Vatican City, Sep 6, 2025 / 10:45 am (CNA).
Pope Leo XIV on Saturday resumed special jubilee audiences, begun by Pope Francis after the opening of the Church’s Year of Hope, telling Christians that the cross of Christ is a great treasure and source of hope.
Before delivering his morning catechesis on Chapter 4 of St. Mark’s Gospel, the Holy Father greeted hundreds of pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square from his popemobile, blessing several babies and accepting various gifts from people from different countries.
In his Gospel reflection, the pope said hope and happiness is rekindled when people “break through the crust of reality” and “go beneath the surface,” like the man in the parable who sold all his possessions to buy the field with a hidden treasure.
Leo described the holy cross of Jesus as the “greatest discovery of life” and expressed his high esteem for Helena, the mother of the first Christian Roman Emperor Constantine, who found the treasure of the wooden cross in Jerusalem and brought it to Rome.
“Helena always remained a woman searching,” he said in his Sept. 6 catechesis. “She had decided to become a Christian. She always practiced charity, never forgetting the humble people from whom she herself had come.”
“Such dignity and faithfulness to conscience, dear brothers and sisters, still change the world today,” he continued. “They bring us closer to the treasure.”
Encouraging Christians to cultivate their own heart through humility, Leo said one is able to draw closer to the Lord “who stripped himself to become like us.”
“His cross lies beneath the crust of our earth. We can walk proudly, heedlessly, trampling upon the treasure that is beneath our feet,” he said.
“But, instead, if we become like children, we will come to know another kingdom, another strength,” he continued.
“God is always beneath us in order to raise us up on high,” he said at the end of the catechesis.
If you value the news and views Catholic World Report provides, please consider donating to support our efforts. Your contribution will help us continue to make CWR available to all readers worldwide for free, without a subscription. Thank you for your generosity!
Click here for more information on donating to CWR. Click here to sign up for our newsletter.
In his book ‘Karunecha Kalam’ written in Marathi language, Baba Amte of Anandwan Leprosy combatting Battalion in India addresses Jesus Christ thus – “the Cross on which you spent your last breath has become for me, not a sign that your service has come to an end. I see it as the sum of all that gives value to our life. To me, it is not a symbol of violence wrought on you; to me, it has become the voice of compassion” – Baba Amte (1984).