Easter Wednesday Papal General Audience 04.08.2026

 

Pope

• Pope Leo XIV
• general audience
• Second Vatican Council

Pope at Audience: 'Holiness is not a privilege for the few'

Pope Leo XIV continues his catechesis series on the Dogmatic Constitution 'Lumen gentium,' and reminds us that holiness 'is not a privilege for the few,' but for all the baptized, and 'is manifested in our daily life every time we receive it with joy and respond to Him.'

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

"Holiness is not a privilege for the few, but a gift that commits every baptized person to strive for the perfection of charity, that is, the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbour."

Pope Leo XIV expressed this during his weekly General Audience in the Vatican on Wednesday morning, continuing his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, and citing the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium on the Church.

READ POPE LEO'S FULL CATECHESIS HERE

The Pope this week continued reflecting on the Constitution and recalled how Lumen gentium dedicates an entire chapter, the fifth, to the universal vocation to holiness of all the faithful, insisting that every one of us is called to live in the grace of God, practising the virtues and imitating Christ.

He began by pointing out that the highest level of holiness, as in the early days of the Church, is martyrdom, the “supreme witness of faith and charity,” and for this reason, the Council text teaches that every believer must be ready to confess Christ even unto blood, "as has always been the case and continues to be so today."

This readiness to bear witness, the Pope said, is realized every time Christians leave signs of faith and love in society.

Pope Leo at General Audience (@Vatican Media)

Fostering a holy life

Pope Leo reminded those gathered that all the sacraments, and in a preeminent way the Eucharist, "are nourishment that fosters a holy life, assimilating every person to Christ, the model and measure of holiness."

The Pope said that Jesus sanctifies the Church, adding that, "holiness is, from this point of view, His gift, which is manifested in our daily life every time we receive it with joy and respond to Him with commitment."

The Holy Father recalled that Saint Paul VI, in his 20 Oct. 1965 General Audience, taught that the Church, to be authentic, requires that all the baptized must “be holy, that is, truly worthy, strong and faithful children of hers.”

This, Pope Leo reminded, is realized as an inner transformation, whereby the life of every person is conformed to Christ by virtue of the Holy Spirit.

Called to a serious change of life

He recalled that Lumen gentium describes the holiness of the Catholic Church as one of her constitutive characteristics.

This, he clarified, does not mean that she is so in a full and perfect sense, but that she is called to confirm this divine gift during her pilgrimage towards the eternal destination, walking “amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God.”

The sad reality of sin in the Church, that is, in all of us, Pope Leo said, invites each person to carry out a serious change of life, entrusting ourselves to the Lord, who renews us in charity. "It is precisely this infinite grace, which sanctifies the Church, which delivers a mission to us to carry out day after day: that of our conversion."

Pope Leo XIV delivers catechesis at General Audience (@Vatican Media)

"Therefore, holiness," he added, "does not only have a practical nature, as if it were reducible to an ethical commitment, however great, but concerns the very essence of Christian life, both personal and communal."

Not shackles, but liberating gifts

In this regard, the Pope remembered in a special way those men and women who consecrate their lives to God through the evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity and obedience, which express their complete trust in God’s providence, modelled on Christ’s gift of himself to the Father with a pure heart.  

"These three virtues," he insisted, "are not rules that shackle freedom, but liberating gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which some of the faithful are wholly consecrated to God."

Poverty, he said, expresses complete trust in Providence, freeing one from calculation and self-interest; obedience takes as its model the self-giving that Christ offered to the Father, freeing one from suspicion and domination; chastity is the gift of a heart that is whole and pure in love, at the service of God and the Church.

"By conforming to this style of life," the Holy Father marveled, "consecrated persons bear witness to the universal vocation of holiness of the entire Church, in the form of radical discipleship."

And thus, he said, "the evangelical counsels manifest full participation in the life of Christ, unto the Cross: it is precisely by the sacrifice of the Crucified One that we are all redeemed and sanctified!"

