ANGELUS ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS Pope Leo XIV SOLEMNITY OF THE SACRED HEART OF JESUS SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2025 Today, the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Day of Prayer for the Sanctification of Priests, we celebrate this Eucharist with great joy as part of the Jubilee of Priests. Before all else, dear brother priests, I wish to say a word to you, who have passed through the Holy Door to pray at the tomb of the Apostle Peter and to immerse your baptismal and priestly garments once more in the Heart of the Savior. For some of you, this is happening on a unique day in your lives: the day of your Ordination. To speak of the Heart of Christ in this context is to reflect on the entire mystery of the Lord’s incarnation, death and resurrection, which is entrusted in a special way to us, so that we can make it present in our world. In the light of the readings that we have just heard, let us reflect on how we can contribute to this work of salvation. In the first reading, the prophet Ezekiel describes God as a shepherd who watches over his flock, counting his sheep one by one. He seeks out the lost, binds up the wounded, and strengthens the weak and sick (cf. Ezek 34:11-16). He thus reminds us, in this age of vast and devastating conflicts, that the love of God has no limits. We are called to let ourselves be embraced and shaped by that love, and to realize that in God’s eyes – and our own as well – there is no place for division and hatred of any kind. In the second reading (cf. Rom 5:5-11), Saint Paul reminds us that God reconciled us to himself “while we were still weak” (v. 6) and “sinful” (v. 8), and exhorts us to entrust ourselves, along a daily path of conversion, to the transforming power of his Spirit who dwells in our hearts. Our hope is grounded in the knowledge that the Lord never abandons us: he is always at our side. At the same time, we are called to cooperate with him, above all by putting the Eucharist at the center of our lives, inasmuch as it is “the source and summit of the Christian life” (SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, 11). Then too, “through the fruitful reception of the sacraments, and especially by the frequent practice of sacramental penance” (Decree Presbyterorum Ordinis, 18), and finally through prayer, meditation on God’s word, and the exercise of charity, conforming our hearts ever more closely to that of “the Father of mercies” (ibid.). This brings us to today’s Gospel (cf. Lk 15:3-7), which speaks of the joy of God – and of every shepherd who loves in the manner of his Heart – at the return of even one of his sheep to the fold. We are called to exercise pastoral charity with a generous love, like that of the Father, and to foster in our hearts the desire that no one be lost (cf. Jn 6:39) but that everyone, also through our PAPAL CORNER ● WISDOM OF POPE LEO XIV
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjI2Mw==