Through the example of Mary, Pope Leo on Sunday in St. Peter's Square said the Church can see the “revolutionary nature of love and tenderness” and its impact on the events of history as well as the everyday lives of each individual. / Credit: Vatican Media

Rome Newsroom, Oct 12, 2025 / 10:30 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV’s Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square was attended by 30,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spiritualities, and thousands more people who gathered in neighboring streets outside the Vatican for the liturgical celebration.

During the Mass, the Holy Father expressed his great appreciation and gratitude to the members of movements, confraternities, prayer groups, and shrines — dedicated to the Blessed Virgin — for coming to Rome to participate in the Church’s holy year dedicated to hope.  

Leo said their spirituality, anchored in Sacred Scripture and Church tradition, reveals the profound beauty of God’s personal love for each person.

“Mary’s path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded and sinners,” he said in his Oct. 12 homily. “Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God’s tenderness, his way of ‘being a mother,’ to light in the Church.”

According to the pontiff, devotion to the Mother of God has “changed the face of the earth forever” and should be revived through “popular devotion,” particularly in a world seeking peace and justice. 

“Let us use [Marian devotions] as a driving force for renewal and transformation,” he said on Sunday. “Indeed, the Jubilee we are celebrating calls for a time of conversion and restitution, of reflection and liberation.”

Since becoming pope in May, Leo XIV has frequently spoken about the significance of the Canticle of Mary in the life of the Church throughout its 2,000-year history.  

“Some forms of worship do not foster communion with others and can numb our hearts … We fail to contribute, as Mary did, to changing the world, and to share in the joy of the Magnificat,” he said. 

“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,” he added.

Through the example of Mary, the Holy Father said the Church can see the “revolutionary nature of love and tenderness” and its impact on the events of history as well as the everyday lives of each individual. 

“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,” the pope said. 

“Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who praised God for ‘bringing down the mighty from their thrones’ and ‘sending the rich away empty’ is also the one who brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice,” he continued.

After delivering his homily, Leo XIV stood before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima brought to St. Peter’s Square from Portugal, and dedicated the Church and the world to the Blessed Virgin Mary. He prayed particularly for those “tormented by the scourges of war.”

“Obtain for us the gift of peace that we earnestly implore,” he prayed. “Mother of the Church, welcome us kindly so that under your mantle we may find refuge and be helped by your maternal aid in the trials of life.” 

‘With the entire Church, I am close to your immense pain’    

Before leading the congregation in the Angelus prayer before the conclusion of Holy Mass, the Holy Father delivered a brief Sunday address and asked the Church to especially pray for people in Israel and Palestine.

“In recent days, the agreement to begin the peace process has given a spark of hope in the Holy Land,” he said, referring to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal brokered Friday. 

“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,” he said.

The Holy Father concluded his short address with petitions for prayer for the people of Ukraine, following recent fatal attacks in Kyiv;the people of Peru, who are undergoing a time of  “political transition”; and for victims of workplace accidents in Italy. 

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Christians must avoid using their faith to label those who are different -- often the poor -- as enemies to be avoided and rejected, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Some forms of worship do not foster communion with others and can numb our hearts," he said in his homily during Mass in St. Peter's Square Oct. 12 for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality.

"Mary's path follows that of Jesus, which leads us to encounter every human being, especially the poor, the wounded and sinners," Pope Leo said in his homily. "Because of this, authentic Marian spirituality brings God's tenderness, his way of 'being a mother,' to light in the church." 

Members of movements, confraternities and various Marian prayer groups were invited to Rome for their Oct. 11-12 Jubilee, which included an evening prayer service in the square Oct. 11 with Pope Leo in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima.

The statue, brought from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal, also was on display during the Oct. 12 Mass.

Marian spirituality, "which nourishes our faith, has Jesus as its center," Pope Leo said in his homily. Remembering Jesus Christ is what matters.

"The celebration of Sunday, therefore, should make us Christians," he said. "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."

The pope reflected on the day's Gospel reading of Jesus cleansing 10 lepers (Lk 17:11-19). While all of them appealed to him and were healed, only one, who was a foreigner, thanked Jesus and glorified God.

"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," he said. "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," he said. 

