Pope Leo XIV, Regina Caeli, St Peter’s Square, 5th Sunday of Easter, 3 May 2026
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
During the Easter season, like the early Church, we return to the words of Jesus, which reveal their full meaning in the light of his passion, death and resurrection. What once eluded the disciples or caused them distress now comes back to their minds, warms their hearts and fills them with hope.
The Gospel proclaimed this Sunday presents the Master’s dialogue with his disciples during the Last Supper. In particular, we hear a promise that involves us from this moment onwards in the mystery of his Resurrection. Jesus says: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also” (Jn 14:3). The Apostles thus discover that God has a place for everyone. Two of them had already experienced this during their first encounter with Jesus by the river Jordan. Jesus noticed them following him and invited them that afternoon to visit where he was staying (cf. Jn 1:39). Even now, faced with death, Jesus speaks of a home, but this time a very large one. It is the house of his Father and our Father, where there is room for all. The Son describes himself as the servant who prepares the rooms, so that every brother or sister, upon arriving, may find their own room ready and feel as though they have always been longed for and are at last found.
Dear friends, in the old world in which we are still journeying, what attracts attention are exclusive places, experiences accessible only to a few and the privilege of entering where others cannot. In the new world into which the risen One leads us, however, what is most valuable is within everyone’s reach. Yet this does not make it any less attractive. On the contrary, what is open to all now brings joy. Gratitude takes the place of competition; welcome overcomes exclusion; and abundance no longer entails inequality. Above all, no one is mistaken for someone else, and no one is lost. Death threatens to erase one’s name and memory, but in God everyone is fully themselves. Truly, this is what we spend our whole lives searching for, sometimes willing to do anything just to get a little attention and recognition.
“Have faith,” Jesus tells us. That is the secret! “Have faith in God; have faith also in me” (Jn 14:1).
It is precisely this faith that frees our hearts from the anxiety of possessing and acquiring, and from the illusion that we must pursue a position of prestige to have worth.
Each person already has infinite worth in the mystery of God, which is the true reality. By loving one another as Jesus has loved us, we impart this awareness to one another. This is the new commandment; in this way, we anticipate heaven on earth and reveal to all that fraternity and peace are our calling. Indeed, through love, amidst a multitude of brothers and sisters, each one discovers that they are uniquely made.
Let us pray, then, to Mary Most Holy, Mother of the Church, that every Christian community may be a home open to all and attentive to each person.
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