Pope Leo XIV tells ALS advocates in Chicago: ‘You show us the best of humanity’

CNA Staff, Sep 20, 2025 / 15:20 pm (CNA).

Pope Leo XIV on Saturday commended U.S. advocates marching in support of those suffering from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), praising those in Chicago seeking a cure for the disease while walking with those afflicted by it.

The pope gave the video address to marchers at the Les Turner ALS Foundation’s annual ALS Walk for Life. Described as “the biggest ALS gathering in the Midwest,” the foundation says it is “building teams, raising funds for essential care and research, and turning the tide in the fight” against ALS, which affects motor neurons and leads to muscle weakness, paralysis and death.

Leo in his address expressed “admiration and gratefulness” to the scientists in the gathering, who he said have spent “countless hours” studying the disease in a bid to find a cure.

“In the last 10 years — using all your knowledge and compassion to understand motor neuron diseases and to alleviate the sufferings those diseases cause — you have made remarkable progress,” he said. “I, like everyone here, am deeply grateful to you.”

He also praised caregivers in the crowd, including doctors and physical therapists, describing them as “angels” who offer “inspiration to me and to all people.”

“You show us the best of humanity,” he said.

Further addressing those who suffer from ALS — also known as Lou Gherig’s disease — the pope assured them that they occupy a “special place in my thoughts and prayers.”

“You have been given a very difficult burden to bear. I wish it [were] otherwise,” Leo said. “Your sufferings, however, offer you an opportunity to discover and affirm a profound truth: The quality of human life is not dependent on achievement.”

“The quality of our lives is dependent on love,” he continued. “In your suffering, you can experience a depth of human love previously unknown. You can grow in gratefulness for all that has been given and for all the people who are caring for you now. You can develop a profound sense of the beauty of creation, of life in this world and of the mystery of love.”

“I pray for you,” he added. “I pray that rather than being possessed by frustration or hopelessness or despair, you surrender yourself to the mystery of human existence, to the love of your caregivers and to the embrace of the Divine One.”

Pope Leo also comforted those mourning loved ones who have passed from ALS.

“You have not forgotten them. And, in fact, your love has been purified by your service and then by your mourning,” he said. “You have learned and are every day entering more deeply into the most profound of mysteries — death is not the final word.”

“Love conquers death,” he said, repeating it twice more: “Love conquers death. Love conquers death.”

The Les Turner ALS Foundation’s annual walk was launched in 2002. The foundation was founded by, and named after, Chicago businessman Les Turner in 1976.

The organization has raised tens of millions of dollars in support of finding a cure to ALS since its founding.