Pope Leo XIV says "spread respect and harmony, starting by disarming language" so "through you" others Encounter the "God of love"

On the Sunday before the start of the Lenten season, Feb. 15, the Roman neighborhood of Ostia welcomed Pope Leo XIV in the afternoon. He arrived around 3:45 p.m. for his visit to the parish—the first of five Sunday visits leading up to Easter. The Pope was greeted by the Cardinal Vicar Baldo Reina and the parish priest, Fr. Giovanni Patané. The crowd area around the parish was filled with people, greeting the Pope in a place marked by the spiritual legacy of Saint Augustine and his mother, Saint Monica.
HOLY MASS

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

Parish of “S. Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido”
Sixth Sunday of Ordinary Time, February 15, 2026
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Dear brothers and sisters,

It gives me great joy to be here and to experience with your community the gesture from which "Sunday" takes its name. It is "the Lord's day" because the Risen Jesus comes among us, listens to us and speaks to us, nourishes us and sends us forth. Thus, in the Gospel we heard today, Jesus announces his "new law": not just a teaching, but the strength to implement it. It is the grace of the Holy Spirit that indelibly writes on our hearts and brings to fulfillment the commandments of the Old Covenant (see Mt 5:17-37).

Through the Decalogue, after the exodus from Egypt, God had sealed a covenant with his people, offering them a plan for life and a path to salvation. The "Ten Commandments" are therefore placed and understood within the path of liberation, thanks to which a group of divided and oppressed tribes is transformed into a united and free people. Those commandments thus appear, on the long journey through the desert, as the light that shows the way; and their observance is understood and carried out not so much as a formal fulfillment of precepts, but as an act of love, of grateful and trusting correspondence to the Lord of the covenant. Therefore, the law given by God to his people is not in conflict with their freedom, but on the contrary is the condition for its flourishing.

Thus, the first reading, taken from the book of Sirach (cf. 15:16-21), and Psalm 118, with which we sang our response, invite us to see in the Lord's commandments not an oppressive law, but his pedagogy for humanity as it seeks fullness of life and freedom.

In this regard, at the beginning of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes , we find one of the most beautiful expressions of the Second Vatican Council , in which one almost feels the heart of God beating through the heart of the Church. The Council says: "The joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the men of this age, especially of the poor and of all who afflict, these are also the joys and hopes, the griefs and anxieties of the disciples of Christ. And there is nothing genuinely human that fails to raise an echo in their hearts" (Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes , 1).

This prophecy of salvation is abundantly expressed in Jesus' preaching, which begins on the shores of the Sea of ​​Galilee with the announcement of the Beatitudes (cf. Mt 5:1-12) and continues by showing the authentic and full meaning of God's law. The Lord says: "You have heard that it was said to the ancients, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the Sanhedrin; and whoever says to him, 'You fool!' shall be liable to the fire of Gehenna" ( Mt 5:21-22). He thus indicates, as the path to human fulfillment, a fidelity to God founded on respect and care for others in their inviolable sacredness, to be cultivated, even before gestures and words, in the heart. It is there, in fact, that the noblest feelings are born, but also the most painful profanations: closure, envy, jealousy, so that whoever thinks badly of his brother, harboring bad feelings toward him, is as if in his heart he were already killing him. It is no coincidence that St. John states: "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer" ( 1 John 3:15).

How true these words are! And when we too find ourselves judging and despising others, let us remember that the evil we see in the world has its roots precisely there, where the heart becomes cold, hard, and lacking in mercy.

We experience it here in Ostia, too, where, sadly, violence exists and is harmful, sometimes taking root among young people and adolescents, perhaps fueled by substance abuse; or by criminal organizations that exploit people by involving them in their crimes and pursuing unjust interests with illegal and immoral methods.

Faced with these phenomena, I invite all of you, as a parish community, together with the other virtuous organizations operating in these neighborhoods, to continue to give generously and courageously to spread the good seed of the Gospel in your streets and homes. Do not resign yourselves to the culture of abuse and injustice. Instead, spread respect and harmony, starting by disarming language and then investing energy and resources in education, especially for children and young people. Yes, may they learn honesty, acceptance, and a love that transcends boundaries in the parish; learn to help not only those who reciprocate, and to greet not only those who greet, but to reach out to everyone freely and freely. learn the coherence between faith and life, as Jesus teaches us when he says: "If you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift" ( Mt 5:23-24).

May this, dearest ones, be the goal of your efforts and your activities, for the good of those near and far, so that even those who are slaves to evil may encounter, through you, the God of love, the only one who frees the heart and makes us truly happy.

One hundred and ten years ago, Pope Benedict XV desired that this parish be named after Santa Maria Regina Pacis . He did so at the height of the First World War, thinking of your community as a ray of light in the leaden sky of war. Unfortunately, even after this time, many clouds still darken the world, with the spread of a logic contrary to the Gospel, which exalts the supremacy of the strongest, encourages arrogance, and fuels the seduction of victory at any cost, deaf to the cries of those who suffer and the defenseless.

Let us counter this drift with the disarming power of meekness, continuing to ask for peace, and to welcome and cultivate its gift, with tenacity and humility. Saint Augustine taught that "it is not difficult to possess peace [...]. If [...] we want to have it, it is there, within our reach, and we can possess it without any effort" ( Sermo 357 , 1). And this is because our peace is Christ, which is achieved by allowing ourselves to be conquered and transformed by Him, by opening our heart to Him, and by opening it, with His grace, to those He Himself places on our path.

You too, dear sisters and brothers, do it day by day. Do it together, as a community, with the help of Mary, Queen of Peace. May she, Mother of God and our Mother, always guard and protect us. Amen.