Pope Leo XIV: Latest Messages

Jason Scott’s weekly review of Pope Leo XIV’s audiences – 

Monday, 23 March: Papal Flights & Peace

Pope Leo received the directors and staff of ITA Airways and the Lufthansa Group in the Clementine Hall. He recalled the long bond between papal travel and Italy’s flag carrier, stretching back to Saint Paul VI, praised the “family-like atmosphere” of papal flights, and confirmed he would be flying to Africa in twenty days’ time. He then turned to a forceful condemnation of aerial warfare:

“Aircraft should always be vehicles of peace, never of war! No one should fear that threats of death and destruction will come from the sky. After the tragic experiences of the twentieth century, aerial bombardment should have been banished forever!”

He lamented that technology is instead being put at the service of war:

“This is not progress, it is regression!”

 Wednesday, 25 March: Christian–Muslim Fraternity

Pope Leo greeted a delegation from PROCMURA (the Programme for Christian-Muslim Relations in Africa), headquartered in Kenya. Citing the conciliar declaration Nostra Aetate, he affirmed the Church’s openness to dialogue with other religions and praised PROCMURA’s witness in a world “increasingly marked by religious radicalisation, division, and conflict”:

“Your common witness shows that it is possible to live and work together in peace and harmony, despite cultural and religious differences.”

He expressed trust that these encounters would bear fruit through grassroots initiatives to promote social friendship and common discernment on areas requiring urgent action.

 Wednesday, 25 March: General Audience

At the General Audience in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo continued his catechesis on the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium, turning to the hierarchical structure of the Church as set out in Chapter III.

He taught that the hierarchy is not a human construct but a divine institution, and recalled the Council’s teaching that the ministerial priesthood differs from the common priesthood of the faithful “in essence and not only in degree,” while both participate in the one priesthood of Christ. He quoted Saint Paul VI on the purpose of the hierarchy:

“Born of the charity of Christ, to fulfil, spread and ensure the intact and fruitful transmission of the wealth of faith, examples, precepts and charisms bequeathed by Christ to His Church.”

He closed by asking for prayer that the Lord would send the Church ministers “ardent with evangelical charity, dedicated to the good of all the baptised, and courageous missionaries in every part of the world.”

 Thursday, 26 March: Organ Donation & Transplant Medicine

In the Clementine Hall, Pope Leo addressed the General Assembly of the National Transplant Network, marking the 70th anniversary of Italy’s first organ donation — when Blessed Don Carlo Gnocchi asked that his corneas be removed after death and given to two young patients, enabling them to see again.

Tracing the Church’s reflection from Pius XII to Francis, the Pope quoted the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“Organ donation after death is a noble and meritorious act and is to be encouraged as an expression of generous solidarity.”

He stressed that donation must remain gratuitous and warned against the logic of the marketplace:

“Vigilance is always necessary to avoid any form of commodification of the human body and ensure that transplants are governed by fair and transparent criteria.”

He also encouraged scientific research in transplant medicine, insisting it must always remain “oriented towards the integral good of the person and respect for their dignity.”

 Saturday, 28 March: Apostolic Journey to Monaco

In a historic first, Pope Leo XIV visited the Principality of Monaco — the first visit by a Successor of Peter in modern times. From the Prince’s Palace, he reflected on Monaco’s vocation as a small, pluralistic City-State bound to the Catholic faith, urging its people to put their prosperity at the service of law and justice.

He praised Monaco as one of the few countries in the world with Catholicism as its state religion, and described what that faith demands:

“This faith places us before the sovereignty of Jesus, who calls Christians to become in the world a kingdom of brothers and sisters – a presence that does not cast down but raises up, that does not separate but connects, always ready to protect every human life with love, at any time and in any condition, so that no one is ever excluded from the table of fraternity.”

He then entrusted Monaco with a particular mission rooted in that bond:

“I entrust the Principality of Monaco with the very special task of deepening its commitment to the Social Doctrine of the Church and to develop local and international best practices that manifest its transformative power. Even in cultures that are not very religious and are highly secularised, the approach to problems characteristic of this Social Doctrine can reveal the great light that the Gospel brings to our time.”

He urged the Monegasques not to chase after fleeting goods, but to face unprecedented challenges “with free hearts and enlightened minds,” invoking Mary, Seat of Wisdom, to lead all to Christ, the Prince of Peace.

 Sunday, 29 March: Palm Sunday — King of Peace

On Palm Sunday in St Peter’s Square, Pope Leo delivered a homily centred entirely on Jesus as the “King of Peace” — the King who enters Jerusalem on a donkey, who stops his disciple’s sword, and who does not fight but allows himself to be nailed to the cross. He declared:

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them.”

The homily closed with a prayer of the Servant of God, Bishop Tonino Bello, entrusted to Mary at the foot of the cross:

“Grant us the certainty that, in spite of all, death will no longer hold sway over us; that the injustices of peoples are numbered; that the flashes of war are fading into the twilight.”

At the Angelus, the Pope turned in prayer to the Christians of the Middle East, unable in many cases to observe the liturgies of Holy Week. He also remembered maritime workers and migrants who died at sea, especially off the coast of Crete:

“Land, sky and sea were all created for life and peace!”

 Take-Away Points:

• “Aircraft should always be vehicles of peace, never of war!” – putting technology at the service of war is “not progress, it is regression.”
• Christian–Muslim dialogue shows it is possible to live together in peace — the Church “rejects nothing of what is true and holy” in other religions.
• The Church’s hierarchy is a divine institution — “born of the charity of Christ” — not a human construct.
• Organ donation is “a noble and meritorious act” — vigilance against commodification of the body remains essential.
• Jesus is the “King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war.”

Sources:

2026-03-23 – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/march/documents/20260323-ita-airways.html

2026-03-25 (PROCMURA) – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/march/documents/20260325-procmura.html

2026-03-25 (Audience) – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/audiences/2026/documents/20260325-udienza-generale.html

2026-03-26 – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/march/documents/20260326-cnt.html

2026-03-28 – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2026/march/documents/20260328-principato-dimonaco-saluto.html

2026-03-29 (Homily) – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/homilies/2026/documents/20260329-palme.html

2026-03-29 (Angelus) – https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/angelus/2026/documents/20260329-angelus.html