Leo XIV to the presbyteral assembly: «God is witness to your silent dedication».»

Dear children:

I am pleased to be able to address this letter on the occasion of your presbyteral assembly and to do so out of a sincere desire for fraternity and unity. I thank your archbishop and, from my heart, each of you for your willingness to come together as a presbyterate, not only to discuss common issues, but also to support one another in the mission you share.

Presbyteral Assembly, a serene and honest reflection

I value the commitment with which you live and exercise your priesthood I know that this ministry is often carried out in the midst of fatigue, complex situations and a silent dedication to which only God is a witness. Precisely for this reason I hope that these words will reach you as a gesture of closeness and encouragement, and that this meeting will foster a climate of sincere listening, true communion and trusting openness to the action of the Holy Spirit, who never ceases to work in your life and mission.

The times in which the Church is living invite us to pause together in a serene and honest reflection. Not so much to remain in immediate diagnoses or in the management of emergencies, but to learn to read with depth the moment in which we live, recognizing, in the light of faith, the challenges and also the possibilities that the Lord opens before us. On this path it is becoming ever more necessary to educate our gaze and exercise our discernment, so that we can perceive with greater clarity what God is already at work, often silently and discreetly, in our midst and in that of our communities.

This reading of the present cannot ignore the cultural and social framework in which faith is lived and expressed today. In many environments we see advanced processes of secularization, a growing polarization in public discourse and a tendency to reduce the complexity of the human person, interpreting it from ideologies or categories that are partial and insufficient. In this context, faith runs the risk of being instrumentalized, trivialized or relegated to the realm of the irrelevant, while forms of coexistence that dispense with any transcendent reference are taking root.

Young people open up to new concerns

Added to this is a profound cultural change that cannot be ignored: the progressive disappearance of common references. For a long time, the Christian seed found a largely prepared soil, because the moral language, the great questions about the meaning of life and certain fundamental notions were, at least in part, shared.

asamblea presbiteral sacerdote iglesia madrid

Today this common substratum has weakened considerably. Many of the conceptual presuppositions that for centuries facilitated the transmission of the Christian message are no longer evident and, in many cases, even understandable. The Gospel does not only meet with indifference, but with a different cultural horizon, where words no longer mean the same thing and where the first proclamation cannot be taken for granted.

However, this description does not exhaust what is really happening. I am convinced - and I know that many of you perceive this in the daily exercise of your ministry - that in the hearts of many people, especially the young, a new restlessness is opening up today. The absolutization of well-being has not brought the expected happiness; a freedom detached from truth has not generated the promised fullness; and material progress alone has not succeeded in fulfilling the deep desire of the human heart.

The priests that Madrid and the whole Church needs

In fact, the dominant proposals, together with certain hermeneutical and philosophical readings with which people have sought to interpret man's destiny, far from offering a sufficient response, have often left a greater sense of weariness and emptiness. Precisely because of this, we note that many people are beginning to open themselves to a more honest and authentic search, a search which, accompanied with patience and respect, is leading them once again to an encounter with Christ.

This reminds us that for the priest This is not a time for withdrawal or resignation, but for faithful presence and generous availability. All this is born of the recognition that the initiative is always the Lord's, who is already at work and precedes us with his grace.

It is shaping up like this what kind of priests Madrid needs -and the entire Church at this time. Certainly not men defined by the multiplication of tasks or by the pressure for results, but men configured to Christ, capable of sustaining their ministry from a living relationship with Him, nourished by the Eucharist and expressed in a pastoral charity marked by a sincere gift of self.

It is not a matter of inventing new models or of redefining the identity we have received, but of re-proposing, with renewed intensity, the priesthood in its most authentic core - being alter Christus-Let him be the one who shapes our lives, unifies our hearts and gives form to a ministry lived in intimacy with God, faithful dedication to the Church and concrete service to the people entrusted to our care.

asamblea presbiteral sacerdote iglesia madrid

Leo XIV and the priestly fraternity

Dear children, allow me to speak to you today about the priesthood using an image you know well: your cathedral. Not to describe a building, but to learn from it. For cathedrals - like any sacred place - exist, like the priesthood, to lead to an encounter with God and reconciliation with our brothers and sisters, and their elements contain a lesson for our life and ministry.

How the figure of the priest should be

When contemplating its façade, we already learn something essential. It is the first thing we see, and yet it does not tell us everything: it indicates, suggests, invites. So too the priest does not live to show off, but neither does he live to hide. Your life is called to be visible, coherent and recognizable, even if it is not always understood. The façade does not exist for itself: it leads to the interior. In the same way, the priest is never an end in himself. His whole life is called to refer back to God and to accompany the passage towards the Mystery, without usurping his place.

