Youth Pope Leo XIV leads the Youth Jubilee Mass, urging attendees: "Strive for greatness, don't be content with mediocrity"
Pope Leo XIV Delivers Inspiring Message to Young People at Jubilee of the Young Event
Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful and inspiring message to young people during the Jubilee of the Young event held at Tor Vergata, Rome. This was his first major international event since his election as supreme pontiff.
The pope called on young people to aspire to great things and holiness, wherever they are, and not to settle for less. He emphasized that this pursuit will help the Gospel’s light grow within them and around them. He encouraged them to study, work, and love following the example of Jesus, and to remain prayerful, invoking "Stay with us, Lord."
Pope Leo XIV highlighted that young people are a sign of a different, better world—a world built on fraternity, friendship, dialogue instead of conflict, peace, and hope through communion with Christ. He urged them to be the salt of the earth, light of the world, and seeds of hope in all areas of life: family, school, work, and sports.
The pope also encouraged young people to spread their enthusiasm and witness of faith when they return to their home countries, embodying joy and hope even in a troubled world. He stressed that the overarching theme of hope is central, encouraging youth to be a light shining through darkness and to build a "civilization of love."
Pope Leo XIV asserted that buying, accumulating, consuming is not enough, and we need to raise our eyes to heavenly things. He stated that the fullness of our existence does not depend on what we accumulate or possess, but is united to what we know how to welcome and share with joy.
The pope spoke about human fragility, comparing it to the constant renewal of nature. He expressed his regret for the death of two young people, one Spanish and one Egyptian, before the events. He showed his solidarity with the young people suffering from war, especially those in Gaza and Ukraine.
The choice of the Tor Vergata university campus as the venue for the mass was not coincidental, as it was also the place where Pope John Paul II celebrated the closing of the World Youth Day in the year 2000. The pope officiated the mass of the Jubilee of the Young on the outskirts of Rome.
Hundreds of thousands of young people from 146 countries around the world spent the night at Tor Vergata. The pope took the Jubilee cross in his own hands and led a procession with dozens of young people to the stage where he presided over the event. He concluded his message by entrusting the young people to the Virgin and exhorting them to follow with joy the footsteps of the Savior and infect others with enthusiasm and faith.
Pope Leo XIV defended that wide participation in the youth event demonstrates that "another world is possible." He assured a world in which conflicts are not resolved with weapons and dialogue.
The pope landed by helicopter at Tor Vergata around 7:40 local time. He presided over a prayer vigil with hundreds of thousands of people the day before. Throughout his message, he emphasized the importance of holiness, active engagement in faith, peace-building through dialogue, and being witnesses and hopeful agents of change in the world.
Young people, as a symbol of a world built on peace, fraternity, and dialogue, are encouraged by Pope Leo XIV to strive for holiness and to enlighten their surroundings with the Gospel's light, even amidst the average challenges presented by war-and-conflicts, politics, and general-news. During his message at the Jubilee of the Young event, he emphasized the need for young people to embody hope in all aspects of life, including their homeland, and to build a "civilization of love."
