Pope Leo XIV leads Angelus prayer, urges peace in Yemen and Jordan, marks upcoming interfaith gathering

a large crowd of people are gathered together — Neelakshi Singh / Unsplash

On October 25, 2026, Pope Leo XIV appeared at the window of his study in the Apostolic Palace to lead the Angelus prayer on the thirtieth Sunday of the year. Before beginning the prayer, the Pope spoke to the faithful gathered below. After the prayer, in Italian, he addressed the crowd. Dear brothers and sisters. The Pope expressed deep concern for the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen, particularly in Taiz, where people suffer from shortages of food, water, and medical aid. He urgently called for an end to hostilities and for peace to guarantee a dignified life for all people in Yemen and the region. He also promised to pray for those killed and injured in a terrorist attack on believers at the Greek Orthodox Church of Saint George in Hamoud, Jordan, last Friday, October 23. He affirmed his closeness to the church community and to the whole of Jordan, characterized by peaceful coexistence and respect among religions. Let us continue to pray for peace. On October 27, the forty‑fourth anniversary of the World Day of Prayer for Peace called by Pope John Paul II will be marked in Assisi. The Pope said he wishes to unite himself spiritually with church representatives and religious leaders who will gather there. He noted that war sows the seeds of death and destruction, and also impoverishes and wounds the world as never before.

May God lead people to choose dialogue and peace. The Vatican announced that, following medical advice, the Pope would not participate in the forty‑year‑old meeting in Assisi titled "Peace without weapons, peace by removing weapons." Summer time in Italy ended at three a.m. on that day. In today’s Gospel, the Lord again leads us to the center of faith. A lawyer asks Jesus which commandment is greatest. Jesus replies by quoting Deuteronomy: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. Christ places the dimension of love at the center of the relationship with God. Knowing that God exists, is one, and almighty is not enough. The Lord seeks a personal relationship with us. The one true God desires to be our God. In the encounter with God, the commandment of love is not an obligation or a constraint. We cannot love because we are commanded. Love for God is a human desire that is fulfilled in communion with Him. Therefore, our love becomes truly genuine only when it answers God’s love that always comes first. From this, it is necessary to involve the whole person: heart, soul, and mind. The Lord links the first commandment with a second: you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

This rule of life springs from the same source. Therefore, it is the same as the first commandment, Jesus says. Through our intimate relationship with God, we can look at our neighbor with the same gaze as Christ, following His perspective. Thus we overcome selfishness and self‑love, turning it into an act of love. Our existence turns toward others and becomes a gift to those around us. Young Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus understood this well. She said: "It is love alone that moves the body of the Church; if love were to cease, the apostle would cease to preach the Gospel..." Without love, our faith loses its content, our good works become mere moralism, and our hope becomes empty. Dear friends of true love. To love God truly, that love must overflow into love for one’s brothers and sisters. Unless one is a child of the same Father who first loved us in His Son Jesus Christ, one cannot truly love one’s neighbor. Shall we not ask the Lord for a new heart that can accept and practice this great commandment? May the Virgin Mary, sinless and bearing nothing but love in her heart, intercede for us.