Being in the world but not of the world

When we reach the threshold, we understand that it is not convenient to bring everything inside, because it is a sacred space. The threshold marks a step, a necessary separation. Before entering, something remains outside. The priesthood is also lived in this way: being in the world, but without being of the world (cf. Jn 17,14). Celibacy, poverty and obedience are situated at this crossroads; not as a negation of life, but as the concrete form that allows the priest to belong entirely to God without ceasing to walk among men.

A common home

The cathedral is also a common home, where everyone has a place. This is what the Church is called to be, especially for her priests: a home that welcomes, protects and does not abandon. And this is how the priestly fraternity must be lived; as the concrete experience of knowing that we are at home, responsible for one another, attentive to the life of our brothers and ready to support one another. My children, no one should feel exposed or alone in the exercise of the ministry: resist together the individualism that impoverishes the heart and weakens the mission!

The Church, a firm rock

As we walk through the temple, we notice that everything rests on the columns that support the whole. The Church has seen in them the image of the Apostles (cf. Ef 2,20). Nor is priestly life sustained by itself, but by the apostolic witness received and transmitted in the living Tradition of the Church and guarded by the Magisterium (cf. 1 Co 11,2; 2 Tm 1,13-14). When the priest remains anchored on this foundation, he avoids building on the sand of partial interpretations or circumstantial accents, and rests on the firm rock that precedes and surpasses him (cf. Mt 7,24-27).

Before reaching the presbytery, the cathedral shows us discrete but fundamental places: in the baptismal font the People of God is born; in the confessional it is continually regenerated. In the sacraments, grace is revealed as the most real and effective force of the priestly ministry.

Therefore, dear children, celebrate the sacraments with dignity and faith, We are aware that what is produced in them is the true force that builds up the Church and that they are the ultimate goal to which all our ministry is directed. But do not forget that you are not the source, but the channel, and that you also need to drink from that water. Therefore, do not cease to confess, to return always to the mercy that you proclaim.

Different charisms, same center

Next to the central space there are several chapels. Each one has its own history, its own dedication. In spite of being different in art and composition, they all share the same orientation; none of them is turned in on itself, none of them breaks the harmony of the whole. So it is also in the Church with the different charisms and spiritualities through which the Lord enriches and sustains your vocation. Each receives a particular way of expressing faith and nourishing interiority, but all remain oriented towards the same center.

Let us look at the center of everything, my children: here is revealed what gives meaning to what you do every day and from where your ministry flows. On the altar, by your hands, the sacrifice of Christ is actualized in the highest action entrusted to human hands; in the tabernacle, the One whom you have offered remains, entrusted once again to your care. Be worshippers, men of profound prayer, and teach your people to do the same.

Be all yours

At the end of this journey, in order to be the priests that the Church needs today, I leave you with the same advice of your holy compatriot, St. John of Avila: «Be ye all his» (Sermon 57) Be saints! I commend you to Saint Mary of Almudena and, with a heart full of gratitude, I impart to you my Apostolic Blessing, which I extend to all those entrusted to your pastoral care.

Vatican City, January 28, 2026. Memorial of St. Thomas Aquinas, priest and doctor of the Church.

LEÓN PP. XIV

Impressions of nightfall: inner silence and encounter with God

In our walk, we arrive at dusk, at night. Since I was a child, I have been pushed - encouraged, perhaps it would be better - to walk with the day already darkened; and to walk, solitary and in silence, in the midst of the darkness not interrupted by urban lighting. Impregnated in the night, one lives in another way the beating of the earth, the glow of the stars, the aroma of all creation.

Dusk, silence and poetic contemplation

And what a joy, to abandon ourselves to the night without nostalgia, to enter it, almost on tiptoe, and ask it to make us participants in its mystery! A joy that perhaps one day Rainer Maria Rilke glimpsed when he wrote these verses in his Poems to the night:

«And suddenly I understood that you walk with me and play, / oh you, grown night, and I looked at you in amazement.... / ...you, elevated night, / you were not ashamed to know me. Your breath / passed over me. Your dilated seriousness, shared / with a smile, penetrated me».

Inner silence and attitude towards the night

Some welcome the night as a friend, others shun it, as an enemy with whom one can never make peace.

Those who welcome it amicably dispose their spirit to scrutinize the virgin love hidden in darkness and silence. Perhaps with a certain trembling, like Rilke:

«If you were to feel, O night, as I behold you, how my being recoils at the impulse/ to want to throw itself confidently into your arms/ Can I grasp it so that my brow, arching again/ will save such a vast stream of gaze?».

I know that I will not find words to sing the beauty of the night -even if I ask poets for help-; perhaps because words exhaust their service in the effort of trying to understand each other; and the night is a land of curds for the hidden human dialogue of the soul with the spirit, which opens and prepares for the ineffable communication -and not only dialogue- between man and God, his creator.