No human experience God does not redeem

By contemplating this event, Pope Leo insisted, "we know that there is no human experience that God does not redeem: even suffering, lived in union with the passion of the Lord, becomes a path of holiness."

"Thus," the Pope suggested, "the grace that converts and transforms life strengthens us in every trial, pointing us not toward a distant ideal, but towards the encounter with God, who became man out of love."

Pope Leo XIV concluded by imploring the Blessed Mother, the all-holy Mother of the Incarnate Word, to always sustain and protect our journey.

Saint of the Day for Wednesday

 

St. Julie Billiart

St. Julie (Julia) Billiart was born in 1751 and died in 1816. As a child, playing "school" was Julie's favorite game. When she was sixteen, to help support her family, she began to teach "for real". She sat on a haystack during the noon recess and told the biblical parables to the workers. Julie carried on this mission of teaching throughout her life, and the Congregation she founded continues her work.

Julie was the fifth of seven children. She attended a little one room school in Cuvilly. She enjoyed all of her studies, but she was particularly attracted to the religion lessons taught by the parish priest. Recognizing something "special" in Julie, the priest secretly allowed her to make her First Communion at the age of nine, when the normal age at that time, was thirteen. She learned to make short mental prayers and to develop a great love for Jesus in the Eucharist.

A murder attempt on her father shocked her nervous system badly. A period of extremely poor heath for Julie began, and was to last for thirty years. For twenty-two of these years she was completely paralyzed. All of her sufferings and pain she offered up to God.

When the French Revolution broke out, Julie offered her home as a hiding place for loyal priests. Because of this, Julie became a hunted prey. Five times in three years she was forced to flee in secret to avoid compromising her friends who were hiding her.

At this time she was privileged to receive a vision. She saw her crucified Lord surrounded by a large group of religious women dressed in a habit she had never seen before. An inner voice told her that these would be her daughters and that she would begin an institute for the Christian education of young girls. She and a rich young woman founded the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur.

At Amiens, the two women and a few companions began living a religious life in 1803. In 1804, Julie was miraculously cured of her illness and walked for the first time in twenty-two years. In 1805, Julie and three companions made their profession and took their final vows. She was elected as Mother General of the young Congregation.

In 1815, Mother taxed her ever poor health by nursing the wounded and feeding the starving left from the battle of Waterloo. For the last three months of her life, she again suffered much. She died peacefully on April 8, 1816 at 64 years of age. Julie was beatified on May 13, 1906, and was canonized by Pope Paul VI in 1969. Her feast day is April 8th.

Pope Leo XIV upcoming visit to Spain reveals logo and motto

 

The logo for Pope Leo's trip to Spain 

Pope

• Pope Leo XIV
• apostolic journey
• Spain

Logo and Motto released for Pope Leo's visit to Spain

The Holy See Press Office releases the logo and motto of Pope Leo's upcoming trip to Spain.

By Francesca Merlo

The Holy See Press Office has released the logo and motto for Pope Leo XIV's Apostolic Journey to Spain, which will take place from 6-12 June.

The logo

The logo is designed as an open circle in motion, formed by human figures joined together and oriented upward.  The emblem expresses community, encounter and mutual support. This does not mean only being together, but also walking together toward a common purpose. The Virgin Mary, placed at the center, represents the heart of the movement - a maternal presence that welcomes and directs every gaze toward God, as a sign of unity and hope for all people.

The motto

The chosen motto, “Lift up your eyes” (Jn 4:35), is an invitation to look beyond our daily concerns and rediscover the presence of God while opening ourselves to others.  It is a call to hope and contemplation, encouraging people to go beyond themselves and to rediscover unity, beauty and charity as concrete expressions of a shared life.  This gesture of “lifting up our eyes” also expresses the attitude with which the Church in Spain welcomes the Holy Father’s visit: with open hearts, ready to walk forward together.

