Lent: Pope urges the faithful to fast from ‘hurtful words’, heed the ‘cry of those who suffer’
The Holy See today released the pontiff's message for this "shared" time in preparation for Easter. In it he calls on the faithful to listen to the Word and recognise the voice of “those who are anguished and suffering”. This requires “disarming our language” in favour of “words of hope and peace”, as well as actions to “cultivate kindness”.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The Holy See today released Pope Leo XIV's message for Lent 2026 – from 18 February, Ash Wednesday, to 2 April, Holy Thursday – titled “Listening and fasting. Lent as a time of Conversion”.
In it, the pontiff introduces the themes that will accompany the 44 days leading up to Easter, a time to turn to “greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us.”
This includes an invitation to fast from uttering "hurtful words”, while committing ourselves to ensuring that “the cry of those who suffer finds welcome,” conscious that “listening opens paths towards liberation.”
Listening and fasting are the suggested verbs to accompany this “welcome opportunity to heed the voice of the Lord and renew our commitment to following Christ,” the pope’s text reads.
“The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship with someone,” following the “defining characteristics” of God, who told Moses: “‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry’ (Ex 3:7).”
“Hearing the cry of the oppressed is the beginning of a story of liberation,” Leo notes. In this story, God involves Moses. Listening to the Word “teaches us to listen to the truth of reality," and enables us to recognise in “our personal lives and in society” the voice that can “recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering.”
To develop an " inner openness to listening” means allowing “God to teach us how to listen as he does.”
The fasting that accompanies Lent is first and foremost a "concrete way”, and an “ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion,” the pontiff said. This can help “identify and order our ‘appetites,’ keeping our hunger and thirst for justice alive and freeing us from complacency.
In his message, Leo XIV calls on the faithful to experience this period “in faith and humility”, undertaking “a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence,” namely “refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.”
To this end, “Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves”.
Thus, we must “measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities.” By following this precious practice, many “words of hate will give way to words of hope and peace”.
Finally, Pope Leo XIV emphasises how Lent highlights the "communal aspect of listening to the word and fasting”. Indeed, the time of preparation for Easter is a “shared journey”.
This can be experienced in parishes, families, and church groups, so that listening “to the word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes part of our community life, and fasting a foundation for sincere repentance”.
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