Night is God's creature, and, like all creatures, God's gift to man. Without its darkness, not even the sun would shine. Without the rest it offers us, our walk on earth would be reduced to mere madness; our whole person would lose direction, orientation, and not only the nervous system. The silence and darkness of the night open to man unlimited horizons, more distant and impenetrable than those hidden in the rough sea, and that barely emerge at the edge of the crests of the waves of the ocean sea.

The night keeps the silence

And the night keeps a silence and a darkness for youth; a darkness in silence for maturity; a silence in radiant darkness for the fullness of life. The night enriches our scrutiny; it invites us to penetrate unexplored corners, and the eyes, unable to hold the gaze of the sun, open paths by looking at the stars, and come to unravel the mystery that hides the night: the mystery of man having no other horizon than the Eternal Life, Heaven.

For those who await it as an enemy, the soul of the night is exhausted in darkness and emptiness; and its image seems a foretaste of nothingness.

Silence and darkness, twinned

The night appears then, and appears, twinned with silence and darkness. Tragically twinned. As if darkness were nothing more than darkness, and silence hid the threat of emptiness and oppression. Juan Ramón Jiménez wrote: "The night is leaving, black bull/ -full flesh of mourning, of fright and mystery-, / that has roared terribly, immensely, / to the sweaty fear of all the fallen".

Faced with such an enemy, there is no other recourse but to try to annihilate it, or to flee from it. The night is annihilated by artificially filling it with noise and false light, waiting for the dawn. The candorous mumbled silence becomes anxious shouting, disguised with more or less masked smiles. And the radiant darkness of the universe in the open sky is transformed into tunnel darkness that excludes the stars from our gaze.

The mystery of the disease

Night takes on a different hue when its mystery is combined with that of illness. Some patients await its arrival with anxiety, fearful with a double dread: that sleep will not come, and anguish may turn the hours until dawn into the figure of death, of death itself; or that, if sleep finally overcomes them, it may become the last earthly sleep.

At night the man is aware, without blush or shame, of his penury, of his indigence and even of his misery. He has already discovered, without wonder, that every saint has something - or much - of wretchedness; and that every wretch is in a position to have something - or much - of saint. He has tasted the confirmation of what he had already foreseen in a certain way: that man does not retire: those who stay on land, when the time comes to make the boats to the sea, The best time to fish is always at night. The best fishing is always at night.

The night will be light

Perhaps he feels more helpless in the face of so many fears that assail him at the least opportune moments. Perhaps. And yet, it is worth facing the risk so that at last the night may become light, as the Psalmist prophetically announces: «and the night shall be my light in my delights /for the night, like the day, will be illuminated».»; St. John of the Cross added: «O night you guided, / O night kindlier than the dawn; / O night you joined / Beloved with beloved, / Beloved into Beloved transformed.».

anochecer dios la noche será luz silencio

In a way, Gibran also glimpsed it, who in The Prophet, he wrote:

«I can't teach you how the seas, the mountains, the forests pray. pray in the depths of your heart, / Lend an ear in the peaceful nights, and you will hear murmuring, / Our God, wings of ourselves, we wish with your Will. (...) / We can ask You for nothing; You know our destitution before it is born; / Our need is You; by giving us more of Yourself, You give us everything».   

God has given us Himself to us in the Baby Jesus which we have sung with our lips, worshipped with our intelligence, received in our hearts, with the shepherds, with the magi, with Maria Has his light illuminated the darkness of our night?       

Ernesto Juliá, (ernesto.julia@gmail.com) | Previously published on Religion Confidential.

What is Baptism and what is its symbolism?

The sacrament of baptism signifies and accomplishes death to sin and entrance into the life of the Blessed Trinity through configuration to the paschal mystery of Christ. In the Latin Church, the minister pours water three times over the head of the candidate and pronounces: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”.

Thanks to Baptism, we are purified of original sin and become part of the Church and the mystical body of Christ. Once we have received the sacrament of Baptism, we have access to the other sacraments and begin to embark on the path of the Spirit. Purified by God's unconditional forgiveness, we become, to all intents and purposes, his children.

«It frees us from sin and makes us children of God. (...) We renew and confirm our own Baptism, the sacrament that makes us Christians, freeing us from sin and transforming us into children of God, by the power of his Spirit of life. (...) It introduces us all into the Church, which is the people of God, made up of men and women of every nation and culture, regenerated by his Spirit.», Pope Leo XIV, on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord 2026.

What is Baptism?

Holy Baptism is the foundation of the whole Christian life, the portico of life in the spirit and the door that opens access to the other sacraments. Through baptism we are freed from sin and regenerated as children of God, we become members of Christ and are incorporated into the Church and made sharers in her mission. Catechism of the Catholic Church, no. 1213

Río Jordan Betania Bautismo Cristo
Al-Maghtas, The site where John supposedly baptized Jesus Christ east of the Jordan River.

Brief history of the sacrament

The word baptism comes from the Greek βάπτισμα, baptisma, “immersion". That's exactly what it is, an immersion in purifying water.