When some forms of worship fail to foster communion with others, he said, "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," he said.

"Marian spirituality is at the service of the Gospel" because "it reveals its simplicity," he said.

"Our affection for Mary of Nazareth leads us to join her in becoming disciples of Jesus," he said, and "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 "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," he said, referring to the Canticle of Mary (Lk 1:51-54). "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." 

Just as God asked Mary for her "yes," he said, "Jesus invites us to be part of his kingdom."

"Dear friends, in a world seeking justice and peace, let us revive Christian spirituality and popular devotion to the events and places blessed by God that have changed the face of the earth forever," he said.

"Let us use them as a driving force for renewal and transformation," he said, especially during the Holy Year, which encourages conversion, restitution, reflection and liberation.

During the Mass, one of the prayers of the faithful prayed that God would "dispel all pride from the hearts of those who hold positions of power and inspire decisions which favor the little ones and the least."

The pope offered his own prayer entrusting the church, the world and all of humanity to Mary.

"Holy Virgin, Mother of Christ our hope, your caring presence in this Year of Grace accompanies and consoles us and gives us, in the dark nights of history, the certainty that in Christ evil is overcome and every person is redeemed by his love," he said.

"To your immaculate heart we entrust the whole world and all of humanity, especially your children who are tormented by the scourge of war," he said. "Advocate of grace, advise us on the path of reconciliation and forgiveness, do not fail to intercede for us, in joy and in sorrow, and obtain for us the gift of peace that we earnestly implore."
 

A view of St. Peter's Basilica during the Mass for the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, with Bernini's baldachin and the papal altar decorated with white flowers, Dec. 8, 2024. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

CNA Staff, Oct 11, 2025 / 16:28 pm (CNA).

A man urinated on the Altar of Confession of St. Peter's Basilica on Friday before being taken away by security officers in the famous basilica, according to news reports.

The man climbed the altar and "urinated under the stunned gaze of hundreds of tourists," according to the newspaper Corriere della Sera's Rome edition. Video of the desecration was widely shared on social media.

Il Tempo reported that the man "was promptly reached by plainclothes police officers present in the basilica" and was escorted out of the church.

The latter newspaper claimed Pope Leo XIV was "shocked to learn of the news," though the Holy See Press Office had not released a statement about the incident as of Oct. 11.

This is not the first time this year that a vandal has attacked the altar from which the pope says Mass.

In February, a man desecrated the altar by climbing on top of it and throwing six candelabras that were on the altar to the ground.

In June 2023, meanwhile, a Polish man approached the high altar as the basilica was about to close, undressed, and climbed onto the altar. Photos posted online showed the words "Save children of Ukraine" written in marker on his back. The Vatican performed a penitential rite after that act of desecration.

Pope Leo XIV stands before the original Our Lady of Fatima statue at a Marian vigil in St. Peter's Square, Rome, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Oct 11, 2025 / 15:00 pm (CNA).

Tens of thousands of people joined Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday to pray for peace in the world.

Before the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which was brought to Rome from Portugal for the Oct. 11–12 Jubilee of Marian Spiritualities, the pope entrusted believers to the Mother of God to guide the Church in its “pilgrimage of hope.”

During the special prayer vigil, which included a contemplative recitation of the rosary and time for Eucharistic adoration, the Holy Father delivered a short address and encouraged those present to ask the Mother of God for the gift of a “listening heart.”

“Our hope is guided by the gentle and persistent light of Mary’s words as recounted in the Gospel,” the pope said.

“Her last words at the wedding feast in Cana [‘Do whatever he tells you’] are particularly precious,” he said. “These words, which almost seem to be a testament, must be treasured by her children, as any mother’s testament would be.”

Sharing reflections on the life of Christ, which are included in the rosary prayer, Leo said peace in the world is not achieved through “power and money” but through prayer, listening, and living the Gospel message.

“Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming,” he said. 

“It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue,” he continued. “Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness.”

Addressing the “powerful of the world,” the pope said it is necessary to “lay down your sword” and have the “courage to disarm” to achieve peace.

“At the same time, it is an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing,” he added.

Encouraging those who desire peace and the end of conflict and violence, the Holy Father said “take courage” and “never give up.”

