MESSAGE FROM POPE FRANCIS

FOR LENT 2025

Let us walk together in hope

Dear brothers and sisters,

With the penitential sign of ashes on our heads, we begin the annual pilgrimage of Holy Lent in faith and hope. The Church, mother and teacher, invites us to prepare our hearts and open ourselves to God's grace so that we may joyfully celebrate the Paschal triumph of Christ the Lord over sin and death. Saint Paul proclaims: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55). Indeed, Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the center of our faith and the guarantor of the Father's great promise of eternal life, already realized in his beloved Son (cf. Jn 10:28; 17:3). [1]

I would like to offer, on the occasion of this Lent, enriched by the grace of the Jubilee Year, some reflections on what it means to walk together in hope, and to discover the calls to conversion that God's mercy addresses to all, as individuals as well as as communities.

First, let us walk. The Jubilee motto, “Pilgrims of Hope,” reminds us of the long journey of the people of Israel to the Promised Land, recounted in the Book of Exodus: a difficult march from slavery to freedom, willed and guided by the Lord who loves his people and is always faithful to them. And we cannot speak of the biblical exodus without thinking of so many brothers and sisters who, today, are fleeing situations of misery and violence, setting out in search of a better life for themselves and their loved ones. A first call to conversion appears here because, in life, we are all pilgrims. Each of us can ask ourselves: how do I allow myself to be challenged by this condition? Am I truly on the path, or am I paralyzed, static, fearful, and lacking hope, or perhaps still settled in my comfort zone? Am I seeking paths of liberation from situations of sin and lack of dignity? It would be a good Lenten exercise to confront the concrete reality of a migrant or pilgrim, and to allow ourselves to be moved so as to discover what God asks of us to be better travelers on our journey to the Father's house. It would be a good "test" for the pilgrim.

Secondly, let us walk this path together. Walking together, being synodal, is the vocation of the Church. [2] Christians are called to journey together, never as solitary travelers. The Holy Spirit urges us to go out of ourselves to God and to our brothers and sisters, and never to close ourselves off. [3] Walking together means being weavers of unity from our shared dignity as children of God (cf. Gal 3:26-28); it means moving forward side by side, without trampling or dominating one another, without harboring envy or hypocrisy, without leaving anyone behind or feeling excluded. Let us go in the same direction, toward the same goal, listening to one another with love and patience.

In this Lent, God asks us to examine whether, in our lives, in our families, in our workplaces, and in our parish or religious communities, we are capable of walking with others, listening, and overcoming the temptation to become entrenched in our self-referentiality and to be concerned only with our own needs. Let us ask ourselves before the Lord whether we are capable of working together—bishops, priests, consecrated persons, and laity—in service to the Kingdom of God; whether we have an attitude of welcome, with concrete actions toward those who approach us and those who are far away; whether we ensure that people feel they are an integral part of the community or whether we keep them on the margins. [4] This is a second call: conversion to synodality.

Third, let us walk this path together in the hope of a promise. May the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), the central message of the Jubilee [5] , be for us the horizon of our Lenten journey toward the victory of Easter. As Pope Benedict XVI taught us in the encyclical Spe salvi : “Human beings need unconditional love. They need the certainty that enables them to say: ‘Neither death nor life, neither spirits nor powers, neither the present nor the future, nor any stars, heavens, nor depths, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus’ (Rom 8:38-39).” [6] Jesus, our love and our hope, is risen, [7] he lives and reigns gloriously. Death has been transformed into victory, and that is where the faith and great hope of Christians resides: the resurrection of Christ!

And here is the third call to conversion: the call of hope, of trust in God and in his great promise, eternal life. We must ask ourselves: Do I believe that God forgives my sins? Or do I act as if I could save myself? Do I long for salvation and call upon God's help to obtain it? Do I live out the hope that helps me understand the events of history and that motivates me to work for justice, fraternity, and the care of our common home, ensuring that no one is left behind?

Brothers and sisters, thanks to God's love in Jesus Christ, we are kept in the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope is “the anchor of the soul,” sure and unfailing. [8] It is in hope that the Church prays that “all people may be saved” (1 Tim 2:4) and that she awaits being in the glory of heaven, united to Christ, her spouse. This is how Saint Teresa of Jesus expresses it: “Hope, O my soul, hope. You do not know the day or the hour. Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, although your impatience makes what is certain seem doubtful, and what is very short seem long” (Exclamations of the Soul to Her God, 15, 3). [9]

May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, intercede for us and accompany us on the path of Lent.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, February 6, 2025, memorial of Saint Paul Miki and his companions, martyrs.

FRANÇOIS