Pope: ‘May meekness, courage, and forgiveness accompany persecuted Christians’

The words of Leo XIV at the Angelus on the feast of Saint Stephen: “Those who believe in peace and have chosen the unarmed path of Jesus and the martyrs are often ridiculed, pushed out of public discourse, and not infrequently accused of favoring adversaries and enemies. Christians, however, have no enemies, but always brothers and sisters.”

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - “In memory of Saint Stephen, the first martyr, we invoke his intercession to strengthen our faith and support the communities that suffer most for their Christian witness. May his example of meekness, courage, and forgiveness accompany those who are engaged in situations of conflict to promote dialogue, reconciliation, and peace.”

Pope Leo XIV said this today during the Angelus address to the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day when the Church commemorates the “birth into heaven” of Stephen, the first Christian who died forgiving his persecutors, following the example of Jesus.

Reflecting on the meaning of this feast, which the liturgical year places on the day after the Nativity of Jesus, the Pope recalled that “we come into the world without deciding to do so, but then we go through many experiences in which we are asked more and more consciously to ‘come to the light’, to choose the light.” That of Jesus and those who live like him, in fact, is “also a rejected beauty: it is precisely his magnetic force that has aroused, from the beginning, the reaction of those who fear for their power, of those who are unmasked in their injustice by a goodness that reveals the thoughts of hearts.”

“No power, however, to this day, can prevail over the work of God,” added Leo XIV. “Everywhere in the world there are those who choose justice even if it costs them, those who put peace before their fears, those who serve the poor instead of themselves. Hope then sprouts, and it makes sense to celebrate despite everything.”

Like the path taken by Stephen, today too it is a path that goes against the grain. “In the conditions of uncertainty and suffering in today's world, joy would seem impossible,” Prevost observed. "Those who believe in peace today and have chosen the unarmed path of Jesus and the martyrs are often ridiculed, pushed out of public discourse, and not infrequently accused of favoring adversaries and enemies. Christians, however, have no enemies, but brothers and sisters, who remain so even when they do not understand each other.“

”The mystery of Christmas,“ the pope concluded, ”brings us this joy: a joy motivated by the tenacity of those who already live in brotherhood, of those who already recognize around them, even in their adversaries, the indelible dignity of the daughters and sons of God. This is why Stephen died forgiving, like Jesus: for a force more real than that of weapons. It is a gratuitous force, already present in everyone's heart, which is reactivated and communicated in an irresistible way when someone begins to look at their neighbor differently, to offer them attention and recognition. Yes, this is being reborn, this is coming to light again, this is our Christmas."