The symbology of the water and its saving powerin the Old Testament, it was considered to be instrument of God's will. It happened in the Flood, and in the passage of the Red Sea by Moses and the chosen people to flee Egypt. Also in the baptism of St. John the Baptist, which is the closest thing to the sacrament of Baptism as we know it today.

Jesus came to John to receive Baptism; he truly accepts his own destiny. Coming up out of the water, Jesus sees the heavens open and the Holy Spirit appear in the form of a dove, while from heaven a voice is heard: «You are my beloved Son, my beloved.

The Holy Spirit descends upon him, investing him in his role, transforming him into the Lamb of God. It is the beginning of a new life and the premonition of death, which will lead to the Resurrection. The destiny of a man and of all mankind is achieved on the banks of the Jordan.

From the day of Pentecost, baptism of fire of the Holy Spirit or descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles, fifty days after the Resurrection of Jesus, begins the mission of the Apostles and the beginning of the Christian Church.

From this moment on Peter and the other disciples begin to preach the need to repent of their sins and receive Baptism in order to obtain forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

"We Christians live in the world and are not exempt from darkness and gloom. However, the grace of Christ received in Baptism brings us out of the night and into the light of day. The most beautiful exhortation we can make to one another is to remind ourselves of our baptism, because through it we have been born for God, being new creatures." Pope Francis, General Audience August 2017.

Why was Jesus baptized?

Jesus begins his public life after being baptized by St. John the Baptist in the Jordan and, after his Resurrection, he confers this mission to his Apostles: «Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you».

Our Lord willingly submitted to the baptism of St. John where the Spirit descended upon Him, and the Father manifested Jesus as His beloved Son.

With his Death and Resurrection, Christ opened to all men the fountains of grace. Therefore, the baptism of the Church erases original sin and makes us children of God. Catechism of the Catholic Church, nn. 1223, 1224, 1225.

Since when have you been baptized in the Church?

Since the day of Pentecost the Church has celebrated and administered holy baptism. In fact, St. Peter declared to the crowd moved by his preaching: "Repent [...] and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38). The Apostles and their co-workers offer baptism to whoever believes in Jesus: Jews, God-fearing men, pagans.

Baptism is always linked to faith: "Have faith in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household," St. Paul declared to his jailer in Philippi. The account in the Acts of the Apostles continues: "the jailer immediately received baptism, he and all his household".

According to the Apostle Paul, through Baptism the believer participates in the death of Christ; he is buried and rises with Him: «Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life» (Rom 6:3-4).

The baptized have "clothed themselves with Christ". Through the Holy Spirit, baptism is a bath that purifies, sanctifies and justifies. Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 1226, 1227.

Symbology of Baptism

Baptism, like all the Sacraments, implies the use of sacred elements in order to impart it. Because they are sacred, they are used only for that purpose and must be blessed by the bishop or a priest. There are also symbolic gestures and non-verbal signs that together give light to this precious and indispensable sacrament in the life of a Christian.

There are many symbols of baptism so that we humans are able to imagine what is happening in the soul of the baptized person, which we cannot see with our eyes:

bautismo

Holy water

Water is the central symbol of the sacrament of Baptism., represents the love of God. It is poured on the forehead of the baptized as a source of inexhaustible love. It has the function of purifying, washing the body and soul of sin. Water is also an element universally recognized as a symbol of life.

At the moment the priest pours water three times over the head of the baptized, the faithful are united with Christ both in his death and in his resurrection and glorification.

As Pope Leo explained, «Dear brothers and sisters, God does not look at the world from afar, at the margins of our lives, our afflictions and our hopes. He comes among us with the wisdom of his Word made flesh, making us part of an amazing plan of love for all humanity.

That is why John the Baptist, filled with astonishment, asked Jesus: «And do you come to me» (v. 14). Yes, in his holiness, the Lord is baptized like all sinners, to reveal the infinite mercy of God. The only-begotten Son, in whom we are brothers and sisters, comes indeed to serve and not to dominate, to save and not to condemn. He is the redeeming Christ; he takes upon himself what is ours, including sin, and gives us what is his, that is, the grace of a new and eternal life.» (St. Peter's Square. Sunday, January 11, 2026, Angelus).

Jesus was baptized in the waters of the Jordan at the beginning of his public ministry (cf. Mt. 3:13-17), not out of necessity, but out of redemptive solidarity. On that occasion, water is definitively indicated as the material element of the sacramental sign. «Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God» (Jn 3:5).

Light of the paschal candle

In the Old Testament, the Light, was a symbol of faith, With the advent of Jesus, this symbolism has been enriched with new fundamental meanings in the life of the Christian. The light in baptism is a symbol that represents the guide on the path of encounter with Christ which in turn is light in our lives and in the world. It also symbolizes the resurrection of Christ.

