MESSAGE OF THE HOLY FATHER

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 Easter triumph of Christ the Lord over sin and death, as Saint Paul exclaimed: “Death is swallowed up in victory. Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:54-55).

Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, is the center of our faith and the pledge of our hope in the great promise of the Father, already fulfilled in him, his beloved Son: eternal life (Jn 18:28; 17:3).

In this Lent, enriched also by the grace of the Jubilee Year, I would like to offer you some reflections on what it means to walk together in hope, and to discover the calls to conversion that God’s mercy addresses to each of us as individuals and as communities.

First, to walk. The motto of the Jubilee, “pilgrims of hope,” reminds us of the long journey of the people of Israel toward the Promised Land, as told in the Book of Exodus. It is a difficult path from slavery to freedom, willed and guided by the Lord, who loves his people and is always faithful to them.

And we cannot recall the biblical exodus without thinking of the many brothers and sisters who today flee poverty and violence and seek a better life for themselves and their loved ones.

Here comes the first call to conversion, for we are all pilgrims in life; each one can ask himself: How do I let myself be challenged by this situation? Am I truly on a journey, or am I rather paralyzed, static, fearful, lacking hope, or even resting in my comfort zone? Do I seek paths of liberation from sinful situations and conditions of indignity?

A good Lenten exercise would be to face the concrete reality of a migrant or a pilgrim and allow ourselves to be drawn in, so that we can discover what God is asking of us to become better travelers toward the Father's house. This is a good “test” for the traveler.

Second, we make this journey together. Walking together, being synodal, is the vocation of the Church. Christians are called to walk the path together, never as solitary travelers. The Holy Spirit urges us to go out of ourselves, to go toward God and our brothers, and never to close in on ourselves.

To walk together means to be weavers of unity, beginning with the common dignity of the children of God (cf. Gal 3:26-28); it means moving forward side by side, without trampling on others or overpowering them, without harboring envy or hypocrisy, without letting someone fall behind or feel excluded. We go in the same direction, toward the same goal, and we listen to each other with love and patience.

In this Lenten season, God asks us to examine whether in our lives, in our families, in the places where we work, in our parish and religious communities, we are able to walk with others, to listen, to overcome the temptation to close ourselves off in self-sufficiency and to look only after our own needs.

Let us ask ourselves before the Lord if we are capable of working together as bishops, priests, religious, and laypeople in the service of God's Kingdom; if we are welcoming with concrete actions toward those who draw near to us and those who are far away; whether we make people feel they are part of the community or keep them on the margins.

This is the second call: conversion to synodality.

Third, we make this journey together in hope of the promise. The hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), which is the central message of the Jubilee, should be our horizon on the Lenten journey toward Easter victory.

As Pope Benedict XVI taught in the encyclical *Saved in Hope*, “man needs unconditional love. He needs the certainty that allows him to say: 'Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord'” (Rom 8:38-39).

Jesus, “our love and our hope,” is risen! He lives and reigns in glory. Death has been turned into victory, and in this lies the faith and great hope of Christians: in the resurrection of Christ!

This is the third call to conversion: the call to hope, to trust in God and in his great promise of eternal life. We must ask ourselves: am I convinced within myself that God forgives my sins? Or do I behave as if I can save myself? Do I long for salvation and ask for God's help to receive it? Do I live hope concretely, the kind that helps me read the events of history and drives me to commit to justice, to fraternity, to care for our common home, so that no one is left behind?

Brothers and sisters, through the love of God in Jesus Christ, we are kept safe in a hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5). Hope is a secure and firm “anchor of the soul.” In it, the Church prays that “all people may be saved” (1 Tim 2:4) and awaits to be united with Christ, her Bridegroom, in heavenly glory.

Saint Teresa of Jesus expressed it this way:

“Hope, O my soul, hope! You know neither the day nor the hour. Watch carefully; everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes what is certain seem doubtful and time, which is so short, seem long.” (*Exclamations of the Soul to God*, 15,3)

Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, pray for us and accompany us on the Lenten journey.

Rome, Saint John Lateran, on the feast of Saint Paul Miki and his Companions, martyrs.