“Blessed are you: God gives joy to those who spread love in the world and to those who choose to make peace with their enemies rather than defeat them,” he said.

“Peace is a journey, and God walks with you,” he continued. “The Lord creates and spreads peace through his friends who are at peace in their hearts, and they in turn become peacemakers and instruments of his peace.”

Towards the end of the prayer vigil, the Holy Father turned to Mary, the “Queen of Peace” to whom the Church can turn in time of need.

“Teach us to live and bear witness to Christian love, by welcoming everyone as brothers and sisters; to renounce the darkness of selfishness in order to follow Christ, the true light of humanity,” he said.

“Virgin of peace, Gate of Sure Hope, accept the prayers of your children!” he prayed.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, which has one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St. John Paul II embedded in its crown, Pope Leo XIV called for the warring to lay down their weapons.

"'Lay down your sword' is a message addressed to the powerful of this world, to those who guide the fate of peoples: have the courage to disarm!" the pope said Oct. 11 as he led a prayer vigil and the recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter's Square.

On the night he was arrested, Jesus told St. Peter, "Lay down your sword." While Jesus says the same to warmongers today, the pope said, it also is "an invitation to each one of us to recognize that no idea, faith or policy justifies killing." 

Before the evening prayer service, part of the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality, the statue brought from the Shrine of Our Lady of Fatima in Portugal was on display in the Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina near the Vatican. Thousands of people lined up to see the statue up close and to pray in front of it.

As the statue was carried in procession into St. Peter's Square, people applauded and shouted, "Viva la Madonna" ("Long live Our Lady"). 

Pope Leo placed a gold rose in a small vase at the foot of the statue and prayed silently before beginning the prayer vigil.

Each of the joyful mysteries of the rosary was led in a different language -- Italian, English, Spanish, French and Portuguese -- and each decade concluded with the prayer, "Queen of Peace, pray for us."

As darkness fell, Pope Leo offered a meditation, urging everyone to "persevere tirelessly in praying for peace, a God-given gift that we must strive to receive and to which we must make a strong commitment."

With Mary as a model, both as a human being and as the first disciple of Jesus, the pope said, Christians should "ask for the gift of compassion toward every brother and sister who suffers and toward all creatures."

"Let us look to the mother of Jesus and the small group of courageous women at the foot of the cross," the pope suggested. "May we learn from them to stand beside the countless crosses of the world, where Christ is still crucified in his brothers and sisters, in order to bring them comfort, communion and help."

At the wedding feast of Cana, he said, Mary told the servants to do whatever Jesus told them.

The words of Jesus that must be obeyed today, the pope said, are those he addressed to St. Peter: "Lay down your sword." 

"Disarm your hands and, even more importantly, your hearts. As I have said before, peace is unarmed and disarming," Pope Leo said. "It is not deterrence, but fraternity; it is not an ultimatum, but dialogue. Peace will not come as the result of victories over the enemy, but as the fruit of sowing justice and courageous forgiveness."

Jesus calls his followers to see the world "through the eyes of those who suffer rather than the mighty; to view history through the eyes of the little ones, rather than through the perspective of the powerful; to interpret the events of history from the viewpoint of the widow, the orphan, the stranger, the wounded child, the exile and the fugitive; to see things through the eyes of the shipwrecked and of the poor man Lazarus lying at the rich man's doorstep," the pope said,

"Otherwise, nothing will ever change," he said, "and a new era, a kingdom of justice and peace, will never dawn."

Mary, in the Magnificat, points out "the contrast between the humble and the powerful, the poor and the rich, the satiated and the hungry," the pope said. "She chooses the little ones; she stands with the least powerful in history, to teach us to imagine and to dream together with her of new heavens and a new earth."

"Take courage, continue on your journey, you who are building the conditions for a future of peace, justice and forgiveness," Pope Leo said. "Be gentle yet determined and never give up. Peace is a journey, and God walks with you."

The prayer service ended with silent Eucharistic adoration and Benediction.

