Homily of Pope Leo XIV in Pentecost vigil

Pope Leo XIV presided over on June 7, the Pentecost vigil in the Plaza de San Pedro in the Vatican, within the framework of the celebration of the Jubilee of Movements, Associations and New Communities.

Next, the full text of the homily of Pope Leo XIV in the Pentecost 2025 vigil, disseminated by the Holy See Press Office:

Dear sisters and brothers,

The creative spirit, which we have invoked with the song –I came Creator Spiritus-is the spirit that descended on Jesus, the silent protagonist of his mission: “The spirit of the Lord is over me” (Lc 4.18). Asking him to visit our minds, multiply the languages, turn on the senses, unfounded love, comfort the bodies and donate peace, we have opened to welcome the kingdom of God. This is the conversion according to the Gospel: to direct ourselves to the kingdom that is already close.

In Jesus we see and of Jesus we hear that everything is transformed, because God reigns, because God is close. In this vigil of Pentecost we are closely linked by the proximity of God, by his spirit that unites our stories to that of Jesus. We are involved in the new things that God does, so that his willingness to be fulfilled and prevails over the will to death.

«He has devoted me for the anointing. He sent me to bring the good news to the poor, to announce the liberation to the captives and the view to the blind, to give freedom to the oppressed and proclaim a year of grace of the Lord »(Lc 4.18-19). We perceive here the chrism perfume with which our forehead was marked. Baptism and confirmation, dear brothers and sisters, have joined us to the transforming mission of Jesus, to the kingdom of God. As love makes us familiar the smell of a loved person, so we recognize the perfume of Christ tonight. It is a mystery that surprises and makes us think.

In Pentecost Mary, the apostles, the disciples and the disciples who were filled with a spirit of unity, which lied forever their diversities in the only Lord Jesus Christ. Not many missions, but a single mission. Not introverted and bellicose, but extroverted and luminous. This Plaza de San Pedro, which is like an open and cozy hug, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church, experienced by each of you in the different associative and community experiences, many of which represent fruits of the Council 2.

The afternoon of my choicelooking with shock to the people of God gathered here, I remembered the word “synodality”, which happily expresses the way in which the Spirit models the Church. In this word the syn “That means.” con– That constitutes the secret of God’s life. God is not loneliness. God is “with” in himself – Prew, Son and Holy Spirit – and is God with us. At the same time, Sinodality reminds us of the way –sake– Because where the spirit is there, there is a way. We are a town on the way. This conscience does not take us away, but immerses us in humanity, as a yeast in the dough, that the whole ferments. The year of grace of the Lord, of which the jubilee is expression, has in itself this ferment. In a broken world and without peace the Holy Spirit educates us to walk together. The earth will decrease, justice will be affirmed, the poor will be glad and peace will return if we stop moving as predators and begin to do it as pilgrims. Not each on their own, but harmonizing our steps with the steps of others. Not consuming the world with voracity, but growing it and guarding it, as the encyclical teaches us Laudato yes.

Dear brothers and sisters, God has created the world so that we were together. “Sinodality” is the ecclesial name of this consciousness. It is the path that asks each one to recognize one’s debt and the treasure itself, feeling part of a totality, outside which everything withers, even the most original of the charisms. Look: all creation exists only in the modality of existing together, sometimes dangerous, but still together always (cf. letter enc., Laudato yes 16; 117). And what we call “history” takes shape only in the modality of gathering, of a coexistence, often in the means of dissent, but still a coexistence. The opposite is deadly and unfortunately is before our eyes every day. That their aggregations and communities are then places where fraternity and participation are practiced, not only as a meeting places, but as places of spirituality. The spirit of Jesus changes to the world, because it changes hearts. Inspire, in effect, that contemplative dimension of life that moves away self -affirmation, murmuring, the spirit of controversy, the mastery of consciences and resources. The Lord is the Spirit and where is the spirit of the Lord there is freedom (cf. 2 Co 3.17). Authentic spirituality compromises us, therefore, integral human development, updating among us the Word of Jesus. Where this happens there is joy. Joy and hope.

Evangelization, dear brothers and sisters, is not a human conquest of the world, but the infinite grace that spreads through lives transformed by the kingdom of God. It is the path of bliss, an itinerary that we travel together, in continuous tension between the “ya” and the “not yet”, hungry and thirsty of justice, poor of spirit, merciful, meek, pure heart, who work for peace. To follow Jesus on this path he has chosen do not serve powerful protectors, worldly commitments or emotional strategies. Evangelization is the work of God and, if sometimes it happens through our people, it is because of the links it makes possible. Are therefore deeply linked to each of the particular churches and the parish communities where they feed and spend their charisms. Near his bishops and in synergy with all the other members of the body of Christ we will act, then, in harmonious tune. The challenges that humanity face will be less frightening, the future will be less dark, the less difficult discernment, if together we obey the spirit.

That Mary, queen of the apostles and mother of the Church, intercede for us.