A view of the Vatican Apostolic Library in 2021. / Credit: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Vatican City, Jun 2, 2025 / 12:17 pm (CNA).
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Pope Leo XIV speaks in front of the famous icon at the Shrine of the Mother of Good Counsel in Genazzano, Italy, on Saturday, May 10, 2025. / Credit: Vatican Media
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Pope Leo XIV urged French Catholics … […]
Pope Leo XIV gcelebrates the Holy Mass Holy Mass for Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, June 1, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Jun 1, 2025 / 07:18 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV gave the following homily on Sunday, June 1, 2025 for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents, and the Elderly on St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.
The Gospel we have just heard shows us Jesus, at the Last Supper, praying on our behalf (cf. Jn 17:20). The Word of God, made man, as he nears the end of his earthly life, thinks of us, his brothers and sisters, and becomes a blessing, a prayer of petition and praise to the Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we ourselves, full of wonder and trust, enter into Jesus’ prayer, we become, thanks to his love, part of a great plan that concerns all of humanity.
Christ prays that we may “all be one” (v. 21). This is the greatest good that we can desire, for this universal union brings about among his creatures the eternal communion of love that is God himself: the Father who gives life, the Son who receives it and the Spirit who shares it.
The Lord does not want us, in this unity, to be a nameless and faceless crowd. He wants us to be one: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (v. 21). The unity for which Jesus prays is thus a communion grounded in the same love with which God loves, which brings life and salvation into the world. As such, it is firstly a gift that Jesus comes to bring. From his human heart, the Son of God prays to the Father in these words: “I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me” (v. 23).
Let us listen with amazement to these words. Jesus is telling us that God loves us as he loves himself. 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! Christ himself bears witness to this when he says to the Father: “You loved me before the foundation of the world” (v. 24). And so it is: 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.
Listening to this Gospel today, during the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, fills us with joy.
Dear friends, we received life before we ever desired it. As Pope Francis said: “all of us are sons and daughters, but none of us chose to be born” (Angelus, 1 January 2025). Not only that. As soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived. 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.
That human kindness is sometimes betrayed. As for example, whenever freedom is invoked not to give life, but to take it away, not to help, but to hurt. Yet even in the face of the evil that opposes and takes life, Jesus continues to pray to the Father for us. His prayer acts as 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. That is what we want to proclaim to the world: we are here in order to be “one” as the Lord wants us to be “one,” in our families and in those places where we live, work and study. Different, yet one; many, yet one; always, in every situation and at every stage of life.
Dear friends, if we love one another in this way, grounded in Christ, who is “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the beginning and the end” (cf. Rev 22:13), we will be a sign of peace for everyone, in society and the world. Let us not forget: families are the cradle of the future of humanity.
In recent decades, we have received a sign that fills us with joy but also makes us think. It is the fact that several spouses have been beatified and canonized, not separately, but as married couples. I think of Louis and Zélie Martin, the parents of Saint Therese of the Child Jesus; and of Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, who raised a family in Rome in the last century. And let us not forget the Ulma family from Poland: parents and children, united in love and martyrdom. I said that this is a sign that makes us think. By pointing to them as exemplary witnesses of married life, 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.
For this reason, 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 (cf. SAINT PAUL VI, Humanae Vitae, 9). This love makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.
I encourage you, then, to be examples of integrity to your children, acting as you want them to act, educating them in freedom through obedience, always seeing the good in them and finding ways to nurture it. And you, dear children, show gratitude to your parents. To say “thank you” each day for the gift of life and for all that comes with it is the first way to honour your father and your mother (cf. Ex 20:12). Finally, dear grandparents and elderly people, I recommend that you watch over your loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age.
In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always.
Let me add one last thing. The prayer of the Son of God, which gives us hope on our journey, also reminds us that one day we will all be uno unum (cf. Saint Augustine, Sermo super Ps. 127): one in the one Saviour, embraced by the eternal love of God. Not only us, but also our fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, brothers, sisters and children who have already gone before us into the light of his eternal Pasch, and whose presence we feel here, together with us, in this moment of celebration.
Pope Leo waving at the crowds gathered on St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee for Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, June 1, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, Jun 1, 2025 / 07:31 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV declared families “the cradle of the future of humanity” as he celebrated Mass for thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday.
Speaking to families from nearly 120 countries on a sunny morning in Rome, the pontiff emphasized the fundamental role of family relationships in God’s plan for salvation, drawing from the Gospel reading of Jesus’ prayer at the Last Supper.
“Dear friends, we received life before we ever desired it,” Pope Leo XIV said in his homily on June 1.
“As soon as we were born, we needed others in order to live; left to ourselves, we would not have survived. 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.”
The Holy Father made an extended tour of the square in the popemobile before Mass, blessing children and greeting the crowds of families who had traveled to Rome for this major event of the Holy Year of Hope 2025.
In his homily, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that marriage represents “not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful and fruitful.” He cited Pope Paul VI’s 1968 encyclical Humanae Vitae, noting that conjugal love “makes you one flesh and enables you, in the image of God, to bestow the gift of life.”