A week of appealing for peace, rejection of war; a consistent faith-filled message from Pope Leo XIV

 

Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter's Square on Easter Sunday  (@Vatican Media)

Pope

The “non-violent” power of Easter in Pope Leo’s appeals for peace

Throughout Holy Week and Easter, Pope Leo XIV made numerous appeals for peace, offering the world an impassioned plea not to be overcome by indifference but to firmly believe in “God who rejects war.”

By Isabella H. de Carvalho and Edoardo Giribaldi

As violence and war plague countries across the world, and news headlines report increasing tensions and rising death tolls every day, Pope Leo XIV's incessant appeals for peace rang out during the liturgies and celebrations that marked Holy Week and the Easter Triduum, as he emphasized Christ’s Resurrection and triumph over death.

“Brothers and sisters, this is our God: Jesus, King of peace. A God who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war,” he said in his homily on Palm Sunday, which marked the beginning of the most important week of the year for Catholics.    

From highlighting how God does not listen to the prayer of those who wage war and whose “hands are full of blood" on Palm Sunday; to carrying the weight of people’s suffering by carrying the cross during the Via Crucis at the Colosseum on Good Friday; to calling those who have weapons to lay them down during the Urbi et Orbi message; Pope Leo’s words were invariably addressed to those who have the power to put an end to conflicts, and his thoughts were with those who are suffering under the effects and threat of violence. 

Those who take the sword will perish by sword

Holy Week opened with Pope Leo XIV presiding over the Palm Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square on March 29. Before him were 40,000 faithful and 120,000 olive branches, raised to symbolize that gentle peace of which Jesus, the King of peace, the Pope recalled, "offers himself to embrace humanity, even as others raise swords and clubs.

It is to them that the Pope addressed the same words spoken by Christ when one of his disciples, according to the Gospel, drew a weapon to defend him: “Put your sword back into its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.”

Jesus “did not arm himself, or defend himself, or fight any war,” the Pope said. "Rather than saving Himself, He allowed Himself to be nailed to the cross, embracing every cross borne in every time and place throughout human history.”

the faithful with olive branches on Palm Sunday in St. Peter's Square (@Vatican Media)

Good cannot come from abuse of power

During the Chrism Mass on Holy Thursday, celebrated in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo instead invoked a peace that touches every dimension of human existence, especially “in this dark hour of history” in a world “torn apart by the powers that ravage it.”

“Neither in the pastoral sphere nor in the social and political spheres can good come from abuse of power,” he said.

“The imperialist occupation of the world is thus disrupted from within; the violence that until now has been the law is unmasked,” he continued, adding that "the poor, imprisoned, rejected Messiah descends into the darkness of death, yet in so doing he brings a new creation to light.”

Christ gives us an example of self-giving, service and love

Then, during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper in the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome, Pope Leo XIV washed the feet of young priests he himself had ordained almost a year earlier.

He explained how this gesture recalls God’s purificatory power, as he washes not only the blood of conflicts but also the distorted images they produce, such as “idolatry and blasphemy.” This act also purifies “our image of humanity,” the Pope insisted.

“For we tend to consider ourselves powerful when we dominate, victorious when we destroy our equals, and great when we are feared,” he emphasized. But, he continued, "in contrast, as true God and true man, Christ offers us the example of self-giving, service, and love.”

Pope Leo washes the feet of several young priests (@Vatican Media)

Following in Christ’s footsteps

The Pope’s appeals for peace throughout Holy Week pointed to the ongoing dichotomy between evil and love. Similarly, the meditations written by Father Francesco Patton, former Custos of the Holy Land, for the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum, presided over by the Pope, echoed this same tension.

Father Patton retraced the path walked by Jesus among those who shared his faith and those “who deride or insult him,” while emphasizing that “such is the reality of our daily life.”

The Pope also recalled this same path traced by following in Jesus’ “footsteps,” while reciting the prayer Omnipotens composed by St. Francis of Assisi, together with about 30,000 faithful at the Colosseum on Good Friday night.

