Pope Leo XIV invites Catholics to open ourselves to listening, fasting, and community, urging us to abstain from words of hatred in order to make space for words of hope and peace.
“I would like to invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.”
Pope Leo XIV made that invitation at the heart of his message for Lent 2026, which was released on Friday.
As Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, February 18, the Pope said this liturgical season offers Christians an opportunity to place the mystery of God back at the center of our lives.
Every journey of conversion, he said, begins by letting God’s word touch our hearts, so that we may renew our commitment to follow Christ in the mystery of His saving passion, death, and resurrection.
Pope Leo focused on the importance of listening to God and to those around us, allowing ourselves to enter into authentic relationships.
“In the midst of the many voices present in our personal lives and in society,” he said, “Sacred Scripture helps us to recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering.”
Christians, said the Pope, can cultivate inner openness to listening, as God does, by growing in awareness that the poor challenge our lives and economic systems, as well as the Church.
By Devin Watkins
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