Pope Leo XIV says "May the dignity of work and the dignity of prayer be your strength to break down the walls of mistrust and fear." to Traveling Peoples

MEETING "HOPE IS ITINERANT - MY FATHER AND MY MOTHER WERE WANDERING ARAMEANS" ( See : DT 26,5)
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE PARTICIPANTS IN THE JUBILEE OF ROMA, SINTI AND CAMINANTI PEOPLE

Paul VI Hall on Saturday, October 18, 2025
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Dear Roma, Sinti, and Caminanti brothers and sisters, welcome!
O Del si tumentsa! The Lord be with you!

You have come to Rome from all parts of Europe – some even from outside Europe – as pilgrims of hope in this Jubilee. With your presence you remind us that "hope is itinerant" [1] – the title of our meeting –; and today we all feel set on the journey by the gift you bring with you to the Pope: your strong faith, your unshakeable hope in God alone, the solid trust that does not give way to the toils of a life often on the margins of society.

May the peace of Christ be in your hearts, brothers and sisters of Roma, Sinti, and Caminanti! And may peace also be in the hearts of the many pastoral workers who are present here and tirelessly walk with you.

Today's Jubilee celebration falls sixty years after the historic first world meeting that Pope Saint Paul VI had with your communities, in Pomezia , on 26 September 1965. Here today, almost as a witness to that event, is the statue of Our Lady, whom the Pontiff himself crowned as "Queen of the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti". In these sixty years, meetings with my Predecessors have followed one another ever more frequently, in different contexts, a sign of a lively dialogue and of the special pastoral care for you, "a beloved portion of God's pilgrim people". [2] Yes, God the Father loves you and blesses you, and the Church also loves you and blesses you.

You can be living witnesses to the centrality of these three things: trusting only in God, not attaching yourself to any worldly possessions, and demonstrating exemplary faith in words and deeds. Living this way is not a given. It is learned by welcoming God's blessing and allowing it to work to change our hearts. "The heart of the Church, by its very nature, is in solidarity with the poor, the excluded, and the marginalized, with those considered society's 'discard'. […] In the heart of each of the faithful, there is a need to hear that cry that comes from the liberating work of grace in each of us; therefore, this is not a mission reserved only to a few" (Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te , 111).

For nearly a thousand years, you have been pilgrims and nomads in a context that has progressively constructed development models that have proven to be unjust and unsustainable in many respects. For this reason, so-called "progressive" societies have consistently rejected you, always marginalizing you: the margins of cities, the margins of rights, the margins of education and culture. Yet, the very model of society that marginalized you and made you itinerant, without peace or acceptance—first in seasonal caravans, then in camps on the outskirts of cities, where you still sometimes live without electricity or running water—is what has created the greatest social injustices globally over the last century: enormous economic inequalities between individuals and populations, unprecedented financial crises, environmental disasters, and wars.

But we, in faith in Jesus Christ, know that "the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" ( Mt 21:42), and thus we are increasingly strengthened in the conviction that the very values ​​that the poor uphold with great dignity and pride are those to which we must all look in order to change course. Your presence in the peripheries of the West is indeed a sign to point to in the elimination of many structures of sin, for the good and progress of humanity towards a more peaceful and just coexistence, in harmony with God, with creation, and with others.

Pope Benedict XVI , when he met you in 2011, told you that "you are a people who in past centuries did not live nationalist ideologies, did not aspire to possess a land or dominate other peoples." [3] Today too, free yourselves from every temptation to possess, from every unjust attachment to things, to remain itinerant in the Spirit, poor in spirit, and for this reason blessed.

«The ethnic groups that have developed a cultural treasure by remaining linked to nature, with a strong sense of community, easily perceive our shadows, which we do not recognize in the midst of so-called progress». [4] Therefore, today I exhort you: do not be discouraged! Being closer to the condition of Christ, poor and humiliated, you remind humanity what the «paradigm of Christian life» is. [5]

I encourage you to believe in the saving beauty that your culture and your itinerant situation bring with them. Pope Francis , in 2019, made a heartfelt appeal to you: “I ask you, please, to have a bigger, even broader heart: no rancor. And to move forward with dignity: the dignity of the family, the dignity of work, the dignity of earning your daily bread – this is what keeps you going – and the dignity of prayer.” [6] May the dignity of work and the dignity of prayer be your strength to break down the walls of mistrust and fear.

What I have just said seems to me to highlight a true mission that you have in the Church. Pope Benedict XVI had already underlined that "you too are called to participate actively in the evangelizing mission of the Church." [7] And even more recently, Pope Francis , meeting you in June 2019 in Blaj , Romania, encouraged you: "You as a people have a leading role to assume and you must not be afraid to share and offer those specific characteristics that constitute you and that mark your path, and which we so greatly need." [8]

Today, therefore, I make my own the invitation of my Predecessors: be protagonists of the epochal change underway, walking together with other people of good will in the places where you find yourselves, overcoming mutual distrust, making known the beauty of your culture, sharing faith, prayer, and the bread born of honest work.

Finally, in thanking the Dicastery for Integral Human Development and the Migrantes Foundation for the great effort made to organize such a beautiful Jubilee, I invite you, pastoral workers with the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti, to carry forward with renewed energy the objectives formulated by the Fifth World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Gypsies. [9] I refer in particular to those relating to education and professional training, pastoral attention for the family and the community, the inculturation of the liturgy and catechesis – including the linguistic question – and ecumenical and interreligious dialogue in the world of the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti. Lastly, I hope that every Diocese will develop adequate pastoral attention dedicated to the Roma, Sinti and Caminanti communities, for true integral human growth.

