Pope Leo XIV on Pentecost: Overcoming strife in the Church

Vatikanstadt - Millions of Catholics belong to spiritual movements. Many of these groups are relatively new. They remain important for the Church - despite or precisely because of their radical nature. The Pope reminded them of their mission - and quoted his predecessors.

Published on 08.06.2025 at 16:33 –

Pope Leo XIV reminded the spiritual movements of the core of the Church's mission and called on them to overcome disputes within the Church. In his first Pentecost sermon in St Peter's Square, the Pope, who was elected a month ago, quoted his predecessor Benedict XVI with the words: "The Church (...) must open the borders between peoples and break down the barriers between classes and races. There must be no one in it who is forgotten or despised. In the Church there are only free brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ."

The Pope went on to say to around 70,000 followers of spiritual movements: "God overcomes our selfishness, our fears that block us, our narcissism that makes us only revolve around ourselves." With regard to the negative consequences of internet communication, he continued: "It is sad to observe how, in a world in which there are more and more opportunities for social encounters, we paradoxically run the risk of becoming lonelier - always connected and yet unable to build networks, always surrounded by many people and yet disorientated and lonely."

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Quoting his predecessor Francis, the Pope emphasised: "There is much discord, much division in the world today." A tragic sign of this are "the wars that are shaking our planet." Leo XIV called on the spiritual movements to commit themselves to "building a world in which peace reigns". He emphasised: "Where there is love, there is no place for prejudice, for safety distances that distance us from our fellow human beings, for the logic of exclusion that we unfortunately also see emerging in political nationalisms."

Leo emphatically opposed divisions in the Church and said: "The Spirit opens us to the joy of fraternity. And this is also a decisive criterion for the Church: we are only truly the Church of the Risen Lord and disciples of Pentecost if there are no borders and divisions among us, if we enter into dialogue with one another in the Church, accept one another and integrate our differences, if we as a Church become a place of welcome and hospitality for all."

Before the solemn Pentecost service, the Pope had taken a dip in the crowd in the open Popemobile. He blessed numerous small children on his tour of St Peter's Square and Via della Conciliazione, which lasted more than 20 minutes. (KNA)