Pope Leo XIV spoke about the World Day of the Sick, celebrated in Chiclayo, Peru, and lit a candle in front of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes in the “Paul VI“ hall, then prayed in front of the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens, Aleteia.org reported.
Saints Cyril and Methodius, apostles of the Slavs and patrons of Europe, can help revive Europe. This was said by Pope Leo, who, greeting the Polish pilgrims attending the general audience, recalled “the fathers of Christianity, of the language and culture of the Slavic peoples“. Their liturgical memory is celebrated on February 14, writes vaticannews.va.
Let us return to their apostolic work - as Saint John Paul II called for - in building a new unity on the European continent, to overcome tensions, divisions and contradictions - religious and political.
Prayer for the sick
The call for European unity comes on the World Day of the Sick. To mark the occasion, upon his arrival in the Paul VI Hall, the Pope lit a candle in front of the statue of Our Lady of Lourdes, on the day the Church celebrates her memory. While everyone sang the Ave Maria of Lourdes. After the audience, I will go to the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens and light a candle, a sign of my prayer for all the sick, whom we remember with particular affection today, on the World Day of the Sick. Appeal for solidarity with Colombia Then, in Spanish, the Pope recalled that this year the celebration is being celebrated at the Shrine of Our Lady of Peace in Chiclayo, a place dear to Leo XIV. "I join you spiritually," he stressed. In Peru, the Pope sent Cardinal Michael Cerny, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development. The Holy Father entrusts the sick and their families to Mary.
I entrust to her protection the victims and all those affected by the severe floods in Colombia, while calling on the entire community to support the affected families with charity and prayer.
To Our Lady of Lourdes, on the day of her liturgical memorial, in his greeting in Italian, Leo XIV entrusted young people, the sick and newlyweds, so that she may "intercede for you before God and obtain for you the grace that will sustain you on your journey."
Lent, a time of prayer
“Next Wednesday begins the period of Lent“: the Pope, in English, called this period necessary “to deepen our knowledge and love of the Lord, to examine our hearts and lives, and to refocus our gaze "You are on Jesus and His love for us."