VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV said Sunday that when the Gospel is proclaimed and lived out, evil gives way before the power of the risen Christ.
Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace for the June 14 Angelus in St. Peter’s Square, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel from Matthew, saying it “brings us a great gift, for it draws all who hear it into Jesus’ gaze.”
“It is a story that bears witness to the attentiveness of this gaze, as well as telling us what the Lord sees,” Pope Leo said, citing the passage in which Christ, “when he saw the crowds, … had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless.”
“Having become our brother, the Son of God looks at the people, he looks at humanity: He sees the oppression that burdens and the violence that causes strength to fade,” the pope said.
Christ, he continued, also sees the wounds of the contemporary world.
“He sees the wounds of war and the emptiness of consumerism. He sees faces reduced to masks, families torn apart by evil, and young people misled by false ideals,” Pope Leo said. “Jesus sees and loves. He loves and suffers for and with us: His compassion expresses not only fraternal closeness but his desire to redeem.”
Before humanity’s wounds, the pope said, Christ remains near and sends “workers into the field of the world.”
“What is their task?” he asked. “They must offer God’s comfort to those who suffer by bringing charity where there is misery, hope where there is affliction, faith where there is distrust.”
The pope noted that the Gospel names the first 12 “workers,” the disciples made apostles, missionaries, and preachers.
“The good news that spans the centuries is the same, always young, fresh, and liberating: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near!’” he said. “Yes, it is near because in Jesus Christ, God draws near to every man and woman, to every people and nation.”
Pope Leo added that the Gospel is not merely announced but also lived.
“When this Gospel is proclaimed and lived out, evil crumbles like a disease that passes away, like a night giving way to dawn, like death conquered by the risen One,” he said.
The pope said the Church is called to continue the mission of the apostles, remembering Jesus’ words: “You received without payment; give without payment.”
“Dear friends, the task of evangelization springs from God’s gift, which in Christ becomes forgiveness for the world, service to the least and the poor, and a commitment to justice,” he said.
After the Angelus prayer, Pope Leo recalled his recent apostolic journey to Spain.
“First of all, I express my gratitude to the Lord for the apostolic journey he has allowed me to undertake in Spain,” he said. “I also thank the Spanish people who have welcomed me with great enthusiasm and devotion.”
“I am especially grateful to His Majesty the King; I affectionately thank the bishops, all the communities I visited, and the entire Church in Spain,” the pope added. “Que Dios bendiga siempre a España!”
Pope Leo also remembered several newly beatified martyrs: the diocesan priests Václav Drbola and Jan Bula of Moravia, and Jan Šwierc and eight companions, Polish Salesian priests.
“All were beatified as martyrs, as victims of the persecution by totalitarian regimes because of their fidelity to Christ,” he said.
The pope also recalled that Nazareno Lanciotti, “a Roman missionary priest,” had been beatified Saturday in Mato Grosso, Brazil.
“He too was a martyr, for he defended the poorest in the name of the Gospel,” Pope Leo said. “May the example and intercession of these courageous witnesses sustain the mission of priests and of the entire Church.”
The pope concluded by expressing his closeness to the people of the Philippines, “struck a few days ago by a powerful earthquake.”
“I pray for the deceased and their families, for the wounded and for all those suffering because of this disaster,” he said.
This story was first published by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