Pope Francis said in a general audience: «This light is a treasure that we must preserve and transmit to others. The Christian is called to be a "Christophore," a bearer of Jesus to the world. Through concrete signs, we manifest the presence and love of Jesus to others, especially to those who are going through difficult situations. If we are faithful to our Baptism, we will spread the light of God's hope and transmit reasons for life to future generations».

Chrism, holy oil or oil of the catechumens

Holy oil is a perfumed and consecrated oil used in the sacrament of Baptism. The anointing with chrism oil symbolizes the full diffusion of grace.. The priest uses the oil to trace a cross on the chest and another between the shoulder blades of the baptized person. He can also use it to anoint the head, stamping it with a seal that consecrates it to its new role.

All this symbolizes strength in the fight against temptations, a kind of shield against sin. The purpose of this symbol of baptism is to consecrate the entrance of the Christian into the great family of the church by symbolizing the gift of the Holy Spirit.

It is also used in the sacrament of confirmation, priestly ordination and anointing of the faithful. patients. The Holy Oil is blessed once a year by the bishop during the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday.

"Moreover, the heavens are opened, the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and the voice of God the Father confirms the divine filiation of Christ: events that reveal in the Head of the future Church what will later be sacramentally realized in her members." (Jn 3:5)

The white garment

The white garment symbolizes that the baptized person has "put on Christ" (Galatians 3:27): he has risen with Christ.

The purity of the soul without stain, symbolized by the white garment, after the sacrament of Baptism, the profound change and inner renewal that the sacrament has brought to those who have received it. White is a symbol of a new life, the new dignity that covers the baptized. In ancient times, those who were to be baptized wore a new white robe before joining the other faithful in the Church.

«In baptism, our Father God has taken possession of our lives, has incorporated us into Christ's and has sent us the Holy Spirit. The Lord, Holy Scripture tells us, has saved us by making us reborn through baptism, renewing us by the Holy Spirit, whom He has poured out upon us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, justified by grace, we may become heirs of eternal life according to the hope that we have.». Item 128. It is Christ who passes, in the chapter The Great Unknown, Saint Josemaría Escrivá.

The four gifts of the sacrament of Baptism:

Message of Leo XIV for Lent 2026

Dear brothers and sisters:

The Lent is the time in which the Church, With maternal solicitude, she invites us to place the mystery of God at the center of our lives, so that our faith may regain its impetus and our hearts may not be lost in the worries and distractions of everyday life.

All the way to conversion begins when we allow ourselves to be reached by the Word and welcome it with docility of spirit. There is, therefore, a link between the gift of the Word of God, the space of hospitality that we offer it and the transformation that it brings about. For this reason, the Lenten journey becomes a propitious occasion to listen to the voice of the Lord and to renew our decision to follow Christ, walking with him on the road that leads up to Jerusalem, where the mystery of his coming is fulfilled. Passion, Death and Resurrection.

Listen: Leo XIV's request to live Lent 2026

This year, I would like to draw attention, first of all, to the importance of giving space to the Word through the listen, since the willingness to listen is the first sign with which the desire to enter into a relationship with the other is manifested.

God himself, in revealing himself to Moses from the burning bush, shows that listening is a distinctive feature of his being: «I have seen the oppression of my people, who are in Egypt, and I have heard the cries of their pain» (Ex 3,7). Listening to the cry of the oppressed is the beginning of a story of liberation, in which the Lord also involves Moses, sending him to open a way of salvation for his children reduced to slavery.

He is a God who attracts us, who today also moves us with the thoughts that make his heart vibrate. For this reason, listening to the Word in the liturgy educates us to listen more truly to reality.

Among the many voices that cross our personal and social lives, those that are Sacred Scriptures make us capable of recognizing the voice that cries out from suffering and injustice, so that it does not go unanswered. To enter into this inner disposition of receptivity means to allow ourselves to be instructed by God today to listen to the voice of the Lord. like He even recognized that «the condition of the poor represents a cry that, in the history of humanity, constantly challenges our lives, our societies, political and economic systems, and especially the Church». [1]

Fasting: an ancient and irreplaceable ascetic exercise

If Lent is a time of listening, the fasting constitutes a concrete practice that disposes one to accept the Word of God. Abstinence from food, in fact, is a very ancient and irreplaceable ascetical exercise on the path of conversion. Precisely because it involves the body, it makes more evident what we are “hungry for” and what we consider essential for our sustenance. It serves, therefore, to discern and order the “appetites”, to keep awake the hunger and thirst for justice, to subtract it from resignation, to educate it so that it becomes prayer and responsibility towards our neighbor.

St. Augustine, with spiritual subtlety, lets us glimpse the tension between the present time and the future realization that runs through this care of the heart, When he observes: «It is proper for mortal men to hunger and thirst after righteousness, just as it is proper for the afterlife to be filled with righteousness. Of this bread, of this food, the angels are full; but men, while they hunger, are enlarged; while they are enlarged, they are enlarged; while they are enlarged, they are made capable; and, made capable, in due time they will be filled». [2] 

Fasting, understood in this sense, allows us not only to discipline desire, to purify it and make it freer, but also to expand it, so that it is directed towards God and oriented towards the good.

