During the Jubilee audience on September 27 in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV addressed his reflection especially to the pilgrims of the Jubilee of Catechists, addressing the intimate relationship between simplicity, faith, and divine revelation.

The Pontiff began with a key verb:  “to intuit,” understood as a movement of the soul, a perception governed not by mere intellectual knowledge but by the openness of the heart. Jesus found this capacity for intuition precisely in the little ones—those of humble souls—the Holy Father affirmed.

“Educated people often have little intuition because they presume they know everything. It’s good to leave space in the mind and heart so that God can reveal himself,” he emphasized.

According to the Pope, these humble hearts possess something similar to a sensus fidei, that “sixth sense” of the simple people to grasp the divine. God, simple by nature, allows himself to be seen and touched especially by those who do not trust in their own certainties, but in grace and inner silence.

Vocation from the history of Saint Ambrose

To illustrate this dynamic between revelation and popular simplicity, Leo XIV recalled the episode of Saint Ambrose: in the 4th century, during a moment of ecclesial tension in Milan, a child spontaneously cried out  “Ambrose, bishop!” and the crowd echoed that voice.

Ambrose, still a catechumen at the time and even reluctant to accept the call, ultimately not only accepted but was baptized and consecrated to assume the episcopate. In this gesture, the Pope explained, there is a profound testimony: God can choose in the midst of the unexpected when the people sense the truth.

In this way, Ambrose “becomes a Christian by being a bishop” — words that Leo XIV quoted to invite all the faithful to live their Christian vocation from their own concrete reality.

Living the faith “by doing what is our duty”

The Pope encouraged the faithful to express their faith concretely: “Are you a mother, are you a father? Become a Christian as a mother and father. Are you a businessman, an employee, a teacher, a priest, a religious woman? Become a Christian in your journey.”

He recalled that people have a certain “nose” for detecting whether we truly live the faith or simply profess it in words. This popular sensitivity can correct and guide those who journey in the Church.

He reiterated that intuition is also a form of hope, because God moves the Church forward by showing it new paths, and that intuition—of the little ones—is like their “nose” to feel the Kingdom to come.

At the end of his catechesis, he offered a final appeal: may this Jubilee help us become small according to the Gospel, to intuit and serve God’s dreams.