VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Pope Leo XIV praised consecrated men and women for going to the world\u2019s peripheries and refusing to abandon their people, even amid conflict.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey remain, often stripped of all security, as a living reminder \u2013 more eloquent than words \u2013 of the inviolable sacredness of life in its most vulnerable conditions,\u201d he said Feb. 2 in his homily for Candlemas \u2013 the feast of the Presentation of the Lord \u2013 which also marks the Catholic Church\u2019s celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/2-5-26-women-religious-with-pope-300x200.jpg\")
Pope Leo XIV receives the gifts from women religious as he celebrates Mass marking the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica at the Vatican Feb. 2, 2026. The Mass also marked the Vatican celebration of the World Day for Consecrated Life. (OSV News photo\/Simone Risoluti, Vatican Media)<\/p>\n
\u201cEven where weapons roar and arrogance, self-interest and violence seem to prevail,\u201d he said, the presence of these consecrated men and women \u201cproclaims the words of Jesus\u201d in his parable of the lost sheep: \u201cSee that you do not despise one of these little ones, for \u2026 their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s Mass began with the pope blessing with holy water the candles used for the entrance procession. Dozens of consecrated men and women led the candlelit procession while the lights in St. Peter\u2019s Basilica remained dimmed, and thousands of people who filled the basilica held lit candles as well.<\/p>\n
After the darkened basilica was filled with light, Pope Leo, who joined the Order of St. Augustine as a young man and served as a missionary in Peru for decades, reflected on the mission of religious men and women in the Church and in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cDear brothers and sisters, the Church asks you to be prophets \u2014 messengers who announce the presence of the Lord and prepare the way for him,\u201d he said in his homily. \u201cYou are called to this mission above all through the sacrificial offering of your lives, rooted in prayer and in a readiness to be consumed by charity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, the founders and foundresses of their religious orders and communities offer \u201cwonderful models of how to fulfil this mandate faithfully and effectively,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving in constant tension between earth and heaven, they allowed themselves to be guided with faith and courage,\u201d he said. Some founders \u201cwere led to the silence of the cloister, others to the demands of the apostolate,\u201d but all of them returned \u201chumbly and wisely, to the foot of the cross and to the tabernacle, where they offered everything and discovered in God both the source and the goal of all their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo highlighted those founders who \u201cembarked on perilous undertakings.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey became a prayerful presence in hostile or indifferent environments; a generous hand and a friendly shoulder amid degradation and abandonment; and witnesses of peace and reconciliation in situations marked by violence and hatred,\u201d he said. \u201cThey were ready to bear the consequences of going against the current, becoming, in Christ, a \u2018sign of contradiction,\u2019 sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.\u201d<\/p>\n
One way to honor these brothers and sisters, he said, is \u201cby carrying forward their legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are called to bear witness to God\u2019s saving presence in history for all peoples, even within a society in which false and reductive understandings of the human person increasingly widen the gap between faith and life,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou are called to testify that the young, the elderly, the poor, the sick and the imprisoned hold a sacred place above all else on God\u2019s altar and in his heart,\u201d he said, and to show how each of the least is \u201can inviolable sanctuary of God\u2019s presence, before whom we must bend our knee, in order to encounter him, adore him and give him glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many religious communities have established \u201coutposts of the Gospel \u2026 in a wide variety of challenging contexts, even in the midst of conflict,\u201d he said. \u201cThese communities do not abandon their people, nor do they flee\u201d as they seek to uphold the sacredness of human life in its most vulnerable conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsecrated life, in its serene detachment from all that is passing, reveals the inseparable bond between authentic care for earthly realities and a hope filled with love for what is eternal\u201d and gives meaning to everything else, he said.<\/p>\n
Through their promise to follow Christ more closely by professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated men and women \u201cempty\u201d themselves so that Christ, \u201cthe one eternal messenger of the covenant who remains present among humanity today, can melt and purify hearts with his love, grace and mercy,\u201d Pope Leo said.<\/p>\n
Through this self-emptying and life in the Spirit, he said, consecrated men and women \u201ccan show the world the way to overcome conflict, sowing fraternity through the freedom of those who love and forgive without measure.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDear consecrated men and women, today the Church gives thanks to the Lord and to you for your presence,\u201d he said, encouraging them \u201cto be leaven of peace and signs of hope wherever Providence may lead you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VATICAN CITY (CNS) \u2013 Pope Leo XIV praised consecrated men and women for going to the world\u2019s peripheries…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[178,180,179],"class_list":["post-106022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}