Full text of the Catechesis of Leo XIV about the healing of Jairo’s daughter and the hemorrhism

We offer the full text of the catechesis that Pope Leo XIV preached at the general audience of this Wednesday, June 25, 2025 about the evangelical passage in which the healing of Jairo’s daughter and hemorrísa is narrated.

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we also meditate on Jesus’ cures as a sign of hope. In it there is a force that we can also experience when we enter in relation to your person. A disease very widespread in our time is the fatigue of living: reality seems too complex, heavy, difficult to face. And then we go out, we numb, with the illusion that things will be different. But reality has to be faced, and together with Jesus we can do well. Sometimes we feel blocked by the judgment of those who intend to place labels to others.

It seems to me that these situations can compare with a passage from Mark’s Gospel, where two stories are intertwined: that of a twelve -year -old girl, who lies in her sick bed about to die; And that of a woman, who, precisely for twelve years, has blood losses and seeks Jesus to heal (Cfr Mc 5,21-43).

Among these two female figures, the evangelist places the character of the girl’s father: he does not stay at home lamenting for the daughter’s disease, but comes out and asks for help. While he is the chief of the synagogue, he does not make pretensions arguing his social position. When you have to wait, you don’t lose your patience and wait. And when they come to tell her that his daughter has died and is useless to disturb the teacher, he still has faith and continues waiting.

The colloquium of this Father with Jesus is interrupted by the woman who suffered blood flow, who manages to approach Jesus and touch his mantle (v. 27). With great courage this woman has made the decision that changes her life: everyone kept telling her to remain at a distance, that she does not let her see. They had condemned her to get hidden and isolated. Sometimes we can also be victims of the judgment of others, who intend to put a dress that is not ours. And then we are wrong and we can’t get out of that.

That woman hits the path of salvation when the faith that Jesus can heal her germinates in her: then he finds the strength to go out and go looking for him. At least he wants to play his dresses.

Around Jesus there was a crowd, many people touched him, but nothing happened to them. On the other hand, when this woman plays Jesus, she heals. Where is the difference? Commenting on this point in the text, Saint Augustine says – in the name of Jesus -: “The crowd squeezes, the faith touches” (sermons 243, 2, 2). And so: every time we perform an act of faith addressed to Jesus, contact with Him is established and immediately his grace leaves Him. Sometimes we do not realize, but in a secret and real way grace reaches us and slowly transforms life from within.

Perhaps today so many people approach Jesus superficially, without really believing in his power. We walk the surface of our church, but maybe the heart is elsewhere! This woman, silent and anonymous, defeats her fears, touching the heart of Jesus with her hands considered impure because of the disease. And behold, he immediately feels cured. Jesus says: «Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go alone »(Mc 5,34).

Meanwhile, they took that father the news that his daughter had died. Jesus says: “Don’t be afraid, you just think!” (v. 36). Then he went home and, seeing that everyone cried and shouted, said: “The girl is not dead, but sleeps” (v. 39). Then go where the girl is, she takes her hand and says: “Tale Kum”, “Girl, get up!” The girl gets up and walks (cfr vv. 41-42). That gesture of Jesus shows us that he not only heals all disease, but also awakens from death. For God, which is eternal life, the death of the body is like a dream. True death is that of the soul: of this we must be afraid!

One last detail: Jesus, after having resurrected the girl, tells the parents to feed him (cfr v. 43). This is another very specific sign of Jesus’ closeness to our humanity. We can also understand it in a deeper sense and ask ourselves: when are our boys in crisis and have the need for spiritual nutrition, do we know how to give it to him? And how can we do it if we don’t nourish ourselves from the Gospel?

Dear brothers and sisters, in life there are moments of disappointment and discouragement, and there is also the experience of death. Let us learn from that woman, from that Father: we go to Jesus: He can heal us, can make us reborn. He is our hope!