The pontiff prayed the Angelus in St. Peter’s Square before traveling to Castel Gandolfo for three weeks of vacation.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV on Sunday said Christ remains the Church’s hope amid war, slavery, sin, and the wounds of history, urging Christians to learn from Jesus a “school of freedom” rooted in the cross.
Speaking at the July 5 Angelus in a sunny and hot St. Peter’s Square, the pope reflected on the day’s Gospel, Matthew 11:25–30, in which Jesus praises the Father, “Lord of heaven and earth.”
“The Son of God made man reveals his love by including all creatures in this act of thanksgiving,” Pope Leo XIV said.
The pope said the Gospel reveals God’s preference for the humble and the small.
“The simplicity of such a spontaneous and joyful gesture reflects God’s way of acting: He delights in revealing himself ‘to infants,’ while remaining hidden ‘from the wise and the intelligent,’” he said.
Those who are “filled” with their own ideas, the pope said, fail to recognize Christ.
“Human wisdom thus becomes arrogance, and doctrine degenerates into pride,” he said. “By contrast, God’s true wisdom is revealed in the humility of the Incarnation, and his teaching is addressed above all to those who struggle: ‘Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,’ says the Lord.”
Pope Leo XIV said going to Jesus “means responding to his love and sharing in his life, even to the cross.”
“How can the weight of the cross be ‘easy’ and ‘light’?” the pope asked. “For one reason alone: because the Lord himself carries it with us, never leaving us alone in what burdens us.”
The pope said Christ takes upon himself “humanity wounded by evil in order to heal and care for it.”
“For this reason, our journey of following Christ is not an asceticism that mortifies,” he continued. “Rather, it is a school of freedom that takes seriously the drama of history and continually sheds light on its meaning, especially in its darkest moments.”
“Indeed, only in the cross of Jesus is evil overcome; only in his passion does our mortal weariness find consolation and redemption,” he said.
The pope then pointed to Christ as the answer to the world’s deepest suffering.
“In slavery, Christ is liberation. Amid the scourge of war, Christ is hope. In the hour of sin, Christ is forgiveness,” Pope Leo XIV said. “This is true wisdom and the path that we wish to walk together, united as disciples in his name.”
After the Angelus, the pope recalled the July 2 beatification of Father Francis Xavier Tru’o’ng Bǚu Diêp at the Shrine of Tac Say in Vietnam. The Vietnamese diocesan priest was killed in 1946 in hatred of the faith.
“Amid oppression and violence, he defended the rights of the people and did not abandon his parishioners,” the pope said. “May his intercession and prayers strengthen all those who proclaim the Gospel in situations of persecution today.”
Pope Leo XIV also greeted pilgrims from Brazil and the Choir of the University of Mérida in Venezuela, and renewed his prayers for the Venezuelan people.
“I continue to remember in my prayers the victims of the earthquake and all the Venezuelan people,” he said. “May the Lord sustain them in this time of great hardship.”
The Angelus came shortly before the Prefecture of the Papal Household announced that Pope Leo XIV would transfer Sunday afternoon to the Apostolic Palace of Castel Gandolfo for a period of rest until Monday, July 27.
During that period, all general, private, and special audiences will be suspended. General audiences will resume Wednesday, Aug. 5.
The Prefecture of the Papal Household also said the Sunday Angelus prayers during July will be prayed in Piazza della Libertà in Castel Gandolfo.
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.
