In an emotional day marked by faith and hope, Pope Leo XIV today greeted tens of thousands of young pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for the Jubilee of Youth. In a message delivered in several languages, the Pontiff encouraged those present to live this experience as a personal encounter with Christ.
"I hope that this will be an opportunity for each of you to encounter Christ and be strengthened by Him in your faith and in your commitment to follow Him with integrity of life," the Pope said from the balcony of the Apostolic Palace.
World Day of Grandparents: "Do not leave them alone".
In his address, the Holy Father also recalled that this day coincides with the celebration of the fifth World Day of Grandparents and Older Personswhose motto is: "Blessed are those who have not lost hope.". "Let us not leave them alone, but forge with them a bond of love and prayer," the Pope urged, stressing the value of the elderly as "witnesses of hope, capable of showing the way to new generations."
Reflection on the Lord's Prayer
Before praying the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV offered a profound meditation on the Gospel of the day, focusing on the Our Father (Lk 11:1-13). He recalled that this prayer unites all Christians and reveals the love of the heavenly Father. "The Lord always listens to us when we pray to him," he said, evoking the image of the father who rises in the middle of the night to help, or the friend who never closes his door, as symbols of God's unconditional love.
In addition, he stressed that prayer not only manifests divine filiation, but also implies a concrete commitment: "You cannot pray to God as 'Father' and then be hard and insensitive to others. It is important to allow oneself to be transformed by his goodness, by his patience, by his mercy," he said, quoting the Fathers of the Church.
An invitation to trusting prayer and fraternal love
This Sunday's liturgy, the Pope stressed, invites us to live with the same disposition and tenderness with which God loves us. He concluded by invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that all the faithful may respond to the call to love like the heavenly Father: "Let us ask Mary that we may know how to manifest the sweetness of the Father's face".
With these words, Pope Leo XIV sealed a day of profound spirituality, which united different generations under the sign of hope, prayer and Christian fraternity.