Fasting with faith and humility

However, if fasting is to preserve its evangelical truth and avoid the temptation to make the heart proud, it must always be lived in faith and humility. It requires remaining rooted in communion with the Lord, because «he does not truly fast who does not know how to nourish himself on the Word of God». [3] As a visible sign of our interior commitment to distance ourselves, with the help of grace, from sin and evil, fasting must also include other forms of deprivation designed to make us acquire a more sober lifestyle, since «only austerity makes the Christian life strong and authentic». [4]

For this reason, I would like to invite you to a very concrete and often unappreciated form of abstinence, that is, to refrain from using words that affect and hurt our neighbor. Let us begin to disarm language, renouncing hurtful words, immediate judgment, speaking ill of those who are absent and unable to defend themselves, slander. Let us strive instead to learn to measure words and cultivate kindness: in the family, among friends, in the workplace, on social networks, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities. Then, many words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.  

Carta de León XIV con motivo de la Asamblea Presbiteral de la Arquidiocesis de Madrid
Together

Finally, Lent emphasizes the communitarian dimension of listening to the Word and the practice of fasting. Scripture also underlines this aspect in many ways. For example, when it recounts in the book of Nehemiah that the people gathered to listen to the public reading of the book of the Law and, practicing fasting, prepared themselves for confession of faith and worship, in order to renew the covenant with God (cf. Ne 9,1-3).

In the same way, our parishes, families, ecclesial groups and religious communities are called to make a shared journey during Lent, in which listening to the Word of God, as well as to the cry of the poor and of the earth, becomes a way of life in common, and fasting sustains real repentance. In this horizon, conversion concerns not only the conscience of the individual, but also the style of relationships, the quality of dialogue, the capacity to allow oneself to be challenged by reality and to recognize what really guides desire, both in our ecclesial communities and in humanity thirsting for justice and reconciliation.

Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask for the grace to live a Lent that will make our ears more attentive to God and to those most in need. Let us ask for the strength of a fast that also reaches the tongue, so that the words that hurt may diminish and the space for the voice of others may grow. And let us commit ourselves so that our communities become places where the cry of those who suffer finds a welcome and listening generates paths of liberation, making us more willing and diligent to contribute to build the civilization of the love.

I heartily bless all of you and your Lenten journey.

Vatican City, February 5, 2026, memorial of St. Agatha, virgin and martyr.

Leo XIV

7 Sundays: St. Joseph, a father's heart

The seven Sundays of St. Joseph are a traditional devotion of the Church that invites you to prepare spiritually for its solemnity, the March 19, meditating each week on the seven joys and the seven sorrows of the saint.

The practice, which usually begins in the seventh Sunday before March 19, encourages the faithful to to receive Communion in honor of St. Joseph every Sunday and to pray the traditional prayers linked to their seven sorrows and joys. 

This devotional exercise reflects episodes from the life of St. Joseph such as the doubt before the mystery of the Annunciationthe poverty at the birth of Jesus and the flight to Egypt, along with joys such as the angel's message and the life together with Jesus and Mary in Nazareth. 

In this context of reflection and preparation, the Pope Leo XIV has given pastoral emphasis to the figure of St. Joseph in his recent public interventions. During the audiences of December 2025, the pontiff underlined the importance of trusting in God's mercy and placing personal and community life in His hands, encouraging the faithful to see in St. Joseph an example of simple fidelity to the divine will. 

«Piety and charity, mercy and abandonment; these are the virtues of the man of Nazareth that the liturgy proposes to us today, so that they may accompany us in these last days of Advent, towards Holy Christmas.» The seven sunday devotion thus offers a concrete way to to approach St. Joseph as a model of faith and dedication in the ordinary life., The Pope invited us to meditate each Sunday on one of the sorrows and joys that marked his life in the service of the Holy Family and the whole Church.

Siete domingos de san José

Seven Sundays of St. Joseph: a journey through his sorrows and joys

The seven Sundays of St. Joseph invite us to retrace, week by week, the moments of light and shadow in the life of the Holy Patriarch. By contemplating his joys and difficulties, this custom of the Church helps us to grow in intimacy with him and prepares us to celebrate his solemnity on March 19.

First Sunday of St. Joseph 

First pain: When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they lived together, she was found to have conceived in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit (Mt 1:18). 

First joy: the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus (Mt 1:20-21).

Second Sunday of St. Joseph

Second pain: He came to his own, and his own received him not (Jn 1:11). 

Second joy: They went in haste and found Mary, Joseph and the child reclining in the manger (Lk 2:16).

Third Sunday of St. Joseph

Third pain: When the eight days were fulfilled for circumcising him, they called his name Jesus, as the angel had called him before he was conceived in the womb (Lk 2:21).