Pope Leo during the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum (@Vatican Media)

God does not want our death

Darkness—as a prelude to Easter morning—accompanied instead the vigil in St. Peter’s Basilica, which was filled with 6,000 people. God “does not desire our death,” Pope Leo underlined in the face of narratives of conflict that reduce victims to mere numbers.

“Man can kill the body, but the life of the God of love is eternal life, which transcends death and which no tomb can imprison,” he said.

Leo XIV urged the creation of a “new world of peace and unity,” starting from humanity’s failures, as he referred to the sea through which God freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. An element that the Pope described as a “gateway to a new life of freedom,” but also “a place of death.”

Meanwhile, news articles reported on yet another tragedy in the Mediterranean as a boat departing from Libya was shipwrecked, and at least 70 people were killed or went missing. The survivors were taken to Lampedusa—an Italian island in the Mediterranean at the crossroads of migration routes—which the Pope will visit on July 4.

The Easter Vigil in St. Peter's Basilica (@Vatican Media)

“The Lord is alive and remains with us”

On the morning of Easter Sunday, Pope Leo XIV then celebrated Mass in St. Peter’s Square under a clear sky and in the presence of 60,000 faithful. He emphasized how “death is always lurking”:

“We see it present in injustices, in partisan selfishness, in the oppression of the poor, in the lack of attention given to the most vulnerable. We see it in violence, in the wounds of the world, in the cry of pain that rises from every corner because of the abuses that crush the weakest among us, because of the idolatry of profit that plunders the earth’s resources, because of the violence of war that kills and destroys.”

However, he reiterated how one can—and must—accept the Easter invitation to “lift our gaze (...) so that we may discover that Jesus’ tomb is empty, and therefore in every death we experience there is also room for new life to arise,” beyond tombs and suffering.

“The Lord is alive and remains with us,” he said. “Through the cracks of resurrection that open up in the darkness, he entrusts our hearts to the hope that sustains us: the power of death is not the final destiny of our lives.”

St. Peter's Square during the Easter Sunday Mass (@Vatican Media)

“The power with which Christ rose is entirely non-violent” 

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31/03/2026

Pope appeals to Trump and world leaders: Find solutions to end war

Lastly, in Pope Leo’s traditional Urbi et Orbi (‘To the City and the World’) message, he issued a final exhortation to not remain indifferent to what is occurring in the world:

“We are growing accustomed to violence, resigning ourselves to it, and becoming indifferent. Indifferent to the deaths of thousands of people. Indifferent to the repercussions of hatred and division that conflicts sow. Indifferent to the economic and social consequences they produce, which we all feel.”

Instead, he pointed to how “the power with which Christ rose is entirely nonviolent,” and the battles of the world should be overcome with this example of Easter, through hands that embrace and that do not take up arms.

An appeal that also reverberated in the appeal Leo XIV addressed to Donald Trump and world leaders last Tuesday in Castel Gandolfo:

“Come back to the table, to dialogue. Let's look for solutions to problems; let's look for ways to reduce the amount of violence that we're promoting so that peace—especially at Easter—might reign in our hearts."

Saint of the Day for Tuesday

 

St. John Baptist de la Salle

Feastday: April 7
Patron: of Teachers

St. John Baptist de La Salle was born in 1651, in Reims, France. He was the eldest son of wealthy parents. At the age of eleven, La Salle was committed becoming a priest. At the age of sixteen, he was named Canon of Reims Cathedral. At the age of eighteen, he received a master’s degree in classical literature and arts, as well as philosophy.

Sadly, La Salle’s parents died within a year of each other in 1671 and 1672. La Salle had to manage his parent’s estate which included educating his four brothers and two sisters. Once this was done, he was ordained to the priesthood on April 9, 1678. He was 26 years old. He continued his studies until he received his doctorate in theology.

During this time, La Salle also worked with the Sisters of the Child Jesus to educate girls, serving as chaplain and confessor for their school. While performing this work, he met Adrian Nyel, who was himself a supervisor of teachers at a boys school in Reims. Through Nyel, a wealthy woman asked La Salle to be involved with the endowment of a new school for poor children. She provided the money, as long as La Salle agreed to help run the school.

