«Saint Paul writes to the Christians of Rome something that makes us think: “For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pangs of childbirth together until today”. He focuses on the image: «it is very strong. It helps us to listen and bring into prayer the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. “All together” creation is a cry. But many powerful people do not listen to this cry: the wealth of the earth is in the hands of a few, very few, increasingly concentrated – unjustly – in the hands of those who often do not want to listen to the groan of the earth and the poor. God has destined the goods of creation for all, so that everyone can participate in them. Our job is to generate, not steal. Yet, in faith the pain of the earth and the poor is that of childbirth. God always generates, God still creates, and we can generate with Him, in hope. History is in the hands of God and of those who hope in Him. There are not only those who steal, there are above all those who generate.”
These are harsh, direct words that Pope Leo pronounces at the last of the Saturday jubilee audiences, started last January by Pope Francis: «When Christmas is upon us», the Pope began, «we can say: the Lord is near! Without Jesus, this statement – the Lord is near – could almost sound like a threat. In Jesus, however, we discover that, as the prophets had intuited, God is a womb of mercy. Baby Jesus reveals to us that God has bowels of mercy, through which he always generates. In Him there is no threat, but forgiveness.”
The Jubilee is coming to an end: «however, hope does not end. We are dead; with hope, we come to light. Hope is generative. In fact it is a theological virtue, that is, a force of God, and as such it generates, does not kill but gives birth and rebirth. This is real strength. Qwhat threatens and kills is not force: it is arrogance, it is aggressive fear, it is evil that generates nothing. The strength of God gives birth. This is why I would like to finally tell you: to hope is to generate.”
«Sisters and brothers», concluded the Pope, «if Christian prayer is so profoundly Marian, it is because in Mary of Nazareth we see one of us who generates. God made her fruitful and came to meet us with her features, just as every child resembles their mother. She is Mother of God and ours. “Our hope”, we say in the Salve Regina. She resembles the Son and the Son resembles her. And we resemble this Mother who gave face, body, voice to the Word of God. We resemble her, because we can generate the Word of God down here, transform the cry we hear into a birth. Jesus wants to be born again: we can give him body and voice. Here is the birth that creation awaits. To hope is to generate. To hope is to see that this world becomes the world of God: the world in which God, human beings and all creatures walk together again, in the garden city, the new Jerusalem. May Mary, our hope, always accompany our pilgrimage of faith and hope.”
Meanwhile, as already announced last November, a press release confirms that «the Holy Father has convened the first extraordinary consistory of his Pontificate, which will be held on 7 and 8 January 2026. The meeting will take place over two days and will be characterized by moments of communion and brotherhood, as well as times dedicated to reflection, sharing and prayer»
