communication of the truth of God is realized in that body, with its own way of perceiving and feeling reality, with its own way of inhabiting and passing through the world. Jesus himself invites us to share his perception of reality: “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Mt 6:26).

Brothers and sisters, by following the path of Jesus to the very end, we reach the certainty that nothing can separate us from God’s love. “If God is for us, who is against us?”, writes Saint Paul again. “He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else?” (Rom 8:31-32). Thanks to Jesus, Christians know God the Father and entrust themselves to Him with confidence.

My greeting then extends to young people, the sick, and newlyweds. We are in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year has as its theme: "There is one body, and one Spirit, just as God has called you to the one hope" ( Ephesians 4:4). Let us ask the Lord to bestow the gift of his Spirit on all the Churches throughout the world so that, through it, Christians may banish division and build strong bonds of unity.

My blessing to everyone!

21.01.26

Pope Leo

Message for World Day of Peace  01.01.26

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

Peace be with you all:

Towards an “unarmed and disarming” peace

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