Pope Leo XIV said that the mission of the Church is not “to administer a power over others” but to communicate the joy of the resurrection, while urging to follow the example of Christ in the Cenacle and not be afraid to show the wounds “for pride” or “for the fear of seemingly weak.”
“The center of the Church’s mission does not consist of administering a power over others, but in communicating the joy of those who have been loved just when he did not deserve it,” he explained during the general hearing on Wednesday.
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Thus he stressed that the responsibility of Christians is “being instruments of reconciliation in the world.”
The pontiff dedicated his catechesis to the resurrection that, he said, “it is not a thunderous triumph, it is not a revenge or a rematch against their enemies” but the testimony of how love is “capable of getting up after a great defeat to continue its unstoppable path.”
Leo XIV described how Christ appears to the apostles without “power gestures”, but with the “meekness” that demonstrates “the joy of a love larger than any wound and stronger than any betrayal.”
When he emerges from the abysses of death, he continued, “he does it with extreme discretion, without forcing the times of his ability to welcome.”
“His only desire is to be in communion with them, helping them overcome the feeling of guilt,” he specified by explaining the moment when the Lord appears to his friends in the Cenacle.
When explaining this passage of the Gospel, the Pope questioned: “Why exhibit their wounds precisely before those who, in those dramatic hours, deny it and abandoned it? Why not hide those signs of pain and prevent the wound of shame reopening?”
In this way, he considered that Jesus is already “fully reconciled with everything he has suffered.” Therefore, it does not save “any resentment” so that the wounds serve to “confirm a stronger love than any infidelity.”
He added: “They are the proof that, precisely at the moment we have failed, God has not backed down. He has not renounced us.”
Therefore, he invited Catholics to follow Jesus’s example and not fall into the temptations of revenge or revenge. “When we recover from a trauma caused by others, often the first reaction is rage, the desire to make someone we have suffered. The risen does not act in this way,” he warned.
In this sense, he regretted that many times “we prefer to hide our effort to forgive so as not to seem vulnerable and not run the risk of suffering again.”
However, Jesus “offers his sores as a guarantee of forgiveness.”
The Lord is “disarmed,” he continued, because “his love does not humble.”
“It is the peace of those who have suffered for love and now you can finally say that it has been worth it,” he said.
“The resurrection is not the cancellation of the past, but its transfiguration in a hope of mercy,” he insisted.
Finally, he urged Catholics not to be afraid to show the “wounds healed by mercy.“ Do not fear approaching those who are locked in fear or feeling of guilt. That the breath of the spirit also makes us witness of this peace and this stronger love than all defeat, ”he concluded.
Like every Wednesday, before starting the audience, Pope Leo XIV toured the Plaza de San Pedro in the Papamóvil, greeting with a warm smile to the faithful gathered. Between applause and cheers, he stopped briefly to bless some babies, while the crowd applauded and captured the moment with photos.
Reproduction of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, prepared with wheat spikes
In addition, before arriving at the atrium of the Plaza de San Pedro, he descended from the Papamóvil to stop at a reproduction of the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, fully elaborated with wheat spikes.
Next to him was Mons. Angelo Spina, Bishop of Ancona-Osimo, Italian diocese where the traditional “covo” party of Campocavallo di Osimo is celebrated every year in devotion to Our Lady of Dolores. The Pope blessed the work with three million woven spikes, symbol of popular devotion and rural art of the region.
Victoria Cardiel
Victoria Cardiel is a journalist specialized in social and religious information issues. Since 2013, he has covered all the news of the Vatican for various media, such as the Spanish news agency Europa Press, or the weekly of the Archdiocese of Madrid, Alfa and Omega.