Pope Leo XIV recited the Angelus before a diverse and enthusiastic crowd in Castel Gandolfo on Sunday — the first time in 12 years that a pope has led the Marian prayer from the lakeside town 18 miles southeast of Rome.
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The Angelus, prayed on a warm but cloudy July 13, marked the midpoint of Leo’s two-week stay for a summer break on the pontifical estate of Castel Gandolfo, a custom eschewed by Pope Francis.
Despite sporadic light rain showers, shoulder-to-shoulder pilgrims from around the world, including Brazil, Italy, Poland, and the United States, filled the town’s main square and lined the side streets, as the pope greeted them with, “happy Sunday!”
The hope of eternal life, Leo said before leading the Marian prayer, “is described as something to be ‘inherited,’ not something to be gained by force, begged for, or negotiated. Eternal life, which God alone can give, is bestowed on us as an inheritance, as parents do with their children.”
Crowds of laypeople, priests, and religious sisters alternatively opened and closed umbrellas, the sun bursting through rain drops right as Pope Leo appeared in front of the apostolic palace of Castel Gandolfo.
“That is why Jesus tells us that, in order to receive God’s gift, we must do his will,” he continued. “It is written in the Law: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,” and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”
“When we do these two things, we respond to the Father’s love,” the pontiff said.
A married couple from the United States celebrating their 10th wedding anniversary said they came to Castel Gandolfo hoping for the pope‘s blessing. They were happy to have received a wave from Leo when he passed by on his walk from the local parish to the apostolic palace before the Angelus.
While the pontiff spoke, a father of four took turns lifting up each of his children so they could see Pope Leo over the crowd.
Pope Leo will publicly lead the Angelus again on July 20, before returning to the Vatican in time for a slew of events for the Jubilee of Hope, including jubilees of Catholic influencers and of youth.
Leo will also come back to Castel Gandolfo, found on the hills above Lake Albano, for three days over the Italian holiday weekend of “Ferragosto,” Aug. 15-17, which celebrates the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Before the Angelus, Pope Leo celebrated a Mass for local Catholics, religious leaders, and civil authorities at the 17th-century Pontifical Parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo’s Liberty Square.
Reflecting on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the pontiff called for a “revolution of love” toward those who have been hurt by life, who are “stripped, robbed and pillaged, victims of tyrannical political systems, of an economy that forces them into poverty, and of wars that kill their dreams and their very lives.”
“Are we content at times merely to do our duty, or to regard as our neighbor only those who are part of our group, who think like us, who share our same nationality or religion?” he said. “Jesus overturns this way of thinking by presenting us with a Samaritan, a foreigner or heretic, who acts as a neighbor to that wounded man. And he asks us to do the same.”
This is why this parable is so challenging for each of us, he underlined: “If Christ shows us the face of a compassionate God, then to believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings.”
“Looking without walking by, halting the frantic pace of our lives, allowing the lives of others, whoever they may be, with their needs and troubles, to touch our heart,” the pope added. “That is what makes us neighbors to one another, what generates true fraternity and breaks down walls and barriers.”
This article was originally published by CNA.
