Leo XIV: ‘Our neighbour asks us to slow down, to look them in the eye’
The pope continued his series of Jubilee catechesis in St Peter's. He noted that modern life is marked by "constant movement”, and that inner emptiness shows that "we are not machines." Instead, the heart reaches out to "God who is Love," a "treasure" obtained by loving "brothers and sisters in flesh and blood”. The pontiff hopes the nativity scene will continue to be part of Christmas.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – This morning, during his Wednesday General Audience in St Peter's Square, Pope Leo XIV said that modern human life seems frenetic and hectic, marked by "constant movement" oriented towards “optimal results”.
“We are absorbed by many activities that do not always leave us satisfied,” he said. “A lot of our actions have to do with practical, concrete things.”
The inner emptiness that arises from such frenzy is proof that men and women are not "machines," that they have a "heart” that does not live "without hope.” And hope has a name: “Jesus Christ, with his Incarnation, Passion, Death and Resurrection.”
Speaking before a packed gathering, in rain-soaked square, he continued the series of catechesis "Jesus Christ our hope" for the Jubilee Year. Today's reflection centred on the theme “The Resurrection of Christ and the challenges of the contemporary world. Easter as the refuge of the restless heart.”
The pontiff began with two questions: “How does Jesus’ resurrection shed light on this aspect of our experience? When we participate in his victory over death, will we rest?”
To the second question, he answered: “yes, we will rest. We will not be inactive, but we will enter into God's repose”.
How, then, can we illuminate an existence burdened by the “responsibility for many commitments, solve problems, face difficulties,” where at times the tasks to be done become "a vortex that overwhelms us"?
Realising that we are "heart" helps us realise our "humanity," of which we are a symbol as the “sum of our thoughts, feelings and desires, the invisible centre of our selves."
“It is therefore in the heart that true treasure is kept,” said Leo. not in “safes” or “large financial investments, [. . .] concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God's creation."
Leo stressed the importance of avoiding the risks of “dispersion,” “despair,” and “meaninglessness”. To this end, he explained that “interpreting life in the light of Easter, looking at it with the Risen Jesus, means finding access to the essence of the human person, to our heart: cor inquietum”.
Restlessness represents “the sign that our heart does not move by chance, in a disordered way,” but is oriented towards the “return home”.
“The authentic approach of the heart does not consist in possessing the goods of this world, but in achieving what can fill it completely; namely, the love of God, or rather, God who is Love,” he added.
“This treasure,” the pope explained, “can only be found by loving the neighbour we meet along the way: brothers and sisters in flesh and blood, whose presence stirs and questions our heart, calling it to open up and give itself.”
In fact, “Our neighbour asks us to slow down, to look them in the eye, sometimes to change our plans, perhaps even to change direction.” The secret of the human heart is thus to return “to the source of its being, delighting in the joy that never fails, that never disappoints”.
At the end of the audience, Pope Leo XIV greeted Italian-speaking pilgrims. “In a few days it will be Christmas,” he said. “I imagine that in your homes the nativity scene, a moving representation of the Mystery of Christ's Nativity, is being or has already been completed.
"I hope that such an important element, not only of our faith, but also of Christian culture and art, will continue to be part of Christmas, to remember Jesus who, becoming man, came ‘to dwell among us’.”
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03/09/2025 15:58
24/09/2025 16:23
