VATICAN CITY CNS – A “sickness” that is widespread in the world is not believing in the meaning and beauty of life, and, consequently, lacking the courage to live and to generate life, Pope Leo XIV said.
To generate life “means to trust in the God of life and to promote humanity in all its expressions: first and foremost, in the wonderful adventure of motherhood and fatherhood,” the Pope said Nov. 26 at his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
And to generate life is also “to be committed to an economy based on solidarity, striving for a common good equally enjoyed by all, respecting and caring for creation, offering comfort through listening, presence and concrete and selfless help,” he said in his main catechesis.
Pope Leo also asked for prayers ahead of his first apostolic journey. Departing Nov. 27 for Turkey and then Nov. 30 for Lebanon, he said he will “visit the beloved peoples of those countries rich in history and spirituality.”
The trip will be “an opportunity to commemorate the 1,700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council celebrated in Nicaea and to meet with the Catholic community, our Christian brothers and sisters and those of other religions,” he said.
Continuing his series of audience talks on “Jesus our hope,” the Pope focused on “hoping in life in order to beget life.”
“Do not be afraid to welcome and defend every child conceived – proclaim and serve the Gospel of life,” he told Polish-speaking visitors.
“Trusting in God, we are invited to participate in this plan of life and love by generating life,” Pope Leo said in his English-language remarks.
“For those of you living the vocation of married life, this means discovering the gift and adventure of motherhood and fatherhood, in which you are called to participate in bringing new lives into this world and preparing them for the life that is eternal,” he said. “Do not be afraid of this adventure, but prayerfully open yourselves to the gift of life, trusting in the God who we know loves us.”
Life, he said, is “a gift from God who has created us out of love.” However, one of the prevalent temptations today “is a lack of trust in God’s goodness and love.”
“Perhaps we no longer experience life as a gift because we are weighed down by its burdens, but the Risen Christ reminds us that God is always faithful to his plan of love,” he said.
“Many lives, in every part of the world, appear laborious, painful, filled with problems and obstacles to be overcome,” he said in his main address in Italian.
“There is a widespread sickness in the world: the lack of confidence in life. It is as if we have resigned ourselves to a negative fatalism, to renunciation. Life risks no longer representing a gift, but an unknown, almost a threat from which to protect ourselves so as not to end up disappointed,” he said.
“For this reason, the courage to live and to generate life, to bear witness that God is the quintessential ‘lover of life,'” he said, “is today a more urgent call than ever.”
Life “is offered to us, we cannot give it to ourselves, but it must be constantly nurtured: it needs care to maintain, energize, protect and revive it,” the Pope said.
“To hope in life means instead to anticipate the destination, to believe as certain what we still cannot see or touch, to trust and to entrust ourselves to the love of a Father who created us because he wanted us with love, and wants us to be happy,” he said.
From the beginning, human life “receives the gift of freedom,” which means “human relationships are also marked by contradiction, even to the point of fratricide,” he said. “Cain perceives his brother Abel as a rival, a threat, and in his frustration, he feels unable to love him and respect him.”
God’s logic is completely different from human jealousy, envy and bloodshed, Pope Leo said. “God always stays faithful to his plan of love and life; he does not tire of supporting humanity even when, following in Cain’s footsteps, it obeys the blind instinct of violence in war, discrimination, racism and the many forms of slavery.”
“The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the strength that supports us in this challenge, even when the darkness of evil obscures the heart and the mind,” he said. “When life seems to have been extinguished, obstructed, the Risen Lord still passes by, until the end of time, and walks with us and for us. He is our hope.”
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