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 05.10.25

Dear brothers and sisters,

Before praying the Angelus together, I would like to greet and thank all of you who have taken part in this Jubilee celebration dedicated to missionaries and migrants. You are good missionaries because you came even in the rain! Thank you. The Church is entirely missionary and is one great people journeying towards the Kingdom of God. Today, our missionary and migrant brothers and sisters remind us of this. But no one should be forced to flee, nor exploited or mistreated because of their situation as foreigners or people in need! Human dignity must always come first.

I greet all the pilgrims present, especially those from the Diocese of Pavia, led by their Bishop, as well as the faithful, including some young people from Bethlehem, who are carrying the statue of Our Lady of Revelation.

On the evening of Tuesday, 30 September, a strong earthquake struck the central region of the Philippines, particularly the province of Cebu and its neighboring provinces. I express my closeness to the dear Filipino people, and in particular I pray for those who are most severely affected by the consequences of the earthquake. Faced with any danger, let us remain united and supportive in our trust in God and in the intercession of our Blessed Mother.

I express my concern about the rise of antisemitic hatred in the world, as unfortunately we saw with the terrorist attack in Manchester a few days ago. I continue to be saddened by the immense suffering of the Palestinian people in Gaza.

In recent hours, in the dramatic situation in the Middle East, some significant steps forward have been taken in peace negotiations, which I hope will achieve the desired results as soon as possible. I ask all those in positions of responsibility to commit themselves to this path, to bring about a ceasefire and to release the hostages. At the same time, I urge everyone to remain united in prayer, so that the ongoing efforts may put an end to the war and lead us towards a just and lasting peace.

Let us join ourselves spiritually with those gathered at the Shrine in Pompeii for the Supplication to the Virgin of the Holy Rosary. In this month of October, as we contemplate with Mary the mysteries of Christ our Savior, let us deepen our prayer for peace: a prayer that becomes concrete solidarity with those people tormented by war. Thank you to the many children around the world who have committed themselves to praying the Rosary for this intention. You have our heartfelt thanks!

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Pope Leo Holy Mass 05.10.25

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

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate the Jubilee of the Missions and of Migrants. This is a wonderful opportunity to rekindle in ourselves the awareness of our missionary vocation, which arises from the desire to bring the joy and consolation of the Gospel to everyone, especially those who are experiencing difficult and painful situations. In particular, I think of our migrant brothers and sisters, who have had to depart their homelands, often leaving their loved ones behind, enduring nights of fear and loneliness, experiencing discrimination and violence firsthand.

We are here because, at the tomb of the Apostle Peter, each one of us should be able to say with joy: the entire Church is missionary, and it is urgent – as Pope Francis affirmed – that we “go forth and preach the Gospel to all: to all places, on all occasions, without hesitation, reluctance or fear” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 23).

The Spirit sends us to continue the work of Christ in the world’s peripheries, marked at times by war, injustice and suffering. Faced with these menacing situations, the cry that so often in history has been raised up to God has re-emerged: Lord, why do you not intervene? Why do you seem absent? This cry of sorrow is a form of prayer that pervades all of Scripture and, this morning, we heard it from the prophet Habakkuk: “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? … Why do you make me see wrongs and look upon trouble?” (Hab 1:2-3).

Pope Benedict XVI, who had reflected on these questions during his historic visit to Auschwitz, returned to the theme in a catechesis, affirming: “God is silent and this silence pierces the soul of the person praying, who ceaselessly calls but receives no answer … God seems so distant, so forgetful, so absent” (Catechesis, 14 September 2011).

The response of the Lord, however, opens us to hope. If the prophet denounces the inescapable force of evil that seems to prevail, the Lord, for his part, announces to him that all of this will end, will cease, because salvation will come and it will not delay: “Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith” (Hab 2:4).

Therefore, there is life, a new possibility of life and salvation that comes from faith, because it not only helps us to resist evil and to persevere in doing good, but it transforms our lives so as to make of them an instrument of the salvation that even today God wishes to bring about in the world. And, as Jesus says in the Gospel, this is about a lowly strength, for faith does not impose itself by means of power and in extraordinary ways. Indeed, it is enough to have faith the size of a mustard seed in order to do unimaginable things (cf. Lk 17:6), because it carries within it the strength of God’s love that opens the way to salvation.

This is a salvation that is fulfilled when we take responsibility and, with the compassion of the Gospel, care for the suffering of others; it is a salvation that leads the way, silently and apparently without success, in daily words and actions, which become precisely like the tiny seed of which Jesus speaks; it is a salvation that slowly grows when we become “unworthy servants”, namely when we place ourselves at the service of the Gospel and of our brothers and sisters, not seeking our own interests but only bringing God’s love to the world.

Trusting in this, we are called to renew in ourselves the fire of our missionary vocation. As Saint Paul VI affirmed, “it is our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel in this extraordinary period of human history, a time truly without precedent, in which, at the heights of progress never before reached, there are also accompanying depths of perplexity and desperation equally without precedent” (Message for World Mission Day, 25 June 1971).

Brothers and sisters, today a new missionary age opens up in the history of the Church.

If for a long time we have associated with mission the word “depart”, the going out to distant lands that did not know the Gospel or were experiencing poverty, today the frontiers of the missions are no longer geographical, because poverty, suffering and the desire for a greater hope have made their way to us. The story of so many of our migrant brothers and sisters bears witnesses to this: the tragedy of their flight from violence, the suffering which accompanies it, the fear of not succeeding, the perilous risk of traveling along the coastline, their cry of sorrow and desperation. Brothers and sisters, those boats which hope to catch sight of a safe port, and those eyes filled with anguish and hope seeking to reach the shore, cannot and must not find the coldness of indifference or the stigma of discrimination!