The pope highlighted several beatified married couples as exemplars for today’s world, including Louis and Zélie Martin, parents of Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus, and Blessed Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, who lived in Rome in the last century. He also remembered the Polish Ulma family, “parents and children, united in love and martyrdom” during World War II.
“By pointing to them as exemplary witnesses of married life, 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,” the pontiff said.
Pope Leo XIV offered specific guidance to different generations present at the celebration. To parents, he recommended being “examples of integrity to your children, acting as you want them to act, educating them in freedom through obedience, always seeing the good in them and finding ways to nurture it.”
Children received counsel to “show gratitude to your parents,” with the pope noting that saying “thank you” each day “is the first way to honour your father and your mother.”
To grandparents and elderly people, he recommended watching “over your loved ones with wisdom and compassion, and with the humility and patience that come with age.”
The Holy Father emphasized the family’s role in transmitting faith, declaring that “in the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts.”
Following the Mass, Pope Leo XIV led the Regina Coeli prayer, using the occasion to remember families suffering from war.
“May the Virgin Mary bless families and sustain them in their difficulties. I think especially of those who suffer because of war in the Middle East, in Ukraine and in other parts of the world,” he said.
The pontiff also commemorated the beatification of Blessed Cristofora Klomfass and 14 companion religious sisters of the Congregation of Saint Catherine Virgin and Martyr, who were killed by Soviet soldiers in 1945 in territories of present-day Poland.
“Despite the climate of hatred and terror against the Catholic faith, they continued to serve the sick and orphans,” he noted.
During his remarks, Pope Leo XIV expressed particular joy at welcoming so many children to today’s celebration, calling them sources of renewed hope. He praised grandparents and elderly people as “genuine models of faith and inspiration for young generations.”
Pope Leo XIV greets the faithful in St. Peter’s Basilica, May 31, 2025 / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, May 31, 2025 / 17:58 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV has praised an international bioethics summit in Rome for advancing an “authentically human” approach to science, urging researchers to pursue truth grounded in the dignity of the human person.
In a message delivered by Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the pope expressed his “vivid appreciation” for the 3rd International Bioethics Conference, held May 30–31 at the Patristicum.
The event was organized under the theme “The Splendor of Truth in Science and Bioethics.”
The pope described the initiative as “a valuable opportunity to reflect on the ethical implications of scientific progress” and encouraged “interdisciplinary dialogue grounded in the dignity of the human person,” according to the Vatican message. He expressed his hope that such efforts would “foster approaches to science that are increasingly authentically human and respectful of the integrity of the person.”
Held under the patronage of the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Dicastery for Culture and Education, the conference brought together nearly 400 participants — including researchers, physicians, philosophers, and legal scholars — from universities across Latin America, Europe, and Africa.
Cardinal Willem Jacobus Eijk of the Netherlands opened the conference with a keynote address outlining three foundational principles for bioethics and scientific research in service of truth.
The archbishop of Utrecht, who is also a medical doctor, on Friday said the Pontifical Academy for Life should give more attention to the bioethical issues linked to “transgender” treatments and the push for “gender theory” .
Eijk emphasized that human reason must recognize its ability to know metaphysical truth, that human beings possess only relative autonomy, and that human life is an intrinsic value.
The cardinal warned: “Without metaphysics and a proper anthropology, science becomes dangerous because it loses its moral compass.”
Spanish philosopher Juan Arana, a member of the Royal Academy of Moral and Political Sciences, argued that modern science too often neglects the pursuit of deeper philosophical truths. While acknowledging the empirical advances of science, he emphasized that “great truths of philosophy and the small truths of science” are still connected “by threads that, though subtle, are effective.”
Bernard Schumacher of the University of Fribourg criticized the modern scientific method for reducing reality to the mathematical and quantifiable, while French philosopher Thibaud Collin challenged assumptions within natural law theory.
Two roundtables tackled practical bioethical challenges in genetics and conscience rights. Geneticist Teresa Perucho, surgeon Emmanuel Sapin, and neonatologist Robin Pierucci discussed the moral foundations of genetic counseling and the need to support parents with compassion and clarity when faced with difficult prenatal diagnoses.
The conference was organized by the International Chair of Bioethics Jérôme Lejeune and supported by more than 40 academic institutions worldwide. Since its founding in 2023, the event has become a leading forum for Catholic engagement with contemporary bioethical issues.
Jean-Marie Le Méné, president of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, closed the gathering by recalling the late French geneticist’s legacy: “The scientist is one who admits without shame that what he knows is microscopic compared to all that he does not know — and is fascinated by the adventure of intelligence on the path toward the intelligible.”
Jérôme Lejeune, a devout Catholic and pioneer in genetics, discovered the chromosomal cause of Down syndrome and became a passionate defender of the unborn, laying the foundation for much of the Church’s engagement in bioethics today.
Pope Leo XIV concluded his message with a call for scientists to “contribute to the search for truth, so that science may remain at the service of humanity, never becoming its master.”
