Jubilee 2025: Pope Francis inaugurates Saturday audiences on hope

This January 11, in the Paul VI Hall, Pope Francis celebrated the first Saturday Jubilee Audience inviting the faithful to ask God for the theological virtue of hope, which is the central theme of the Holy Year 2025.

“With the Jubilee a new life begins, a new stage,” the Pontiff affirmed to the faithful arriving from different parts of the world. “On these Saturdays I would like to highlight, from time to time, some aspect of hope,” he added.

According Vatican Newsthese meetings will take place “every 15 days and will be incorporated into the General Audiences on Wednesdays.”

In his speech, Pope Francis recalled that hope is a theological virtue and explained that the word “virtue” derives from Latin virtus which means “strength”.

That is to say that “hope is a strength that comes from God. Hope, therefore, is not something habitual or a characteristic—something that is possessed or not—but a strength that must be asked for. This is why we become pilgrims: we come to ask for a gift, to set out again along the path of life,” he noted.

Then, he referred to the feast of the Baptism of the Lord that will be celebrated on January 12 and that “makes us think of that great prophet of hope who was John the Baptist,” about whom Jesus “says something wonderful: that he is the greatest among those born of women.”

The Holy Father highlighted that many people came to John the Baptist “with the desire for a new beginning.” “Just as today we cross the Holy Door, so John proposed crossing the Jordan River, entering the Promised Land as had happened with Joshua the first time.”

“Start again, receive the land from the beginning, like the first time. Let us put this in our heads and say all together: start again,” Pope Francis invited the faithful.

The Pontiff continued to reflect on John the Baptist and indicated that “Jesus, immediately after that great compliment, adds something that makes us think: ‘I assure you that there is no man greater than John, and yet the smallest in the Kingdom. of God is greater than he.”

“Hope, brothers and sisters, is all found in this leap in quality. It does not depend on us, but on the Kingdom of God. Here is the surprise: welcoming the Kingdom of God leads us to a new order of greatness,” he stated.

“Our world, all of us, need this! And we say: what should we do? (start over); I don’t understand well (start over). Don’t forget this: start over.”

The Pontiff explained that when Jesus spoke his words about John the Baptist, he was in prison, “full of questions.” “In our pilgrimage we also carry so many questions, and do you know why? because there are many ‘Herods’ who still oppose the Kingdom of God,” he indicated.

However, he recalled that “Jesus shows us the way, the way of the new Beatitudes, which are the surprising laws of the Gospel. So let’s ask ourselves: do I carry within me a sincere desire to start over? Do I want to learn from Jesus who is truly great? The least, in the Kingdom of God, he is great. And we must begin again.”

Pope Francis invited us to learn “from John the Baptist to believe again.” “The hope for our common home – our Earth, so abused and wounded – and the hope for all human beings is in the difference from God. His greatness is different.”

“And we begin again from this originality of God, which has shone forth in Jesus and which now commits us to serve, to love fraternally, to recognize ourselves as small. And to see the little ones, to listen to them and to be their voice. “Here is our new beginning, this is our jubilee!” concluded the Pontiff.