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The Pope spoke during a meeting with mayors from the Assocazione Nazionale dei Comuni Italiani (‘National Association of Italian Local Authorities’) in the Vatican on the 29th December.
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF ITALIAN MUNICIPALITIES
in the Vatican's Clementine Hall on Monday, December 29, 2025
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!
Your Eminence,
dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome.
I am pleased to meet all of you who represent the National Association of Italian Municipalities. We are celebrating this meeting during the Christmas season and at the conclusion of a Jubilee Year: the grace of these days certainly illuminates your service and your responsibilities.
The incarnation of the Son of God introduces us to a child whose gentle fragility clashes with the arrogance of King Herod. In particular, the killing of innocents he ordered not only signifies the loss of society's future, but is the manifestation of an inhuman power, ignorant of the beauty of love because it ignores the dignity of human life.
On the contrary, the birth of the Lord reveals the most authentic aspect of all power, which is first and foremost responsibility and service. For any authority to express these characteristics, it must embody the virtues of humility, honesty, and sharing. In your public engagement, in particular, you are aware of the importance of listening, as a social dynamic that activates these virtues. It is, in fact, a matter of paying attention to the needs of families and individuals, caring especially for the most vulnerable, for the good of all.
The demographic crisis and the struggles of families and young people, the loneliness of the elderly and the silent cry of the poor, environmental pollution and social conflicts are realities that cannot leave you indifferent. As you seek to provide answers, you know well that our cities are not anonymous places, but faces and stories to be preserved like precious treasures. In this work, we become mayors day by day, growing as fair and reliable administrators.
In this regard, let the venerable Giorgio La Pira serve as an example for you. In a speech to the city councilors of Florence, he stated: "You have only one right towards me: to deny me your trust! But you do not have the right to say to me: Mr. Mayor, do not concern yourself with the people without work (those fired or unemployed), without homes (those evicted), without assistance (the elderly, the sick, children). It is my fundamental duty. If there is someone who is suffering, I have a precise duty: to intervene in every way, with all the measures that love suggests and that the law provides, so that that suffering is either diminished or alleviated. There is no other rule of conduct for a mayor in general and for a Christian mayor in particular" ( Scritti , VI, p. 83).
Social cohesion and civic harmony require, first and foremost, listening to the smallest and the poor: without this commitment, "democracy atrophies, becomes nominalism, a formality, loses its representativeness, and becomes disembodied because it excludes the people in their daily struggle for dignity, in building their destiny" (Francis, Address , November 5, 2016). Both in the face of difficulties and opportunities for development, I urge you to become masters of dedication to the common good, fostering a social alliance for hope.
At the conclusion of the Jubilee, I gladly share with you this important theme, which my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, indicated in the Bull of Indiction. Everyone, he wrote, "needs to rediscover the joy of living, because human beings, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:26), cannot be content to simply survive or get by, to adapt to the present, allowing themselves to be satisfied by purely material realities. This traps us in individualism and corrodes hope, generating a sadness that lodges in our hearts, making us bitter and intolerant" ( Spes non confundit , 9).
Unfortunately, our cities experience forms of marginalization, violence, and loneliness that need to be addressed. I would like to draw particular attention to the scourge of gambling, which ruins many families. Statistics show a sharp increase in gambling in Italy in recent years. As Caritas Italiana emphasizes in its latest Report on Poverty and Social Exclusion, it is a serious problem for education, mental health, and social trust. We cannot overlook other forms of loneliness from which many people suffer: mental disorders, depression, cultural and spiritual poverty, and social abandonment. These are signs that demonstrate the need for hope. To effectively demonstrate it, politicians are called to forge authentically human relationships among citizens, promoting social peace.
Don Primo Mazzolari, a priest attentive to the lives of his people, wrote that "the country needs more than just sewers, houses, roads, aqueducts, and sidewalks. The country also needs a way of feeling, of living, a way of looking at one another, a way of uniting as brothers" ( Discorsi , Bologna 2006, 470). Administrative activity thus finds its full realization, because it nurtures people's talents, giving cities cultural and spiritual depth.
Dearest ones, have the courage to offer hope to the people, planning together the best future for your lands, in the spirit of integral human development. As I thank you for your willingness to serve the community, I accompany you in prayer, so that with God's help you may effectively fulfill your responsibilities, sharing your commitment with your colleagues and fellow citizens. To you and your families I cordially impart my apostolic blessing and offer my best wishes for the New Year. Thank you!
Let us pray together: Our Father…
[Blessing]
Best wishes and a happy new year! And happy pilgrimage!
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