Rome – For two weeks, “the peoples of the Middle East have been suffering the horrific violence of war. Thousands of innocent people have been killed, and countless others have been forced to flee their homes. I renew my prayerful closeness to all who have lost loved ones in the attacks, which have struck schools, hospitals and residential areas.”
This is the fourth Sunday of Lent, known as Laetare Sunday. Pope Leo XIV, in his address after the Angelus prayer from the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace, speaking to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, focused on the new fronts of war that are sowing death and suffering in the countries of the Middle East following the Israeli-American attack on Iran. He expressed his concern about “the situation in Lebanon.” Then, “on behalf of the Christians of the Middle East, and of all women and men of good will, I appeal to those responsible for this conflict: cease fire! May paths of dialogue be reopened! Violence can never lead to the justice, stability and peace for which the people are waiting.”
This afternoon, Leo XIV again drew everyone’s attention to the scourges of war that are tormenting the peoples of the Middle East and other parts of the world. He did so during his pastoral visit to the parish of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in the Roman neighborhood of Ponte Mammolo. “Currently around the world,” the Bishop of Rome said during the Eucharistic liturgy, at the beginning of his homily, “many of our brothers and sisters are suffering because of violent conflicts, sparked by the absurd notion that problems and differences can be resolved through war, when what is needed is unceasing dialogue for peace.” Some, Pope Prevost then emphasized, even go so far as to invoke God’s name in these choices of death, but God cannot be enlisted by darkness. Rather, he always comes to bring light, hope and peace to humanity, and it is peace that must be sought by those who call upon him.”
At noon, before reciting the Marian prayer of the Angelus, the Holy Father delivered his customary brief catechesis based on the Gospel reading from the day’s liturgy: the passage from the Gospel according to Saint John that recounts the miracle of Jesus healing the man born blind. A miracle—explained Pope Leo—that “speaks to us of the mystery of salvation: while we were in darkness, while humanity walked in darkness, God sent his Son as the light of the world, to open the eyes of the blind and illuminate our lives.” Considering the healing of the man born blind by Jesus, the Successor of Peter suggested, “we can say that we are all ‘born blind,’ for on our own, we cannot see the mystery of life in its depths. This is why God became flesh in Jesus, so that the mud of our humanity, molded by the breath of his grace, might receive a new light, capable of finally allowing us to see others, God, and ourselves in truth.”
And yet, Leo XIV remarked, continuing his brief catechesis, the archaic opinion that “faith is a kind of ‘leap into the dark,’ a renunciation of thinking, so that having faith means believing ‘blindly’” is still widespread today in many circles. Whereas the Gospel tells us that, as happened to the man born blind, “through contact with Christ, eyes are opened.” Thus, “we too, healed by the love of Christ,” the Holy Father insisted, “are called to live a Christianity ‘with our eyes open,’” experiencing that “faith is not a blind act, an abdication of reason, a retreat into some religious certainty that distances us from the world.” On the contrary, it is precisely faith in Christ “that helps us to see ‘from Jesus’ point of view, with his eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing,’” Pope Prevost explained, quoting the Encyclical “Lumen Fidei.” And particularly in our time, he added, “it is essential that our faith be alert, attentive and prophetic, a faith that opens our eyes to the darkness of the world and bring to others the light of the Gospel through our commitment to peace, justice and solidarity.”
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