Pope Francis Homilies

Books of the Bible Index of Homilies

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 World Mission Day 2025 Video Message

Pope Leo Angelus 12.10.25

Dear brothers and sisters, before concluding the celebration, I would like to extend my warm greetings to all of you who have gathered here to pray in this great “cenacle” together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus. You represent the wide range of associations, movements and communities that are inspired by Marian devotion, which is proper to every Christian. I thank you and urge you always to base your spirituality on Sacred Scripture and the Tradition of the Church.

I greet all the groups of pilgrims, in particular the Augustinian laity of Italy and the Secular Order of Discalced Carmelites.

In recent days, the agreement to begin the peace process has given a spark of hope in the Holy Land. I encourage the parties involved to continue courageously on the path they have chosen, towards a just and lasting peace that respects the legitimate aspirations of the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. Two years of conflict have caused death and destruction throughout the land, especially in the hearts of those who have brutally lost their children, parents, friends and possessions. With the entire Church, I am close to your immense pain. The gentle touch of the Lord is directed especially toward you today, in the certainty that even amidst the deepest darkness, he always remains with us: “Dilexi te, I have loved you.” We ask God, who is the true Peace of humanity, to heal all wounds and to help us with his grace to accomplish what now seems humanly impossible: to remember that the other is not an enemy, but a brother or sister to be seen, forgiven and offered the hope of reconciliation.

With sorrow, I have followed the news of the recent violent attacks that struck several cities and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, causing the death of innocent people, including children, and leaving many families without electricity and heating. My heart goes out to those who suffer, who have been living in anguish and deprivation for years. I renew my appeal to put an end to violence, to stop destruction, to open up to dialogue and peace!

I am close to the dear people of Peru at this time of political transition. I pray that Peru may continue on the path of reconciliation, dialogue and national unity.

Today in Italy, we remember the victims of workplace accidents: let us pray for them and for the safety of all workers.

And now let us turn to Mary with filial trust.

12.10.25 a

Pope Leo Holy Mass 12.10.25

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

Dear sisters and brothers,

The Apostle Paul exhorts each of us today, as he did to Timothy: “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David” (2 Tim 2:8). Marian spirituality, which nourishes our faith, has Jesus as its center. It is like Sunday, which opens each new week in the radiance of his Resurrection from the dead. “Remember Jesus Christ”: this alone matters; this is what distinguishes human spiritualities from the way of God. “Chained like a criminal,” (v. 9) Paul urges us not to lose sight of what is essential, and not to strip the name of Jesus of its history and of its cross. What we consider inordinate and crucify, God raises up because “he cannot deny himself” (v. 13). Jesus is God’s faithfulness, God’s faithfulness to himself. The celebration of Sunday, therefore, should make us Christians. It should fill our thoughts and feelings with the burning memory of Jesus and change the way we live together and the way we inhabit the earth. Every Christian spirituality flows from this fire and helps to keep it alive.

The reading from the Second Book of Kings (5:14-17) recounts the healing of Naaman, the Syrian. Jesus himself referred to this passage when he was in the synagogue in Nazareth (cf. Lk 4:27), and his interpretation had a disconcerting effect on the people of his hometown. To say that God had saved a foreigner suffering from leprosy rather than the many lepers in Israel turned them against him: “When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff” (Lk 4:28-29). The Evangelist makes no mention of the presence of Mary. She may have been present to witness what the elderly Simeon had announced to her when she brought the newborn Jesus to the Temple: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your own soul too’” (Lk 2:34-35).

Yes, dear friends, “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” ( Heb 4:12). Pope Francis found the story of Naaman the Syrian to be a relevant and penetrating message for the life of the Church. Speaking to the Roman Curia, he said: “Naaman was forced to live with a tragic situation: he had leprosy. His armor, that had won him renown, in reality covered a frail, wounded and diseased humanity. We often find this contradiction in our lives: sometimes great gifts are the armor that covers great frailties. [...]If Naaman had continued only to accumulate medals to decorate his armor, in the end he would have been devoured by his leprosy: appearing to be alive, yet enclosed and isolated in his disease.” Jesus frees us from this danger. He does not wear armor; instead he is born and dies naked. He offers his gift without forcing the healed lepers to acknowledge him: only a Samaritan in the Gospel seems to realize that he had been saved (cf. Lk 17:11-19). Perhaps the fewer titles we have to boast of, the clearer it is that love is free. God is pure gift and sheer grace. Yet how many voices and convictions can separate us even today from this stark and revolutionary truth!

Brothers and sisters, Marian spirituality is at the service of the Gospel: it reveals its simplicity. Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus. It teaches us to return to him and to meditate and ponder the events of our lives in which the Risen One still comes to us and calls us. Marian spirituality immerses us in the history upon which heaven opened. It helps us to see the proud being scattered in their conceit, the mighty being cast down from their thrones and the rich being sent away empty-handed. It impels us to fill the hungry with good things, to lift up the lowly, to remember God’s mercy and to trust in the power of his arm (cf. Lk 1:51-54). Jesus invites us to be part of his Kingdom, just as he asked Mary for her “yes,” which, once given, was renewed every day.