Pope Leo XIV delivers his homily during the ordination of 11 new priests for the Diocese of Rome at St. Peter’s Basilica on May 31, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
CNA Newsroom, May 31, 2025 / 09:30 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV ordained 11 new priests for the Diocese of Rome on Saturday during a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica, urging them to live lives that are “transparent, visible, credible” in service to God’s people.
The ordination Mass brought together seminarians from both the Pontifical Roman Major Seminary and the Redemptoris Mater Seminary.
The pope described it as a moment of “great joy for the Church” and a sign that “God has not grown tired of gathering His children.”
In his homily, Pope Leo reflected on St. Paul’s words to the community in Ephesus: “You know how I lived the whole time I was with you,” pointing to the necessity of credibility in priestly life.
“We live among the people of God so that we may stand before them with a credible witness,” the pope said. “Together, we rebuild the credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity, within a wounded creation.”
The pope cautioned the ordinands against clerical self-isolation or entitlement.
“Pope Francis has warned us many times about this, because self-referentiality extinguishes the fire of mission.”
Leo emphasized that the priesthood is not about authority but stewardship: “Not masters, but guardians,” he said. “The mission belongs to Jesus. He is risen, and He goes before us. None of us is called to replace Him.”
The pope concluded his homily by reflecting on the Church’s mission of reconciliation in a broken world. “Together, then, we will rebuild the credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity, within a wounded creation,” he said.
“It does not matter to be perfect, but it is necessary to be credible.” Drawing on the image of the Risen Christ showing his wounds, Pope Leo XIV emphasized that even signs of rejection become sources of forgiveness and hope, making priests “ministers of hope” who view everything “under the sign of reconciliation.”
In his final words, the pontiff spoke of priestly service as participation in Christ’s love for the world. “The love of Christ indeed possesses us,” he said, describing this as “a possession that liberates and enables us not to possess anyone.”
Leo thanked the newly ordained for dedicating their lives to serve “a wholly priestly people” and invoked the intercession of Mary, whom he called “Our Lady of Trust and Mother of Hope,” asking her to pray for the Church’s mission to “unite heaven and earth.”
The dome of the Cathedral of St. Bavo in Haarlem, the Netherlands. / Credit: Frank de ruyter via Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 3.0 NL)
Vatican City, May 31, 2025 / 08:00 am (CNA).
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Cardinal Willem Eijk. / Credit: Bohumil Petrik/CNA
Vatican City, May 30, 2025 / 13:38 pm (CNA).
Cardinal Willem Eijk on Friday said the Pontifical Academy for Life should give more attention to the bioethical issues linked to “gender affirming”… […]
Pope Leo XIV smiles during his first general audience in St. Peter’s Square on May 21, 2025. / Credit: Daniel Ibanez/CNA
Lima Newsroom, May 30, 2025 / 16:53 pm (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV encouraged the Anabaptist (Mennonite) movement to live with love the call to Christian unity and the mandate to serve others.
The Holy Father made the statement in a message published May 29 by the Vatican and sent to participants commemorating the 500th anniversary of the Anabaptist movement in Zurich, Switzerland.
At the beginning of his message, Pope Leo emphasized that “by receiving the Lord’s peace and accepting his call, which includes being open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit, all the followers of Jesus can immerse themselves in the radical newness of Christian faith and life. Indeed, such a desire for renewal characterizes the Anabaptist movement itself.”
“The motto chosen for your celebration, ‘The Courage to Love,’ reminds us, above all, of the need for Catholics and Mennonites to make every effort to live out the commandment of love, the call to Christian unity, and the mandate to serve others,” Leo XIV emphasized.
Likewise, the pontiff’s text continues, the motto “points to the need for honesty and kindness in reflecting on our common history, which includes painful wounds and narratives that affect Catholic-Mennonite relationships and perceptions up to the present day.”
“How important, then, is that purification of memories and common re-reading of history that can enable us to heal past wounds and build a new future through the ‘courage to love,’” he pointed out.
“What is more, only in such a way can theological and pastoral dialogue bear fruit, fruit that will last. This is certainly no easy task! Yet, it was precisely at particular moments of trial that Christ revealed the Father’s will: It was when challenged by the Pharisees that he taught us that the two greatest commandments are to love God and our neighbor,” the pope said.
“It was on the eve of his passion,” he noted, “that he spoke of the need for unity, ‘that all may be one… so that the world may believe.’ My wish for each of us, then, is that we can say with St. Augustine: ‘My entire hope is exclusively in your very great mercy. Grant what you command, and command what you will.’”
In the context of “our war-torn world,” the pope continued, “our ongoing journey of healing and of deepening fraternity has a vital role to play, for the more united Christians are the more effective will be our witness to Christ, the prince of peace, in building up a civilization of loving encounter.”
The Mennonites are an Anabaptist Christian group that originated during the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
Their name comes from Menno Simons, a Catholic priest who would become an important theologian of this movement.
Distinguishing features of the Mennonites are their pacifism or rejection of war, their emphasis on baptism in adulthood, and their community life in which they share goods and services and work together to maintain the community.
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
The Sistine Hall of the Vatican Library. the library of the Holy See, currently located in Vatican City, is one of the oldest libraries in the world. / Credit: Checco2/Shutterstock
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