Pope Leo XIV preaches at Holy Mass for the Care of Creation: July 9, 2025

Today Pope Leo XIV offered the following homily at the Holy Mass for the Care of Creation.

Pope Leo XIV preaches at Holy Mass for the Care of Creation

On this beautiful day, first of all, I would like to invite everyone, including myself, to experience what we are celebrating in the beauty of a cathedral, which we could describe as “natural” because of the plants and other elements of creation that provide the setting for the Eucharist, a word that means “giving thanks to the Lord.”

And in it, there are many reasons why we want to give thanks to the Lord: this could be the first celebration in which we use the form and biblical readings for the Mass for the care of creation, which is the result of collaboration between various Vatican dicasteries.

Personally, I would like to thank many of those present here for their contribution to the realization of this liturgy. As you well know, liturgy represents life, and you are the life of this Laudato si’ Center. I would also like to thank you, at this moment and on this occasion, for all that you do in following the beautiful inspiration of Pope Francis, who gave this small portion of the gardens precisely to continue the important mission—the need to care for creation, our common home—which we continue to deepen, ten years after the publication of Laudato si’.

As in the churches of the early centuries, where one had to pass by the baptismal font before entering, here too there is a fountain. I would not want to have to enter these waters and be “baptized” in them. However, the sign of passing through water to be washed of our sins, of our weaknesses, and thus be able to enter into the great mystery of the Church, is something we also experience today. At the beginning of Mass, we prayed for conversion, for our conversion. I would like to add that we must pray for the conversion of many people, both inside and outside the Church, who do not yet recognize the urgency of caring for our common home.

So many of the natural disasters we see in the world, in various places and countries, are caused, in part, by human excesses, by our lifestyle. That is why we must ask ourselves whether or not we are living that conversion that is so necessary.

After these words, I also have a homily that I had prepared for this occasion and that I would like to share with you. I ask for your patience, as it contains some elements that really help us to continue our reflection this morning, during this familiar and serene moment, even though we live in a world that is burning, both from global warming and armed conflicts, which make Pope Francis’ message in the encyclicals Laudato si’ and Fratelli tutti so relevant today. We can see ourselves reflected in the Gospel we have heard, in the fear of the disciples in the storm, which is the fear of much of humanity. Nevertheless, at the heart of the Jubilee we confess that there is hope! We have found it in Jesus, the Savior of the world. He continues to calm the storm with sovereignty. His power does not disturb, but creates; it does not destroy, but calls into existence, giving new life. And we ask ourselves: “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27).

The amazement expressed in this question is the first step that takes us away from fear. Jesus had lived and prayed around the Sea of Galilee. There he had called his first disciples in their places of life and work. The parables with which he announced the Kingdom of God reveal a deep connection with that land and those waters, with the rhythm of the seasons and the life of creatures.

The evangelist Matthew describes the storm as an “earthquake” (seismos); he will use the same term to refer to the earthquake that occurred at the moment of Jesus’ death and at the dawn of his resurrection. Above this earthquake, Christ rises, standing upright: already here the Gospel allows us to glimpse the Risen One, present in our convoluted history. Jesus’ rebuke of the wind and the sea manifests his power of life and salvation, which prevails over those forces before which creatures feel lost.

Let us ask ourselves again: “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27). The hymn from the letter to the Colossians that we have heard seems to answer precisely this question: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things were created” (Col 1:15-16). His disciples, on that day, at the mercy of the storm, terrified, could not yet profess this knowledge about Jesus. Today, in the faith that has been handed down to us, we can continue to say: “He is also the head of the body, that is, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything” (v. 18). These are words that commit us throughout history, that make us a living body, whose head is Christ. Our mission to care for creation, to bring peace and reconciliation to it, is his very mission: the mission that the Lord has entrusted to us. We hear the cry of the earth and of the poor, because this cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation, our work is his work.

In this regard, the psalmist’s song inspires us: “The voice of the Lord is over the waters! The God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic!” (Ps 29:3-4). This voice compels the Church to be prophetic, even when it requires the courage to oppose the destructive power of the princes of this world. The indestructible covenant between the Creator and creatures, in fact, mobilizes our intelligence and our efforts so that evil may be turned into good, injustice into justice, and greed into communion.

With infinite love, the one God created all things, giving us life; that is why St. Francis of Assisi called creatures brother, sister, mother. Only a contemplative gaze can change our relationship with created things and bring us out of the ecological crisis caused by the rupture of our relationships with God, with our neighbors, and with the earth, due to sin (cf. Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, 66).

Dear friends, the Borgo Laudato si’, where we are now, aims to be, according to Pope Francis’ intuition, a “laboratory” in which to live that harmony with creation which is healing and reconciliation for us, developing new and effective ways of caring for the nature entrusted to us. To you, who are diligently dedicated to this project, I therefore assure you of my prayers and encouragement.

The Eucharist we are celebrating gives meaning and sustenance to our work. As Pope Francis wrote, in fact, “in the Eucharist, creation finds its highest elevation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself in a tangible way, achieves an astonishing expression when God himself, made man, becomes food for his creatures. The Lord, at the height of the mystery of the Incarnation, wanted to reach our intimacy through a piece of matter. Not from above, but from within, so that we could find him in our own world” (Pope Francis, Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, 236). From this place, I would like to conclude my reflections by entrusting to you the words with which St. Augustine, in the last pages of his Confessions, associates created things and man in a cosmic praise: O Lord, “your works praise you so that we may love you, and we love you so that your works may praise you” (St. Augustine, Confessions, XIII, 33,48). May this be the harmony we spread throughout the world.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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