The lepers in the Gospel who do not return to give thanks remind us that God’s grace can touch us and find no response. It can heal us, yet we can still fail to accept it. Let us take care therefore not to go up to the temple in such a way that does not lead us to follow Jesus. Some forms of worship do not foster communion with others and can numb our hearts. In these cases, we fail to encounter the people God has placed in our lives. We fail to contribute, as Mary did, to changing the world, and to share in the joy of the Magnificat. Let us take care to avoid any exploitation of the faith that could lead to labelling those who are different — often the poor — as enemies, “lepers” to be avoided and rejected.

Mary’s path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded and sinners. Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness, his way of “being a mother,” to light in the Church. As we read in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, “whenever we look to Mary, we come to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. In her, we see that humility and tenderness are not virtues of the weak but of the strong who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves. Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who praised God for ‘bringing down the mighty from their thrones’ and ‘sending the rich away empty’ (Lk 1:52-53) is also the one who brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice” (no. 288).

12.10.25 m

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

APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION

DILEXI TE

(I HAVE LOVED YOU)

OF THE HOLY FATHER

LEO XIV

TO ALL CHRISTIANS

ON LOVE FOR THE POOR

Excerpt below, for the full transcript click on DILEXI TE above

1. “I HAVE LOVED YOU” (Rev 3:9). The Lord speaks these words to a Christian community that, unlike some others, had no influence or resources, and was treated instead with violence and contempt: “You have but little power… I will make them come and bow down before your feet” (Rev 3:8-9). This text reminds us of the words of the canticle of Mary: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (Lk 1:52-53).

2. This declaration of love, taken from the Book of Revelation, reflects the inexhaustible mystery that Pope Francis reflected upon in the Encyclical Dilexit Nos on the human and divine love of the heart of Jesus Christ. There we saw how Jesus identified himself “with the lowest ranks of society” and how, with his love poured out to the end, he confirms the dignity of every human being, especially when “they are weak, scorned, or suffering.” As we contemplate Christ’s love, “we too are inspired to be more attentive to the sufferings and needs of others, and confirmed in our efforts to share in his work of liberation as instruments for the spread of his love.”

3. For this reason, in continuity with the Encyclical Dilexit Nos, Pope Francis was preparing in the last months of his life an Apostolic Exhortation on the Church’s care for the poor, to which he gave the title Dilexi Te, as if Christ speaks those words to each of them, saying: “You have but little power,” yet “I have loved you” ( Rev 3:9). I am happy to make this document my own — adding some reflections — and to issue it at the beginning of my own pontificate, since I share the desire of my beloved predecessor that all Christians come to appreciate the close connection between Christ’s love and his summons to care for the poor. I too consider it essential to insist on this path to holiness, for “in this call to recognize him in the poor and the suffering, we see revealed the very heart of Christ, his deepest feelings and choices, which every saint seeks to imitate.”

09.10.25

Pope Leo Holy Mass 09.10.25

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

“Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you” (Lk 11:9). With these words, Jesus invites us to turn with trust to the Father for all our needs.

These are also the words we listen to as you gather from all over the world to celebrate the Jubilee of Consecrated Life. As men and women religious, monks, nuns and contemplatives, members of secular institutes and of the Ordo virginum, hermits, and those belonging to “new institutes,” you have come to Rome to undertake the Jubilee Pilgrimage together. You have come to entrust your lives to the same mercy to which, through your religious profession, you once committed yourselves to bear witness, because living out your vows means abandoning yourselves like children into the arms of the Father.

“To ask,” “to seek” and “to knock.” These expressions of prayer, mentioned by the evangelist Luke, are attitudes that are familiar to you. Through living out the evangelical counsels, you are accustomed to asking without demanding, always docile to God’s action. It is no coincidence that the Second Vatican Council speaks of vows as a useful means of “deriving more abundant fruit from baptismal grace” (Lumen Gentium, 44). “To ask,” in fact, is to recognize, through poverty, that everything is a gift from the Lord and to give thanks for it. “To seek” is to open oneself, through obedience, to discovering each day the path we must take on the journey towards holiness, following God’s plans. “To knock” is to ask for and to offer the gifts we have received to our brothers and sisters with a chaste heart, striving to love everyone with respect and generosity.

We could read the words that God addresses to the prophet Malachi in the first reading in the same light. He refers to the inhabitants of Jerusalem as “my special possession” (Mal 3:17) and tells the prophet: “I will spare them as parents spare their children” (ibid.). These expressions remind us of the love with which the Lord has first loved us in calling us. It is an opportunity, especially for you, to reflect on the free gift of your vocation from the origins of your congregation to the present day and from the first steps of your personal journey to this moment. First and foremost, we are all here because God has willed it, and has chosen us from the very beginning.

“To ask,” “to seek,” and “to knock” also means reflecting on our own lives, bringing to mind and heart what the Lord has achieved over the years by multiplying talents, strengthening and purifying faith, and fostering generosity and freedom in charity. Sometimes this has been achieved in joyful circumstances, and at other times in ways that are more difficult to understand, perhaps even through the mysterious crucible of suffering. At all times, however, we find ourselves in the embrace of that paternal goodness that characterizes what he does in us and through us, for the good of the Church (cf. Lumen Gentium, 43).

This brings us to a second reflection: God as the fullness and meaning of our lives. For you — for us — the Lord is everything.

09.10.25

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

Daily Readings - read the entire New Testament over a 2 year period (reading plan courtesy of Gideon International)

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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