The Risen Christ transforms lives, Pope Leo tells huge crowd

The Pope celebrated an outdoor Mass in Rome’s Tor Vergata neighbourhood on the outskirts of the city on August 3.

“Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you,” he said in his homily.

More than 1 million people were estimated to be gathered across the 130 acres that had been prepared for the morning Mass, the prayer vigil the evening before, and for the hundreds of thousands of people sleeping overnight. The Pope arrived at the celebration by helicopter.

In his homily, Pope Leo highlighted the importance of the Eucharist as “the sacrament of the Lord’s total gift of himself to us”.

It is Christ, the Risen One, he said, “who transforms our lives and enlightens our affections, desires and thoughts”.

“We are not made for a life where everything is taken for granted and static, but for an existence that is constantly renewed through the gift of self in love.”

The Pope acknowledged that many young people aspire to something “more” that no created reality can give, while warning them not to deceive their hearts with “cheap imitations”.

Evoking St John Paul II’s words during the World Youth Day prayer vigil held in the same spot 25 years ago, Pope Leo reminded the young people that “Jesus is our hope”.

“Let us remain united to him, let us remain in his friendship, always, cultivating it through prayer, adoration, Eucharistic communion, frequent confession and generous charity, following the examples of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati and Blessed Carlo Acutis, who will soon be declared saints,” he said.

Speaking briefly in English, the Pope said: “There is a burning question in our hearts, a need for truth that we cannot ignore, which leads us to ask ourselves: what is true happiness? What is the true meaning of life? What can free us from being trapped in meaninglessness, boredom and mediocrity?

“Buying, hoarding and consuming are not enough,” he said. The fullness of existence “has to do with what we joyfully welcome and share”.

“We need to lift our eyes, to look upwards, to the ‘things that are above’, to realise that everything in the world has meaning only insofar as it serves to unite us to God and to our brothers and sisters in charity, helping us to grow in ‘compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience’, forgiveness and peace, all in imitation of Christ,” he said.

During the evening prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Youth on August 2, Pope Leo XIV urged young people to forge genuine relationships anchored in Christ rather than ephemeral online connections that can reduce individuals to a commodity.

FULL STORY

Don’t settle for less; God is waiting to transform your life, pope tells youth (By Carol Glatz/CNS)

Pope Leo encourages youth to find hope and friendship in Christ in uncertain times (CNS)

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