Pope Leo XIV smiles as he rides in the popemobile past the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima before leading a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima is carried in procession through St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025, for a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace with Pope Leo XIV. Participants pause to pray at the site where St. John Paul II was shot May 13, 1981. The late pope credited Our Lady of Fatima with saving his life, and one of the bullets removed from his body was later placed in the crown of the Fatima statue. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope Leo XIV kneels in prayer before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025, before a prayer vigil and the recitation of the rosary for peace. The statue was brought from Portugal to Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

Pope Leo XIV kneels in prayer before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima during a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

Pope Leo XIV greets people from the popemobile as he rides around St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican before leading a prayer vigil and recitation of the rosary for peace Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, with one of the bullets from the attempted assassination in 1981 of St. John Paul II embedded in its crown, is carried in procession in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican for a prayer vigil with Pope Leo XIV Oct. 11, 2025. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

People crowd into the Rome Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina Oct. 11, 2025, to pray before the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, brought from Portugal to Rome for the Jubilee of Marian Spirituality. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Religious sisters pray in front of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima in the Rome Church of Santa Maria in Traspontina Oct. 11, 2025, before it is carried in procession to St. Peter's Square for a prayer vigil with Pope Leo XIV and the recitation of the rosary for peace. (CNS photo/Pablo Esparza)

Pope Leo XIV meets with members of Aid to the Church in Need at the Vatican on Oct. 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2025 / 13:21 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Friday received at the Vatican members of Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), a pontifical foundation that supports the Catholic Church in its evangelizing work in the world’s most needy, discriminated-against, and persecuted communities.

In his initial greeting, the Holy Father emphasized the importance of their work, especially in a world that continues to “witness growing hostility and violence against those who hold different beliefs, including many Christians.”

According to the pope, ACN’s mission — which funds more than 5,000 pastoral and humanitarian emergency projects in 137 countries — proclaims that, as one family in Christ, “we do not abandon our persecuted brothers and sisters.”

Pope Leo XIV emphasized that “the suffering of any member of the body of Christ is shared by the entire Church.” ACN was founded in 1947, the Holy Father recalled, to defend religious freedom and as a response to the “immense suffering left behind by the war,” with the aim of promoting forgiveness and reconciliation.

The Holy Father firmly stated that “the right to religious freedom is not optional but essential,” referring to it as “a cornerstone of every just society, as it safeguards the moral space in which conscience can be formed and exercised.”

In this regard, he indicated that religious freedom “is not merely a legal right or a privilege granted by governments” but “a fundamental condition that makes authentic reconciliation possible.”

Consequently, he clarified that when this freedom is denied, “the human person is deprived of the capacity to respond freely to the call of truth.” He warned: “What follows is a slow disintegration of the ethical and spiritual bonds that sustain communities; trust gives way to fear, suspicion replaces dialogue, and oppression breeds violence.”

He then thanked the members of this foundation for their reports on Religious Freedom in the World, “a powerful tool for raising awareness.”

“Wherever Aid to the Church in Need rebuilds a chapel, supports a religious sister, or provides a radio station or a vehicle, they strengthen the life of the Church, as well as the spiritual and moral fabric of society,” he continued.

He also highlighted that their assistance helps “small and vulnerable minorities” such as those in the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, and Mozambique.

Concluding his remarks, he thanked each of them for this work of charity, as their service “bears fruit in countless lives and gives glory to our heavenly Father.”

“Do not tire of doing good,” he concluded.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

Pope Leo XIV greets men and women religious during an audience for the Jubilee of Consecrated Life in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Oct. 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media

Vatican City, Oct 10, 2025 / 09:33 am (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV met with participants in the Jubilee of Consecrated Life in the Vatican on Friday, thanking them for their fidelity to Christ and their witness of faith in the “most remote corners of the earth.” 

During the audience, the Holy Father said the Church and the world need men and women consecrated to Jesus to reveal God’s presence and his “great plan of peace and salvation” for humanity.

“Recalling what Pope Francis has already said to you, I too wish to declare that the Church needs you and all the diversity and richness of the forms of consecration and ministry that you represent,” he said Oct. 10 in the Paul VI Hall.

“With your vitality and the witness of a life where Christ is the center and the Lord, you can contribute to ‘awakening the world,” he added, quoting his predecessor.

Expressing gratitude for the numerous good works and ministries carried out by consecrated men and women in different countries, Leo XIV stressed their need to “return to the heart” to “rediscover the spark” of the beginnings of their vocation journey. 

