Vatican City (AsiaNews) – This morning, following the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV addressed the tragedies afflicting humanity across the globe, issuing a call to end hostilities, provide aid to suffering populations, and offer prayers for the victims, especially in Yemen and Jordan.
In Yemen, the Houthi offensive against Taiz continues, a situation the pontiff mentioned directly. In this city, “the population is suffering from a lack of food, water and medical care,” he said.
Speaking to 20,000 the faithful in St Peter’s Square, the pope pointed to this "grave humanitarian situation," pleading “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.”
Currently, an estimated 800,000 people are deprived of aid.
Closeness to the victims of the attack in Jordan
The pope also offered prayers for the people killed and wounded in Friday’s attack at the Orthodox Church of St George in Hamoud, Karak Governorate (Jordan), expressing his closeness to the affected community and to the entire country.
Jordan’s Christian community represent about 2 per cent of the population, but, as Leo XIV points out, the country “is known for its peaceful coexistence and respect between different religions.”
Forty years of the "Spirit of Assisi"
From the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, the pontiff also called for prayers for peace, especially in light of the gathering of Church heads and religious leaders in Assisi the day after tomorrow, October 27, 2026.
Titled Unarmed and Disarming Peace, the international event, which marks the 40th anniversary of the meeting originally convened by Saint John Paul II in 1986, is promoted by the Community of Sant’Egidio.
“Never before has it been so evident that wars, besides sowing death and destruction, impoverish and damage the world,” Pope Leo said. “May the Lord inspire choices of dialogue and peace," he said.
Due to medical advice, Leo XIV will not attend the meeting, but his "post-operative recovery is progressing very well," according to press reports.
Commentary on the Gospel
Before reciting the Marian prayer, the pope reflected on today’s Gospel (Matthew 22:34–40), in which Jesus shares the “first commandment”.
“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 center of our relationship with God. [. . .] The Lord seeks a personal relationship with us: the one true God wants to become our God.”
The commandment of love, Leo explained, “is neither an obligation nor an imposition.” Instead, “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.”
Then, “To the first commandment, the Lord adds a second: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Mt 22:39).”
“Thanks to our close relationship with God, we are able to look at ourselves and our neighbors through the eyes of Christ, from his perspective,” Leo said after the Angelus. “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.”
