Leo XIV asks the pilgrims of the Sports Jubilee to connect the world to God

This Saturday, Leo XIV He went to the pilgrims of the Sports Jubilee In a jubilee audience held in the Basilica of San Pedro, inviting them to connect “in a more radical way” the world of God with ours, within the framework of the Jubilee Year of Hope.

The catechesis of the Holy Father revolved around the testimony of St. Irenaeus of Lyon, father of the Church and “one of the greatest Christian theologians.” Leo XIV assured the thousands of athletes who listened to him that the beauty and the present of Christian hope lies in connecting. “Waiting is connecting,” he said.

The Pope recalled that Saint Ireneo grew up in Asia Minor, “among those who directly met the apostles” and then traveled to Europe, to Lyon, where “a community of Christians of his land had already been formed.”

“How good it makes us remember this here, in Rome, in Europe! The Gospel reached this continent from the outside. And even today, migrant communities are presences that revive faith in the countries that welcome them,” said the Holy Father.

“The Gospel comes from outside. Irenaeus Connecta East and West. This is already a sign of hope, because it reminds us of how the peoples enrich each other,” he added.

In addition, he said that St. Irenae never discouraged with the obstacles of his time, but that in the midst of “a fragmented world, he learned to think better, focusing his attention more and more in Jesus.”

“He acknowledged, in fact, that in him what seems opposed to us is recomposed in unity. Jesus is not a wall that separates, but a door that unites us. We must remain in it and distinguish the reality of ideologies,” said Leo XIV.

The Pope insisted that “ideas can go crazy and words can kill”, even in today’s world, so you should always contemplate human reality itself, that “flesh” that “unites us to the earth and the other creatures” and that it is the same flesh of Jesus, which “must be welcomed and contemplated in each brother and sister, in each creature.”

“Let’s listen to the cry of the flesh, let’s listen to how the pain of others calls us. The commandment we have received from the beginning is that of mutual love. It is written in our flesh, before any law,” he said.

“Irenaeus, teacher’s teacher, teaches us not to oppose, but to connect. There is intelligence where it separates, but where it connects. Distinguish is useful, but never divide. Jesus is eternal life among us: it brings together the opposites and makes communion possible,” added the Holy Father.

Finally, he called the pilgrims to put this example of life into practice, because when there is someone willing to “walk towards communion”, others will follow him and only this can “tend bridges where there are walls today.”

“Let’s open doors, we connect worlds and there will be hope,” he concluded.