Pope Leo XIV presides at a prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Consolation, and invites everyone who has experienced hardship or loss to embrace faith in Christ, so that pain may not lead to violence but forgiving love.
By Devin Watkins
Around 9,000 pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Basilica on Monday evening to take part in a prayer vigil for the Jubilee of Consolation.
The special event of the Holy Year was dedicated to everyone who has endured moments of particular difficulty, bereavement, suffering, or hardship.
Pope Leo XVI led pilgrims in the Liturgy of the Word, which included two testimonies from women who have suffered an especially traumatic loss of a loved one.
Diane Foley, mother of the late American journalist James Foley, told her story of faith and her reconciliation with a member of the so-called Islamic State who killed her son in 2014.
Lucia Di Mauro Montanino shared the pain she and her daughter endured after her husband, a security guard, was murdered by a group of young men in the Italian city of Naples.
In his address, Pope Leo reflected on humanity’s need for comfort and consolation amid the many wars and personal losses people endure every day.
“In times of darkness, even when all outward appearances suggest otherwise, God does not abandon us,” he said. “Rather, it is precisely in these moments that we are invited more than ever to place our hope in the closeness of the Savior who never forsakes us.”
The Pope noted that those who suffer look around for someone to offer some form of consolation, but often find no one.
At times, he added, tears are the only consolation we find, a consolation of which he said we should never be ashamed, since they express our weak and tested humanity’s silent cry.
We may find ourselves questioning the nature of evil and how God can let evil exist. Yet, said the Pope, we should turn to Sacred Scripture to help us journey from questioning to faith.
If we turn our questions into pleas and supplications for justice and peace from God, we turn our hope to Jesus, who is the bridge between God and humanity.
“Consolation is found when faith stands ‘firm and stable,’ where it was once ‘unformed and hesitant’ like a boat in a storm,” said Pope Leo. “Where there is evil, we must seek the comfort and consolation that can overcome it and give it no respite.”
The Pope noted that the testimonies of Ms. Foley and Ms. Di Mauro Montanino reveal the truth that “pain must not give rise to violence,” since love can conquer hatred.
Forgiveness, he said, offers us a foretaste of the Kingdom of God on earth, breaking the cycle of evil and establishing justice grounded in God’s mercy.
“The Church, some of whose members have unfortunately hurt you, kneels with you today before our Mother,” he said. “May we all learn from her to protect the most vulnerable with tenderness!”
Pope Leo XIV invited everyone to allow God to comfort us in our pain, rather than relying on our own strength of will.
“Our loved ones who have been separated from us by sister death are not lost and do not fade into the void,” he said. “Their lives belong to the Lord, the Good Shepherd, who embraces them and holds them close.”
In conclusion, the Pope appealed for an end to the crushing weight of violence, hunger, and war that are causing immense suffering to entire populations.
“Even in the midst of so much arrogance,” said Pope Leo, “we are certain that God will inspire hearts and hands to provide help and consolation: peacemakers who can comfort those who are in pain and sadness.”
