Great spiritual traditions and mature critical thinking enable humanity to go beyond ethnicities, clans, and cliques, which recognize only those who are similar and reject those who are different, Pope Leo XIV said.
Vatican
“Maybe some of you are still saying: Why was I chosen? At least I ask myself that,” Pope Leo XIV said Sept. 11 during a meeting with bishops in Rome for the Vatican’s annual formation courses for new bishops.
Crying out to God during moments of extreme trial does not mark a crisis of faith but can reflect an act of total surrender to and enduring trust in God, Pope Leo XIV said.
When people of different religions work together to serve people in need, they show the world that faith promotes peace and not hostility, Pope Leo XIV said.
The greatest risk in life is to waste it by not seeking to follow God’s plan, Pope Leo XIV said, proclaiming two new saints — two young laymen of the 20th and 21st centuries.
The future that Christians hope for and must build “is not one of walls and barbed wire, but one of mutual acceptance,” Pope Leo XIV told young adult Catholics from more than a dozen Mediterranean countries.
Pope Leo XIV publicly called on the leaders of Sudan’s warring factions to negotiate an end to the violence and to ensure aid can reach desperate civilians.
Participating in the ecumenical Season of Creation, Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of September is “for our relationship with all of creation.”
Even in countries with the strictest separation of Church and state, being a Christian means living and acting like one, Pope Leo XIV told a group of politicians and civic leaders from France.
Christian hope is not about avoiding pain and suffering but about knowing that God gives people the strength to persevere and to love even when things go wrong, Pope Leo XIV said.