Mission is not so much about “departing”, but instead “remaining” in order to proclaim Christ through hospitality and welcome, compassion and solidarity. We are to remain without fleeing to the comforts of our individualism; to remain so as to look upon those who arrive from lands that are distant and violent; to remain and open our arms and hearts to them, welcoming them as brothers and sisters, and being for them a presence of consolation and hope.

There are many missionary men and women, but also believers and people of good will, who work in the service of migrants, and promote a new culture of fraternity on the theme of migration, beyond stereotypes and prejudices. But this precious service involves each one of us, within the limits of our own means. As Pope Francis affirmed, this is the time for all of us to let ourselves be “permanently in a state of mission” (Evangelii Guadium, 25).

This entails at least two important missionary tasks: missionary cooperation and missionary vocation.

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FAMINE

Pope Francis

Hunger

Hunger is an injustice that destroys men and women because they have nothing to eat, even if there is a lot food available in the world. Human exploitation; different forms of slavery; recently I saw a film shot inside a prison where migrants are locked up and tortured to turn them into slaves. This is still happening 70 years after the Declaration of Human Rights. Cultural colonization. This is exactly what the Devil wants, to destroy human dignity – and that is why the Devil is behind all forms of persecution.

01.06.18

Pope Leo General Audience 01.10.25

I am saddened by the news coming from Madagascar, about the violent clashes between the police and young demonstrators, which have caused the death of some of them and a hundred injured. Let us pray to the Lord that every form of violence may always be avoided, and that the constant search for social harmony through the promotion of justice and the common good may be fostered.

I greet the English speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s audience, in particular the groups from England, Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, Tanzania, Vietnam, Canada and the United States of America.

My special greeting goes to the Seminarians from the Pontifical Irish College, who are beginning their studies, and to the diaconate class of the Pontifical North American College, together with their families and friends.

As we begin the month dedicated to the holy Rosary, I invite you to pray it daily for peace in our world. May the peace of the risen Christ be with you all! God bless you.

Lastly, my thoughts turn to the young people, the sick and the newlyweds. Today we remember Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, Doctor of the Church and patroness of the missions. May her example encourage each one to follow Jesus on the journey of life, bearing joyful witness to the Gospel everywhere.

My blessing to you all!

01.10.25

Pope Leo General Audience 01.10.25

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

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning!

The centre of our faith and the heart of our hope are firmly rooted in the resurrection of Christ. When we read the Gospels carefully, we realize that this mystery is surprising not only because a man – the Son of God – rose from the dead, but also because of the way he decided to do so. Indeed, Jesus’ resurrection is not a bombastic triumph, nor is it revenge or retaliation against his enemies. It is a wonderful testimony to how love is capable of rising again after a great defeat in order to continue its unstoppable journey.

When we get up again after a trauma caused by others, often the first reaction is anger, the desire to make someone pay for what we have suffered. The Risen One does not react in this way. When he emerges from the underworld of death, Jesus does not take revenge. He does not return with gestures of power, but rather with meekness he manifests the joy of a love greater than any wound and stronger than any betrayal.

The Risen One does not feel any need to reiterate or affirm his own superiority. He appears to his friends – the disciples – and he does so with extreme discretion, without forcing the pace of their capacity for acceptance. His only desire is to return to communion with them, helping them to overcome the sense of guilt. We see this very well in the Upper Room, where the Lord appears to his friends who are enclosed in fear. It is a moment that expresses extraordinary power: Jesus, after descending into the abysses of death to liberate those who were imprisoned there, enters the closed room of those who are paralyzed by fear, bringing them a gift that no-one would have dared to hope for: peace.

His greeting is simple, almost ordinary: “Peace be with you!” (Jn 20:19). But it is accompanied by a gesture so beautiful that it is almost disconcerting: Jesus shows the disciples his hands and his side, with the marks of the passion. Why show his wounds to those who, in those dramatic hours, had denied and abandoned him? Why not hide those signs of pain and avoid reopening the wound of shame?

Yet, the Gospel says that, seeing the Lord, the disciples rejoiced (cf. Jn 20:20). The reason is profound: Jesus is now fully reconciled with everything he has suffered. There is not a shadow of resentment. The wounds serve not to reproach, but to confirm a love stronger than any infidelity. They are the proof that, even in the moment of our failure, God did not retreat. He did not give up on us.

In this way, the Lord shows himself to be naked and defenceless. He does not demand, he does not hold us to ransom. His is a love that does not humiliate; it is the peace of one who has suffered for love and can now finally affirm that it was worthwhile.

01.10.25

Pope Leo – October 2025

For collaboration between different religious traditions

Let us pray that believers in different religious traditions might work together to defend and promote peace, justice and human fraternity.

Lord Jesus, You, who in diversity are one

and look lovingly at every person, help us to recognize ourselves as brothers and sisters, called to live, pray, work, and dream together.

We live in a world full of beauty, but also wounded by deep divisions. Sometimes, religions, instead of uniting us, become a cause of confrontation.

Give us your Spirit to purify our hearts,

so that we may recognize what unites us

and, from there, learn again how to listen and collaborate without destroying.

May the concrete examples of peace, justice and fraternity in religions inspire us to believe that it is possible to live and work together, beyond our differences.

May religions not be used as weapons or walls, but rather lived as bridges and prophecy: making the dream of the common good credible, accompanying life, sustaining hope and being the yeast of unity in a fragmented world.

Amen

October 2025

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