Full text of the Homily:

HOLY MASS FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV

Borgo Laudato si’ (Castel Gandolfo)
Wednesday, July 9, 2025

On this beautiful day, I would first like to invite everyone, starting with myself, to experience what we are celebrating in the beauty of a cathedral that we could call “natural,” with the plants and so many elements of creation that have gathered us here to celebrate the Eucharist, which means giving thanks to the Lord.

There are many reasons for this Eucharist to give thanks to the Lord: this celebration could be the first with the new formula of the Holy Mass for the care of creation, which is also the fruit of the work of several Vatican Dicasteries.

Personally, I thank so many people here present who have worked in this regard for the liturgy. As you know, the liturgy represents life, and you are the life of this Laudato si’ Center. I would like to thank you at this moment, on this occasion, for all that you do, following this beautiful inspiration of Pope Francis, who donated this small space, these gardens, to continue the very important mission that, ten years after the publication of Laudato si’, continues to remind us of the need to care for creation, our common home.

Here we are as in the ancient churches of the early centuries, where one had to pass through the baptismal font to enter the church. I wouldn’t want to be baptized in this water… but the symbol of passing through water, being washed clean of our sins and weaknesses in order to enter the great mystery of the Church, is something we also live today. At the beginning of Mass, we prayed for conversion, our conversion. I would like to add that we must pray for the conversion of so many people, inside and outside the Church, who still do not recognize the urgency of caring for our common home.

So many natural disasters that we still see around the world, almost every day, in so many places and countries, are partly caused by human excesses and lifestyles. That’s why we must ask ourselves if we ourselves are experiencing this conversion. How much we need it!

That said, I have also brought a prepared homily, which I will now share. I ask you for a little patience: it contains some elements that truly help us continue to reflect this morning, sharing this familiar and serene moment, in a world burning, both from global warming and from armed conflicts. This makes Pope Francis’ message in his encyclicals Laudato si’  and Fratelli tutti even more relevant. We can recognize ourselves in this Gospel we have heard, contemplating the fear of the disciples in the midst of the storm, a fear also experienced by a large part of humanity. But, at the heart of the Jubilee Year, we confess—and we can repeat it many times—there is hope! We have found it in Jesus. He continues to calm the storm. His power does not destroy, but creates; it does not devastate, but gives new life. And we, too, ask ourselves: “Who is this, that even the winds and the waves obey him?” (Mt 8:27).

The wonder expressed in this question is the first step that leads us beyond fear. Jesus lived and prayed around the Sea of ​​Galilee. There he called his first disciples to their places of life and work. The parables with which he proclaimed the Kingdom of God reveal a profound connection with that land, with those waters, with the rhythm of the seasons, and with the life of creatures.

The evangelist Matthew describes the storm as an “earthquake” (he uses the word seismós), the same term he will use for the earthquake at Jesus’ death and at the dawn of his resurrection. Above this upheaval, Christ rises, standing: here the Gospel already shows us the Risen Lord, present in our turbulent history. The rebuke Jesus addresses to the wind and the sea manifests his power of life and salvation, which dominates those forces before which creatures feel lost.

Let us then ask ourselves again: “Who is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?” (Mt 8:27). The hymn from the Letter to the Colossians that we have heard seems to answer this question: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things were created in heaven and on earth” (Col 1:15-16). The disciples, that day, in the midst of the storm, could not yet profess this knowledge of Jesus. We today, in the faith we have received, can continue: “He is also the head of the body, of the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn of those who are raised from the dead, that he might be first in all things” (v. 18). These are words that commit us throughout history, that make us a living body, whose head is Christ. Our mission to protect creation, to bring it peace and reconciliation, is his very mission: the mission the Lord has entrusted to us. We hear the cry of the earth, we hear the cry of the poor, because that cry has reached the heart of God. Our indignation is his indignation, our work is his work.

The psalmist’s song inspires us: “The voice of the Lord rules over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful, the voice of the Lord is majestic” (Ps 29:3-4). This voice commits the Church to prophecy, even as it demands the audacity to oppose the destructive power of the princes of this world. The indestructible covenant between Creator and creatures mobilizes our minds and our efforts to transform evil into good, injustice into justice, and greed into communion.

With infinite love, the one God created all things, giving us life: this is why Saint Francis of Assisi calls creatures brother, sister, mother. Only a contemplative gaze can change our relationship with created things and rescue us from the ecological crisis, which is caused by the rupture of relationships with God, with our neighbor, and with the earth, caused by sin (cf. Pope Francis, Encyclical Laudato si’, 66).

Dear brothers and sisters, the Borgo Laudato si’, where we are located, aims to be, according to Pope Francis’ intuition, a “laboratory” where we can live that harmony with creation that is for us healing and reconciliation, developing new and effective ways of safeguarding the nature entrusted to us. To you, who are dedicated with dedication to the realization of this project, I assure you of my prayers and my encouragement.

The Eucharist we are celebrating gives meaning and sustains our work. As Pope Francis writes, “In the Eucharist, creation reaches its highest elevation. Grace, which tends to manifest itself in a perceptible way, finds marvelous expression when God himself, made man, becomes consumed by his creature. The Lord, at the height of the mystery of the Incarnation, wished to reach us in our intimacy through a simple fragment of matter. Not from on high, but from within, so that in our own world we might encounter him” (Pope Francis, Laudato si’, 236). From this place I wish to conclude these reflections, entrusting to you the words with which Saint Augustine, in the final pages of his Confessions, associates created things and man in a cosmic praise: “Your works praise you so that we may love you, and we love you so that your works praise you” (Confessions, XIII, 33, 48). May this be the harmony we spread throughout the world.