Third joy: she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (Mt 1:21).

Fourth Sunday of St. Joseph

Fourth pain: Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary his mother, "Look, this man has been set up as a sign of contradiction so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed" (Lk 2:34-35). 

Fourth joy: For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all peoples, a light to enlighten the nations (Lk 2:30-31).

Fifth Sunday of St. Joseph

Fifth pain: the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said to him: Arise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to seek the child to kill him (Mt 2:13). 

Fifth joy: and was there until the death of Herod, so that what the Lord says through the prophet would be fulfilled: "Out of Egypt I called my son" (Mt 2:15).

Sixth Sunday of St. Joseph

Sixth pain: He arose, took the child and his mother and returned to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there (Mt 2:21-22). 

Sixth joy: and went to live in a city called Nazareth, so that what the prophets had said would be fulfilled: he will be called a Nazarene (Mt 2:23).

Seventh Sunday of St. Joseph

Seventh pain: They sought him among their relatives and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem in search of him (Lk 2:44-45). 

Seventh joy: At the end of three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, listening to them and asking them questions (Lk 2:46).

The Church, following an ancient custom, prepares the feast of St. Joseph on March 19, dedicating to the Holy Patriarch the seven Sundays preceding that feast in memory of the principal joys and sorrows of St. Joseph's life. 

Specifically, it was Pope Gregory XVI who promoted the devotion of the seven Sundays But Blessed Pius IX gave them perennial topicality with his desire to have recourse to St. Joseph, to alleviate the then afflictive situation of the universal Church.

St. Josemaría advises living the seven Sundays of St. Joseph

In a get-together, St. Josemaría proposed a concrete devotion to grow in love for our Lady: to turn to St. Joseph as a sure, close and trusting path in the Christian life.

Father in tenderness, obedience and welcoming

Jesus saw the tenderness of God in Joseph), which is to be expected of all good fathers (cf. Ps 110:13). Joseph taught Jesus, while protecting him in his infant weakness, to 'see' God and to turn to Him in prayer. Also for us «it is important to encounter God's Mercy, especially in the sacrament of Reconciliation, having an experience of truth and tenderness.

There God welcomes us and embraces us, sustains us and forgives us. Joseph also teaches us that, in the midst of life's storms, we must not be afraid to yield the helm of our boat to God..

In a manner similar to that of the Virgin Mary, Joseph also pronounced his "fiat" (go to) to God's plan. He was obedient to what God asked him to do., even though this manifested itself in dreams. And furthermore, what seems amazing, he 'taught' obedience to Jesus. In the hidden life of Nazareth, under the guidance of Joseph, Jesus learned to do the will of the Father. And this, going through the passion and the cross (cf. Jn 4:34; Phil 2:8; Heb 5:8).

As St. John Paul II wrote in his exhortation Redemptoris custos (1989), on St. Joseph: «Joseph was called by God to serve directly the person and mission of Jesus through the exercise of his fatherhood.Thus he cooperates in the fullness of time in the great mystery of redemption and is truly '...'.minister of salvation’».

All this happened through Joseph's acceptance of Mary and of God's plan for her. Joseph assumed this plan, his paternity, mysterious for him, with personal responsibility, without looking for easy solutions. And these events shaped his inner life.

Lent 2026: meaning, definition and prayers

"Every year, during the forty days of Great Lent, the Church unites herself to the Mystery of Jesus in the desert." Catechism of the Catholic Church, 540.

What is Lent?

The meaning of Lent comes from Latin quadragesima, liturgical period of forty days reserved for the preparation for the Easter. Forty days in allusion to the 40 years that the people of Israel spent in the desert with Moses and the 40 days that Jesus spent in the desert before beginning his public life.

This is a preparation and conversion time to participate in the culminating moment of our liturgy, together with the entire Catholic Church.

In the Catechism, the Church proposes to follow the example of Christ in his desert retreat, in preparation for the Easter solemnities.. It is a particularly appropriate time for spiritual exercisesthe liturgies penitential, penitential pilgrimages as a sign of penitence, voluntary deprivations such as the fasting and the almsand the Christian communication of goods by means of charitable and missionary works.

This effort of conversion is the movement of the contrite heart, attracted and moved by the grace to to respond to the merciful love of God who has loved us first.

We cannot consider this Lent as just another season, a cyclical repetition of the liturgical season. This moment is unique; it is a divine help to be welcomed. Jesus passes by our side and expects from us - today, now - a great change. It is Christ who passes by, 59, St. Josemaría.

When does Lent begin?

The imposition of ashes on the foreheads of the faithful on Ash Wednesday, is the beginning of this road. It constitutes a invitation to conversion and penance. It is an invitation to go through the Lenten season as a more conscious and intense immersion in the paschal mystery of Jesus, in his death and resurrection, through participation in the Eucharist and in the life of charity.