La Salle gradually became preoccupied with work at the new school. He was aware that teachers needed training and direction, and that the children had few opportunities for success. He calculated that if he lent his talents to the school, and worked with both teachers and students, he could improve their lives.

La Salle worked with the teachers to educate them and teach them manners. He invited them to live in his home where he provided them with direction. This made them more effective with the students, and in turn improved outcomes for them.

There was a larger problem. Poverty was widespread in France during this time, and few families could afford to educate their children. La Salle felt the best way to approach this problem would be to establish a community devoted to the education of children, regardless of their ability to pay. He resigned his post as Canon at the Cathedral, left his comfortable family home to live with the teachers, and established the Brothers of the Christians Schools.

Surprisingly, this approach brought resistance from both the secular education system and the Church. The Church was initially opposed to the foundation of an order committed to education, and the secular educators were opposed to the elimination of tuition. They felt it would reduce the prices people would be willing to pay them.

Nonetheless, La Salle was successful. He even expanded his school to offer teaching to young men.

In 1685, La Salle established the first school for the training of educators in Reims.

La Salle worked as an educator all his life. He lived until 1719, when he died on April 7, which happened to be Good Friday.

La Salle was beatified by Pope Leo XIII on February 19, 1888 and canonized by him on May 24, 1900. His feast day is April 7. He is the patron saint of all educators.

While Pope Leo XIV calls & prays for peace, President Trump promises to unleash hell

 

Pope calls for peace, and Trump vows hell for Iran on Easter

• Rebecca Falconer

Pope Leo XIV blesses the crowd during the Easter Mass in St. Peter's Square in Vatican City, Vatican, on Sunday. Photo: Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Pope Leo XIV and the top U.S. Catholic bishop for the military both used Easter Sunday to emphasize Jesus' message of peace amid the escalating Iran war.

Why it matters: The first U.S.-born pope urged those who "unleash wars" to lay down weapons as President Trump continued his increasingly aggressive wartime rhetoric on Sunday to demand that Tehran "Open the F'...in Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah."

• Leo and U.S. Roman Catholic leaders have voiced moral opposition to Trump's policies, notably on the Iran war and immigration.

Driving the news: In Leo's first Easter mass, he called on people to "allow ourselves to be amazed by" Jesus Christ.

• "Let us allow our hearts to be transformed by his immense love for us. Let those who have weapons lay them down," the pontiff said.
• "Let those who have the power to unleash wars choose peace! Not a peace imposed by force, but through dialogue! Not with the desire to dominate others, but to encounter them."

Meanwhile, Archbishop Timothy Broglio, who heads the Catholic Archdiocese for the Military Services USA, told CBS News' "Face the Nation" Sunday that Jesus "certainly brought a message of peace" and that war is "always" a last resort.

• Trump officials "may have information that led them to think" that war "was the only choice they had," Broglio said, emphasizing that he couldn't make a judgement on this because he doesn't know the driving factors behind the war.
• "But I do think that it's hard to cast this war, you know, as something that would be sponsored by the Lord."

The big picture: The pope has repeatedly spoken out against the Iran war as Trump has threatened to bomb bridges, energy, water and oil infrastructure in Iran if no deal is reached by Tuesday to open the throttled Strait of Hormuz.

The other side: White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the Trump administration's stance last Monday after being asked about Pope Leo's Palm Sunday homily that Jesus "does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them."

• "We've seen presidents. We've seen the leaders of the Department of War, and we've seen our troops go to prayer during the most turbulent times in our nation's history," said Leavitt, who is Catholic.
• "I don't think there's anything wrong with our military leaders or with the president calling on the American people to pray for our service members and those who are serving our country overseas. In fact, I think it's a very noble thing to do," she added.
• "And if you talk to many service members, they will tell you they appreciate the prayers and support from the commander in chief and from his Cabinet."
• Representatives for the White House did not immediately respond to Axios' Sunday afternoon request for comment.