Pope Francis ANGELUS ADDRESS - JANUARY 12, 2020 Dear Brothers and Sisters, Good Morning! Once again I have had the joy of baptizing some children on today’s Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. There were 32 today. Let us pray for them and for their families. This year’s liturgy offers us the event of the Baptism of Jesus according to the Gospel of Matthew (cf. 3:13-17). The Evangelist describes the dialogue between Jesus who asks to be baptized and John the Baptist who wants to prevent him and observes: “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” (v. 14). This decision by Jesus surprises the Baptist: in fact the Messiah does not need to be purified; indeed he is the one who purifies. But God is Holy. His ways are not ours and Jesus is God’s path, an unpredictable path. Let us remember that God is the God of surprises. John had stated that there was an abyssal, unbridgeable difference between him and Jesus. I am not worthy to carry his sandals (cf. Mt 3:11), he had said. But the Son of God came precisely to fill this gap between man and God. If Jesus is completely on God’s side, he is also completely on the side of mankind and he reunites what was divided. This is why he answers John: “Let it be so now; for thus Wisdom of Pope Leo XIV Kneeling like the Magi before the Infant of Bethlehem means, also for us, to profess having found that true humanity in which the glory of God shines forth. In Jesus, the true life appears, the living man, the one who does not exist for himself but is open and in communion, who teaches us to say, “on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). Indeed, the divine life is within our reach; it is made manifest so that we might be included in its dynamic freedom, which loosens the bonds of fear and enables us to encounter peace. This is a possibility and an invitation, for communion cannot be constrained. What else could we desire more than this? Quote from His Holiness Pope Leo Angelus Address January 6, 2026 As we await His Holiness Pope Leo XIV ’ s future homilies and addresses regarding Gospel readings, we will revisit the teachings of his predecessors. Teachings of the Popes
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