“It is in fact in the heart that the ‘paradoxical connection between self-esteem and openness to others, between the most personal encounter with oneself and the gift of oneself to others’ is produced,” the pope said, citing Pope Francis’ last encyclical letter Dilexit Nos.

During the private gathering, the Holy Father stressed the importance of consecrated men and women cultivating their interior lives. According to Leo, the “best fruits of goodness take root” as a result of “prayer and communion with God.”   

With the conclusion of the two-day Jubilee of Consecrated Life in Rome, the Holy Father said it is necessary for men and women returning to their missions and daily duties abroad to reflect deeper on synodality, which he described as an “important theme for the Church of our time.”

“St. Paul VI spoke of it in beautiful terms,” Leo told those present at the Friday audience. “[St. Paul VI] wrote: ‘How much we would like to enjoy this domestic dialogue in the fullness of faith, charity, and works.”

Emphasizing the need for “domestic dialogue” within the Church, the Holy Father said consecrated men and women belonging to different institutes are in a privileged position to be “experts in synodality” and live values such as “mutual listening, participation, sharing of opinions and abilities, and the common search for paths according to the voice of the Spirit” on a daily basis.

“Today, the Church asks you to be special witnesses to all of this in the various dimensions of your lives, first and foremost by walking in communion with the whole great family of God,” he said.

Toward the end of the audience, Pope Leo expressed his gratitude for their “fidelity and for the great good you do in the Church and in the world.” 

“I promise you a special remembrance in my prayers and I bless you from my heart!” he said.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) --The apostolic exhortation "Dilexi Te" ("I Have Loved You") on the church's love for the poor, "is Pope Leo's document. It is the magisterium of the church," although Pope Leo himself wrote that it was begun by Pope Francis, said Cardinal Michael Czerny.

The Canadian cardinal, prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, presented the exhortation at a Vatican news conference Oct. 9, the day it was published.

Asked what percentage was completed by Pope Francis before his death in April and what percentage Pope Leo added, Cardinal Czerny responded, "It is 100 % Francis, and it is 100 % Leo."

"No new pope starts with an empty desk and a clear agenda," he told reporters. "We always receive from our predecessors, and we always hand on to our followers."

Given that some pundits have already claimed that Pope Leo speaks more about Jesus and less about politics than Pope Francis did, the cardinal also was asked whether it is valid to say Pope Francis addressed poverty from a political point of view and Pope Leo in the exhortation is addressing it from a theological perspective.

"The distinction is valid in the sense that there are emphases, which one can read, one can compare texts, but it's not very helpful and it's not very true," he said. "Pope Leo is making things more explicit that Pope Francis left less explicit, and we could say vice versa."

"The richness, the wealth, the beauty of this exhortation is certainly matched by the richness, wealth and beauty of the things that Pope Francis said and did and published," the cardinal said. "But you will never find a way of putting this on scales and say, 'Oh, Francis is more social and Leo is more theological.' You're not going to get anywhere with that."

When talking about the Christian obligation to help the poor and decrying the injustice of the global market system -- points repeated in Pope Leo's exhortation -- Pope Francis was accused of being communist or Marxist. Cardinal Czerny was asked if the same would happen to Pope Leo.

"Pope Francis always thought that the attacks were a sign that he was actually doing something," he said, so it is not something to be worried about.

And anyway, the cardinal said, the accusations "say much more about the person who is using the label" than they do about the pope. 

Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity and papal almoner under both Pope Francis and Pope Leo, said the popes are simply saying what the Gospel says, "so we will have to accuse Jesus" of being a communist or Marxist if that's what advocating for the poor is.

The exhortation "is not throwing stones at somebody," but it is looking at the world and saying there are unjust people and unjust structures hurting the poor, who are loved by God and the church, Cardinal Czerny said. "It's inviting us to take responsibility for our choices and our options. That is what the Gospel does, and that is what this does."

Cardinal Krajewski said Pope Leo has asked him to keep doing what he was doing under Pope Francis, which is spending all day, every day giving concrete assistance to the poor.

"We are Pope Leo's emergency room; we are the ambulance that is always ready to go to help the needy in his name," the cardinal said.

