At noon today, Pentecost Sunday, Pope Leo XIV appeared at the window of his study in the Vatican Apostolic Palace to recite the  Regina Coeli  with the faithful and pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

The Pope invited the pilgrims to invoke the Holy Spirit, to open all the doors that still remain closed.

Below we publish the Pope’s words introducing the Marian prayer:

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Words of the Pope

Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!

On this  solemnity of Pentecost  we are called to contemplate the gift of the Holy Spirit, poured out in abundance upon the nascent Church and, today, dispensed anew to its members, as light and strength that accompanies them in every moment of life.

We can reflect on an image of the Spirit that today’s liturgy gives us:  the Spirit opens doors.  Indeed, the Gospel tells us that “the doors where the disciples were gathered were locked for fear of the Jews” ( Jn  20:19), and at the same time, the Book of Acts tells us that the Spirit came like a rushing wind (cf. Acts  2  :2), opening the doors and impelling the disciples to go out and proclaim the Good News of the risen Christ.

Today we can also ask ourselves:  what doors does the Holy Spirit open?

The first door is that of God himself, in the sense that he opens for us access to the mystery of God, as revealed in Jesus Christ. With the gift of his Spirit, God grants us true faith, helps us understand the meaning of Scripture, shows himself to us as close, and allows us to share in his very life. The Holy Spirit helps us to have a personal experience of God; to find him in Jesus and not only in the observance of a law; to recognize him within ourselves and to discover the signs of his presence in ordinary life.

The second door is that of the Upper Room, that is, of the Church. Without the fire of the Spirit, the Church remains a prisoner of fear, fearful in the face of the world’s challenges, closed in on itself, and therefore also incapable of entering into dialogue with changing times. The Spirit opens the doors of the Church so that it can welcome and receive everyone, even those who have closed the doors to God, to others, to hope, to the joy of living. As Pope  Francis reminded us , we are called to be “a Church that blesses and encourages […] a Church with its doors open to all” ( Homily at the Opening Mass of the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops , October 4, 2023).

Finally, the Holy Spirit opens the doors of our hearts, helping us to overcome resistance, selfishness, mistrust, and prejudice, and enabling us to live as children of God and brothers and sisters to one another. Where the Spirit of the Lord dwells, fraternity is born among individuals, groups, and peoples of the earth, and all speak the one language of love, which unites and harmonizes differences.

Brothers and sisters, even in our day, especially on this day of Pentecost, we must invoke the Holy Spirit to open all the doors that remain closed. We need to rediscover God as a Father who loves us; to build a Church where everyone feels at home; and to cultivate a fraternal world where peace reigns among all peoples.

Like the first disciples, we entrust ourselves to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, Dwelling Place of the Holy Spirit and Mother of the Church.

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After the Regina Coeli

Dear brothers and sisters:

Today we celebrate the Day of Prayer for the Church in China, on the liturgical memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Help of Christians, venerated with great devotion at the Shrine of Sheshan in Shanghai. Let us unite our prayers with those of Chinese Catholics, as a sign of our affection for them and of their communion with the universal Church and with the Successor of Peter. May the intercession of the Queen of Heaven obtain for the faithful community in China the grace of unity and grant all the strength to bear witness to the Gospel in the face of daily difficulties, to be seeds of hope and peace. In particular, I invoke eternal peace for the victims of the recent mining accident in northern China.

To Mary Most Holy, Help of Christians, we also entrust the Christian communities of the Holy Land, Lebanon and the entire Middle East, who are suffering because of war.

And now I extend my greetings to all of you, faithful of Rome and pilgrims from various countries.

In particular, I greet the group of people with disabilities from Poland, as well as the pilgrims who have cycled from Kelmis, Belgium. Congratulations!