Leo XIV: ‘families are the cradle of the future of humanity’
Some 70,000 people – children, grandparents, seniors – gathered in St Peter's Square today for the Jubilee of families. In his homily, Pope Leo XIV said that humanity is "betrayed" when “freedom is invoked not to give life, but to take it away”. During the Regina Caeli, the pontiff turned his thoughts to the families who suffer because of the war in the “Middle East, in Ukraine and in other parts of the world.”
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Leo XIV welcomed 70,000 people for the Jubilee of families, children, grandparents and seniors, this morning in St Peter's Square, with delegations from 131 countries.
In his address, he said that “families are the cradle of the future of humanity,” but also “small domestic churches where the message of the Gospel is received and passed on.” Indeed, Faith “is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts.”
Under a clear sky, the pontiff celebrated Mass with them at 10:30, concluding with the recitation of the Regina Caeli. In his homily, he noted, “with a heart filled with gratitude and hope, I would remind all married couples that marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful.”
Leo commented on the passage from the Gospel according to John (17:20) in which Jesus says to pray "that they may all be one”. Here, “The Father does not love us any less than he loves his only-begotten Son. In other words, with an infinite love. God does not love less, because he loves first, from the very beginning”. Thus, “in his mercy, God has always desired to draw all people to himself. It is his life, bestowed upon us in Christ, that makes us one, uniting us with one another.”
Such a reading “fills us with joy”, especially in the context of the Jubilee dedicated to families. The pope noted that “we received life before we ever desired it.” As Pope Francis taught, “all of us are sons and daughters, but none of us chose to be born.” The relationship, therefore, is the basis of life, from birth, because “Someone else saved us by caring for us in body and spirit.”
“All of us are alive today thanks to a relationship, a free and freeing relationship of human kindness and mutual care,” Leo XIV said. But such kindness is often “betrayed”. In fact, this happens “whenever freedom is invoked not to give life, but to take it away, not to help, but to hurt”.
Despite this, Jesus’s incessant prayer to the Father “for us” represents “a balm for our wounds; it speaks to us of forgiveness and reconciliation. That prayer makes fully meaningful our experience of love for one another as parents, grandparents, sons and daughters.”
It underlines the unity that unites all human beings, in any context, because we are “Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life.” And to love one “another in this way” is “a sign of peace for everyone”, one “that fills us with joy but also makes us think.”
In recent decades, “several spouses have been beatified and canonized, not separately, but as married couples;” like Louis and Zélie Martin, parents of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and the Ulma family from Poland, “parents and children, united in love and martyrdom.”
In doing so, “the Church tells us that today’s world needs the marriage covenant in order to know and accept God’s love and to defeat, thanks to its unifying and reconciling power, the forces that break down relationships and societies.”
Speaking about the marital union, Leo addressed married couples, saying that this “makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life;” and for this reason, as parents, married couples must be “examples of integrity”.
Turning to the children, Leo encouraged them to “show gratitude to your parents,” while addressing the grandparents, he urged them to “watch over your loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age.”
At the end of the celebration, at the Regina Caeli, the pontiff evoked the solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord, which is celebrated in Italy and in other countries. “It is a beautiful feast, which makes us look forward to the goal of our earthly journey,” he said.
Leo also mentioned yesterday’s beatification in Poland of “Cristofora Klomfass and fourteen other Sisters of the Congregation of Saint Catherine Virgin and Martyr,” who “were killed in 1945 when the Red Army invaded Poland.”
The pontiff commended “to the intercession of the new Blessed Martyrs all those women religious throughout the world who devote themselves generously for the sake of God’s Kingdom.”
Noting that today is World Communications Day, he thanked “media professionals who, by ensuring the ethical quality of their messages, help families in their educational task.”
Finally, Leo ended with thoughts for “those families suffering due to war in the Middle East, in Ukraine and in other parts of the world. May the Mother of God help us to press forward together on the path of peace.”
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