"What did Jesus do all day? He went out early -- we know this -- and from morning to night, he looked for people who needed him," Cardinal Krajewski said. "He did not set up an office with visiting hours from 4 to 6 p.m. saying, 'Come to me then and I will help you.' No, that did not exist. He went out looking for people -- those who needed his help: the suffering, the unfortunate, the sick, the beaten, the marginalized, the refugees -- and he healed them immediately, the same day." 

Sister Clémence, a member of the Little Sisters of Jesus, told the reporters that by issuing "Dilexi Te" as an exhortation, Pope Leo "puts us all in motion. In this sense, I also like the difference between an exhortation and an encyclical. An exhortation, as the word says, exhorts us all, it puts us in motion and calls us to read this document and try to find ways to put it into practice."

Father Frédéric-Marie Le Méhauté, provincial of the Franciscan friars in France and Belgium, told reporters that Pope Leo calls on all Christians to get over their unease with the poor.

The poor are not simply "a problem," he said. As the exhortation insisted, they are family, "they are 'ours,' brothers and sisters to welcome because God himself chose them first."
 

Pope Leo: Make peace by helping the poor

On October 9, Pope Leo XIV released his first major papal document, Dilexi Te -- I Have Loved You -- an exhortation urging all Christians to renew their love and care for the poor.

WASHINGTON - “I am immensely grateful to the United States and multilateral partners for their tireless work to begin the process that will, God willing, culminate in the ending of the devastating war in Gaza,” said Bishop A. Elias Zaidan, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace.

Bishop Zaidan’s statement follows: 

“As we learn that Israel and Hamas have both agreed to begin the first phase of President Trump’s 20-point peace plan—which includes the release of the remaining Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops to a mutually agreed upon line—I am immensely grateful to the United States and multilateral partners for their tireless work to begin the process that will, God willing, culminate in the ending of the devastating war in Gaza. As the peace process gets underway, I urge all international partners to urgently prioritize humanitarian assistance for the Gazan people, as well as the rebuilding of the Strip; this will lay the foundations not just for peace, but for the Gazan people’s prosperity.  

“As I previously emphasized, we must continue praying ardently that we, as an international community, do not miss this opportunity for peace. Marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks against Israel, Pope Leo XIV reminded us of the essential link between prayer and dialogue: ‘The Church has asked everyone to pray for peace, especially during this month. We will also seek, in ways available to the Church, to promote dialogue at all times.’ It is precisely through the process of grace-filled dialogue and a culture of encounter that our common humanity, regardless of religious affiliation, emerges, until we see only brothers and sisters working together for peace, mutual respect, and solidarity. Let us continue beseeching almighty God for peace and cooperation for the good of all people in the entire Middle East.”  

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WASHINGTON - Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops welcomed the first apostolic exhortation from Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi te, which invites all the faithful to renew their commitment and closeness to the poor.

“In the first apostolic exhortation from Pope Leo XIV, we are consoled and challenged by his message reminding us of the deep love Christ has for each member of the human family. ‘God’s love is vividly demonstrated by his protection of the weak and the poor,’ our Holy Father writes. Building upon the teaching of his predecessor, Pope Leo XIV has offered to us a powerfully moving invitation to reflect upon the history of the Church’s service to the poor and urges us to allow it to transform our contemporary lives. The Holy Father reminds us of a simple, life-changing truth, ‘love for our neighbor is tangible proof of the authenticity of our love for God.’ This means that ‘charity is not optional but a requirement of true worship.’

“Our lives must reflect the reality of the ultimate, loving sacrifice of Christ. The Holy Father calls upon each of us to respond to a world that is marked by indifference, division, and apathy especially when directed towards the poor and vulnerable. On the challenges we face with contemporary migration, he encourages us to respond with four actions: welcome, protect, promote and integrate. This is a sharp contrast to the culture of fear being imposed upon our sisters and brothers in Christ.

“A radical love for Jesus Christ and a sincere desire to worship God is countercultural, and as we continue to unpack the message of Dilexi te, I invite all people to read, reflect, and pray with the message offered by our Holy Father. May it call us to renewal of our Church and society so that we learn to approach each person with the same love Christ has for that person.”

Find more resources to accompany this new exhortation.

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