Dear sisters and brothers, may the Jubilee pilgrimage strengthen you in faith and hope and in walking courageously on the path of the Gospel. May the Virgin Mary protect you and my blessing accompany you!


The Holy Father's answers to children's questions

FIRST QUESTION (in FRENCH)

Good morning, Holy Father. How can we young people be better friends with Jesus?

POPE LEO XIV

I'll answer in Italian, if you'll pardon me! Becoming better friends with Jesus. I think this is a very important question. And the question itself helps open the heart. Being a friend of Jesus begins with being a friend. It's very important to learn to be friends, all of us, to respect one another and to see how beautiful it is to have a true friendship. Then, being a friend of Jesus means knowing Jesus. We can't be friends with someone we don't know. Being friends means trying to get to know the other and for the other to get to know me. And so, dialogue with Jesus, which especially happens in prayer, is an important element. Sincerity. No friendship is good if there isn't truth and sincerity. And so, as young people, we need to see how to always try to be honest with the truth in our own lives, with our friends. Being honest with Jesus means being humble, entering into dialogue with Jesus in prayer, with the Word of God. And then, this is an important value for your reality, seeking Jesus also in community. Jesus, through the Church, presents himself to us, and therefore loving Jesus, being a friend of Jesus, means being a friend in the Church: and so life in the Church, the Sacraments, the Holy Mass. Seeking the help of the Church is also a very important path to always being a friend of Jesus. Thank you.

SECOND QUESTION

Good morning, Pope Leo. I wanted to ask you something: can we children grow up in a world without war? Can we do something to make this happen?

POPE LEO XIV

Well, thank you for this question. It's very important for children, but also for us adults. We all want to live in a world without war... [applause] This is for you! And of course, we must always strive to be promoters of peace, bridge builders, and firmly convinced that peace is possible, that it's not just a dream, that we can live in peace. So, to live in peace, we too must find a way to be people of peace. If we want to change the world, we must start with ourselves, with our friends, our classmates, in our families, among families. It's very important that we always seek this capacity for dialogue, for mutual respect, and to promote the values ​​that help us build a world of peace. I believe it's possible, and I hope one day we will all find and see a world where peace reigns and where we can all live in peace! Thank you.

THIRD QUESTION

Pope Leo, how do you welcome those who are different? How do you overcome prejudices against those who belong to an unloved minority?

POPE LEO XIV

Well, well, thank you for this question. In a certain sense, I think this question is an adult's question because children aren't that concerned about those who are different! When children see another child, they want to play, they want to see how to make friends. They're not worried about diversity, but say, "We're all children, we can play together, we can live together in peace," and that's very beautiful about children! And more often than not, we adults start to say, "He's like this, or she's like that... this culture, this nation... this religion are different things...", and we begin to make certain distinctions, certain judgments. I truly think a child's attitude is right. Jesus says it in the Gospel: "Whoever acts like a child is one who belongs to the Kingdom of God." So, try to set aside this distinction of who is different and begin with respect for all human beings. Every human being is born in the image of God. Whether someone is poor, someone comes from a rich family, someone has property, someone doesn't, we are all brothers and sisters. So let's respect this brotherhood of all, and we'll see that the world can change there too. Thank you.

FOURTH QUESTION (SPANISH)

Your Holiness, I would like to ask you what we children should do to love the poor more?

POPE LEO XIV

How to love the poor more.

If you are interested, I can speak in Spanish for the responder. The first part of the response comes a little from the last question, which the adults make the distinctions. We are all human beings, ricos and pobres. To love the poor is to love a man, a woman, without making these distinctions and respecting the person as a man of God, a man of God. We are also a little certain about the advantages that we can have, sometimes we think: "Oh no, I don't want to know why you have a house that is a little safe or you don't have a house at all. This, that, doesn't look good, with the latest fashions...". And the Lord taught us something very different: Jesus, in the Gospel, makes these distinctions. Love everyone, want to be a friend of everyone. If you're looking for everything. And so there is a lesson that we can all learn: offer you a bread, go to another house and ask us to offer you a banquete... you can learn to accept what we offer and embrace it with open heart. By deciding that all people are good, we can discover the bondage in each person. Let us walk with the other, —with this respect for the dignity of the person— and recognize that in the eyes of God there is no such distinction. The Lord taught us to love everyone, to be a friend to everyone, and not to eliminate or avoid those people who, due to economic poverty or poverty of other types, are a little more difficult. What we learn is this: to love everyone, as our brothers and sisters. Thank you.

[1] Cf. Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Fundamental Points for a Pastoral Care of Gypsies: Ecclesial Perspective , “God's Covenant and the Itinerancy of Men”, Budapest, 30 June – 7 July 2003.

[2] Ibid ., “The pastoral care of the Gypsies by the Church: an indispensable task”.

[3] Benedict XVI, Address to the representatives of various ethnic groups of Roma gypsies , 11 June 2011.

[4] Francis, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia (2 February 2020), 36 .

[5] Cf. Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Fundamental Points for a Pastoral Care of Gypsies: Ecclesiastical Perspective , “The Life of Gypsies, Paradigm of Christian Life”, Budapest, 30 June – 7 July 2003.

[6] Francis, Prayer meeting with the Roma and Sinti people , 9 May 2019.

[7] Benedict XVI, Address to the representatives of various ethnic groups of Gypsies and Roma , 11 June 2011.

[8] Francis, Greeting to the Roma community , Blaj, 2 June 2019.

[9] Final Document of the V World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Gypsies , Budapest, 30 June - 7 July 2003.