Excerpt from His Holiness Pope Leo XIV’s Message on the 9th World Day of The Poor on Nov. 16, 2025 Teachings of the Popes As we await His Holiness Pope Leo XIV ’ s future homilies and addresses regarding Gospel readings, we will revisit teachings of his predecessors. POPE FRANCIS GENERAL AUDIENCE - NOVEMBER 11, 2020 Catechesis on prayer - 14. The persevering prayer Dear Brothers and Sisters, good morning! We continue the catecheses on prayer. Someone said to me: “You talk too much about prayer. It is not necessary”. Yes, it is necessary. Because if we do not pray, we will not have the strength to go forward in life. Prayer is like the oxygen of life. Prayer draws down upon us the presence of the Holy Spirit who always leads us forward. For this reason, I speak a lot about prayer. Jesus gave us the example of continual prayer, practiced with perseverance. Constant dialogue with his Father, in silence and in recollection, was the fulcrum of his entire mission. The Gospels also report his exhortations to the disciples, that they pray insistently, without growing tired. The Catechism recalls three parables contained in the Gospel of Luke that underline this characteristic of Jesus’ prayer (cf. CCC, 2613). First of all, prayer must be tenacious: like the character in the parable who, having to welcome a guest who arrived unexpectedly in the middle of the night, goes to knock on the door of a friend and asks him for some bread. The friend responds, “No!”, because he is already in bed — but he insists and insists until he forces his friend to get up and give him some bread (cf. Lk 11:5-8). A tenacious request. But God is more patient than we are, and those who knock with faith and perseverance on the door of his heart will not be disappointed. God always responds. Always. Our Father knows well what we need; insistence is necessary not to inform him or to convince him, but rather it is necessary to nurture the desire and expectation in us. The second parable is that of the widow who goes to the judge so that he may help her obtain justice. This judge is corrupt; he is a man without scruples, but in the end, exasperated by the insistence of the widow, he decides to please her (cf. Lk 18:1-8)... He thought: “But, it is better to resolve this problem and get her off my back rather than she continuously come before me to complain”. This parable makes us understand that faith is not a momentary leap, but a courageous disposition to call on God, even to “argue” with him, without resigning oneself to evil and injustice. Wisdom of Pope Leo XIV Quote from Urbi Et Orbi His Holiness Pope Leo XIV on May 8, 2025 “Our Mother Mary always wants to walk at our side, to remain close to us, to help us with her intercession and her love. So I would like to pray together with you. Let us pray together for this new mission, for the whole Church, for peace in the world, and let us ask Mary, our Mother, for this special grace...”
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