The time of Lent ends on Holy Thursdaybefore the Mass in coena Domini (the Lord's Supper), which begins the Easter Triduum, Good Friday and Glory Saturday.

During these days we look inside ourselves and we assimilate the mystery of the Lord being tempted in the desert by Satan and his going up to Jerusalem for his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension to the Heavens.

We remember that we must convert and believe in the Gospel and that we are dust, sinful men, creatures and not God.

«What better way to begin Lent? We renew faith, hope, charity. This is the source of the spirit of penance, of the desire for purification. Lent is not only an occasion to intensify our external practices of mortification: if we were to think that it is only that, we would miss its deep meaning in the Christian life, because those external acts are - I repeat- fruit of faith, hope and love». It is Christ who passes by, 57, St. Josemaría.

cuaresma miercoles de ceniza iglesia semana santa

How to live Lent?

Lent can be experienced through the sacrament of Confession, prayer and positive attitudes.

Catholics we prepare for the key events of the Easter through the pillars of the prayer, fasting and almsgiving. These guide us in our daily reflection on our own life while we strive to deepen our relationship with God and with our neighborno matter what part of the world the neighbor lives in. Lent is a time of personal and spiritual growth, a time to look outward and inward. It is a time of mercy.

Repentance and Confession

As a time of penitence, Lent is a season of is a good time for confession. It is not obligatory, nor is there any mandate from the Church to do so, but it fits very well with the words of the Gospel that repeats the priest on Ash Wednesday.

"Remember that dust you are and to dust you shall return». «Convert and believe in the Gospel». In these holy words there is a common element: the conversion. And this is only possible with repentance and a change of life.. Therefore, confession during Lent is a practical way of ask God's forgiveness for our sins and start over again.. The ideal way to begin this exercise of introspection is through an examination of conscience.

Penance

Penance, the Latin translation of the Greek word "metanoia" which in the Bible means the conversion of the sinner. Designates an entire all the interior and exterior acts aimed at the reparation of the committed sinand the resulting state of affairs for the sinner. Literally change of life, it is said of the act of the sinner who returns to God after having been far from Him, or of the unbeliever who attains faith.

Conversion

Converting is reconciliation with GodWe are to turn away from evil in order to establish friendship with the Creator. Once in grace, after confession and what it implies, we must set out to change from within everything that does not please God.

To concretize the desire for conversion, it is possible to do the following conversion workssuch as, for example: Attending the sacramentsto overcome divisions, to forgive and to grow in a fraternal spirit; practicing the Works of Mercy.

Fasting and abstinence

The Church invites its faithful to observance of the precept of fasting and abstinence of flesh, compendium of the Catechism, 432.

The fasting consists of eating only one meal a day, although it is possible to eat a little less than usual in the morning and evening. Except in case of illness. It invites to live the fast, to all the adults, until they are fifty-nine years old. Both on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.

It is called abstinence to abstain from eating meat on Fridays of Lent. The abstinence can begin from the age of fourteen.

Care should be taken not to live fasting or abstinence as a minimum, but as a concrete way in which our Holy Mother Church helps us to grow in the true spirit of penance and joy.

Holy Father's Message for Lent

Pope Francis proposed that «in this time of conversion let us renew our faith, let us quench our thirst with the “living water” of hope and let us receive God's love with an open heart which makes us brothers and sisters in Christ» (Rome, St. John Lateran, November 11, 2020, memorial of St. Martin of Tours).

In this journey of preparation for the night of Easter, in which, Francis reminds us, we will renew the promises of our Baptism, "to be reborn as new men and women":

  1. Faith calls us to embrace the Truth and to be witnesses, before God and before our brothers and sisters.
  2. Esperanza as "living water" that allows us to continue on our journey
  3. CharityThe life lived in the footsteps of Christ, showing care and compassion for each person, is the highest expression of our faith and our hope.

The Pope also emphasizes the great difficulties we are going through as humanity, especially in this time of pandemic, "in which everything seems fragile and uncertain" and where "to speak of hope could seem like a provocation". But Where to find that hope? Precisely «in the recollection and silence of prayer".

Prayers for Lent

Prayer with an open heart is the best preparation for Easter. We can read and reflect on the Gospel, we can pray by doing the Stations of the Cross. We can turn to the Catechism of the Catholic Church and follow the liturgical celebrations with the Roman Missal. The important thing is that we encounter the unconditional love that is Christ.

«Lord Jesus, by your Cross and Resurrection you have set us free. During this Lent,
lead us by your Holy Spirit to live more faithfully in Christian freedom. Through prayer,
increase in charity and the disciplines of this sacred Season, bring us closer to You.
Purify the intentions of my heart so that all my Lenten practices may be for the good of my soul.
your praise and glory. Grant that by our words and actions,
we can be faithful messengers of the Gospel message to a world in need of the
hope of your mercy. Amen.