Spirit challenges individualist trap, even on social media: Pope

By CathNews New Zealand

June 10th, 2025

Pope Leo XIV smiles at the conclusion of Pentecost Mass in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on June 8, 2025, marking the end of the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations and New Communities. (CNS photo/Lola Gomez)

The Holy Spirit challenges people when they might be trapped in a vortex of individualism, even on social media, said Pope Leo XIV. Source: CNS.

In his homily for Pentecost Mass in St Peter’s Square on June 8, Pope Leo reflected on the Holy Spirit opening borders, building on an image of Pentecost described by Pope Benedict XVI in 2005.

“The Spirit opens borders, first of all, in our hearts,” then in one’s relationships with others and, finally, between peoples, Pope Leo said.

“He is the gift that opens our lives to love” by breaking down “our hardness of heart, our narrowness of mind, our selfishness, the fears that enchain us and the narcissism that makes us think only of ourselves,” the Pope continued.

“The Holy Spirit comes to challenge us, to make us confront the possibility that our lives are shrivelling up, trapped in the vortex of individualism. Sadly, oddly enough, in a world of burgeoning ‘social’ media, we risk being ever more alone. Constantly connected, yet incapable of ‘networking’.”

The Spirit “puts us in touch with our inmost self, beneath all the masks we wear. He leads us to an encounter with the Lord by teaching us to experience the joy that is his gift”, and to have one’s life become a place “of welcome and refreshment”.

The Holy Spirit also “broadens the borders of our relationships and opens us to the joy of fraternity”, which is “also a critical yardstick for the Church”, he said.

To truly be a Church of the Lord, the Pope said, there must be “no borders or divisions among us”. The faithful must be able to “dialogue and accept one another in the Church and to reconcile our diversities”, becoming “a welcoming and hospitable place for all”.

The Holy Spirit “also opens borders between peoples”, the Pope said, by uniting people’s hearts and making “us view others as our brothers and sisters”. The Spirit teaches and encourages “the commandment of love that the Lord has made the centre and summit of everything”, he said.

“Where there is love, there is no room for prejudice, for ‘security’ zones separating us from our neighbours, for the exclusionary mindset that, tragically, we now see emerging also in political nationalisms.”

The Pope also spoke out against “an unhealthy desire for domination” and violence in relationships, as well as the “numerous recent cases of femicide” in Italy.

FULL STORY

God’s love breaks down borders, says Pope at Pentecost (By Carol Glatz/CNS)

Full text: Pope Leo XIV homily for Pentecost – OSV News (CNS)