The pontiff prayed that the Holy Spirit would save humanity from war, misery, and sin.<\/p>\n
VATICAN CITY \u2014 Pope Leo XIV marked Pentecost Sunday with a plea for peace, praying that the Holy Spirit would save the world \u201cfrom the evil of war\u201d and renew the Church in its mission to transform confusion into communion.<\/p>\n
Celebrating Mass in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica on May 24, the pope centered his homily on the risen Christ\u2019s appearance to the disciples in the upper room, where Jesus showed them \u201chis hands and his side\u201d and breathed the Holy Spirit upon them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Lord reveals his glorious body, specifically his wounds, the marks of the crucifixion,\u201d Pope Leo said. \u201cThese signs of the Passion, more eloquent than words, are now transfigured; he who was dead lives forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope said the same upper room that had been marked by fear and betrayal became, through Christ\u2019s gift of the Spirit, \u201cfor the entire Church, the womb of the Resurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cPentecost is therefore a paschal feast and a feast of the body of Christ, which by grace is all of us,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Leo framed his homily around three aspects of the Holy Spirit: peace, mission, and truth.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, the Spirit of the risen One is the Spirit of peace,\u201d he said. \u201cIndeed, through his paschal mystery, Christ restores peace between God and humanity, and the Holy Spirit pours this peace into our hearts and spreads it throughout the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
That peace, the pope said, \u201cstems from forgiveness and leads us to forgiveness,\u201d beginning with Christ\u2019s forgiveness of humanity.<\/p>\n
The pope then described the Holy Spirit as \u201cthe Spirit of mission,\u201d citing Christ\u2019s words: \u201cAs the Father has sent me, so I send you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are truly co-workers of the Gospel: The whole Church is its protagonist, not merely its guardian,\u201d Leo said. \u201cThrough the power of the Spirit, our proclamation is filled with joy and hope, for we \u2014 yes, we ourselves \u2014 are the newness of the world, the light and the salt of the earth.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope warned that some changes \u201cdo not bring new life to the world, but make it grow old through error and violence.\u201d By contrast, he said, \u201cthe Holy Spirit enlightens minds and instils new vitality in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how he transfigures history, opening it to salvation, which is the gift that the Lord offers to everyone,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Church\u2019s mission bears witness to this offer, thereby transforming the world\u2019s confusion into communion with God and among ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, Leo said the Spirit is \u201cthe Spirit of truth,\u201d who \u201calways promotes unity in truth\u201d and protects the Church from \u201cpartisanship, hypocrisy, and fads that obscure the light of the Gospel.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth that God gives us thus stands as a liberating word for all peoples, a message that transforms every culture from within,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Concluding his homily, the pope offered a prayer for a world wounded by war, poverty, and sin.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear friends, with fervent hearts, let us pray today that the Spirit of the risen One may save us from the evil of war, which is overcome not by a superpower, but by the omnipotence of love,\u201d he said. \u201cLet us pray that he free humanity from misery, which is redeemed not by immeasurable wealth, but by an inexhaustible gift. Let us pray that he heal us from the scourge of sin through the salvation proclaimed to all peoples in the name of Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the Mass, Pope Leo appeared from his study in the Apostolic Palace to pray the Regina Coeli, returning again to the theme of the Holy Spirit as the one who opens what fear and sin have closed.<\/p>\n
The pope said the Spirit was poured out abundantly on the newborn Church and is given anew to the faithful today as \u201clight and strength\u201d in every circumstance of life.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Spirit opens doors,\u201d he said, pointing to the image of Christ opening the doors of the upper room and to the Acts of the Apostles, where the Spirit comes \u201clike a violent wind.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo asked: \u201cWhat doors does the Holy Spirit open?\u201d<\/p>\n
The first, he said, is \u201cthe door of God himself,\u201d opening access to the mystery of God as revealed in Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit, he said, helps believers encounter God personally in Jesus, recognize him within themselves, and discover the signs of his presence in daily life.<\/p>\n
The second door is that of the upper room, \u201cthat is, of the Church.\u201d Without the fire of the Spirit, the pope said, the Church \u201cremains a prisoner of fear,\u201d timid before the challenges of the world, closed in on itself, and unable to enter into dialogue with changing times.<\/p>\n
The third door, Leo said, is \u201cthe door of our hearts.\u201d The Spirit helps believers overcome resistance, selfishness, mistrust, and prejudice, making them capable of living as children of God and brothers and sisters to one another.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere the Spirit of the Lord is, fraternity is born among persons, groups, and peoples of the earth,\u201d he said, adding that all are called to speak \u201cthe one language of love, which unites and harmonizes differences.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope also recalled the day of prayer for the Church in China, observed on the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, who is venerated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Sheshan in Shanghai.<\/p>\n
Leo invited the faithful to join in prayer with Chinese Catholics \u201cas a sign of our affection for them and of their communion with the universal Church and with the successor of Peter.\u201d He prayed that Mary\u2019s intercession would obtain for the Church in China the grace of unity and the strength to witness to the Gospel in daily hardship, becoming a seed of hope and peace.<\/p>\n
The pope also remembered victims of a recent mining accident in northern China and entrusted to Mary the Christian communities of the Holy Land, Lebanon, and the wider Middle East suffering because of war.<\/p>\n
This story\u00a0was first published\u00a0in\u00a0two parts\u00a0by ACI Stampa, the Italian-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n