Pope Leo XIV says "We become fully human when we...allow God to lead us beyond ourselves to reach the truest part of our being" FULL TEXT

On the afternoon of May 30, the Pope received representatives from the Holy Family of Nazareth Foundation at the Vatican, along with the Domenico Tardini Community Association and Foundation, which founded this organization eighty years ago as a sign and instrument of education and peace. Founded after the Second World War, by the vision of Cardinal Domenico Tardini, then Secretary of State, as a laboratory of hope in Rome, with the dome of St. Peter's in view, Villa Nazareth fosters a necessary dialogue between faith, culture and charity, especially for the most disadvantaged young people.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE COMMUNITY OF VILLA NAZARETH

Hall of Blessing on Saturday, May 30, 2026
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Thank you! Thank you all!
In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
peace be with you!
Dear brothers and sisters, good evening and welcome!

I greet His Eminence Cardinal Pietro Parolin and thank him for his words of welcome and introduction to the beautiful reality of Villa Nazareth, as well as His Excellency Msgr. Claudio Maria Celli, and the priests and religious present. I greet the representatives of the various components of Villa Nazareth—the Holy Family of Nazareth Foundation, the Domenico Tardini Community Association, and the Domenico Tardini Community Foundation—and the students of the College, witnesses to a journey that has seen this organization grow and evolve, as charity demands, to respond over time to the ever-changing needs of youth formation. At the beginning of this meeting, I would like to recall several significant figures in your history: Cardinal Domenico Tardini, Founder, Cardinal Antonio Samorè, his first successor, and Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, a fruitful and authoritative interpreter of the initial project. Our gratitude also goes to the numerous students, alumni, friends, and families who have made invaluable contributions.

Villa Nazareth was founded in 1946, after the end of World War II, as a symbol and instrument of education and peace. The Founder understood that, to promote lasting peace, it was necessary to train young people as leaders in doing good, providing them with the tools to live the values ​​of the Gospel in their families, in their studies, in their leisure time, and in their professional practice. For this reason, he inaugurated at Villa Nazareth a broad-based educational program—spiritual, intellectual, and moral—with the specific aim of making this opportunity accessible to those who, rich in talent and goodwill, lacked the necessary means to pursue a course of study.

Villa Nazareth aims to offer educational programs inspired by profound Christian and human inspiration, with a specific method—that is, a community journey—accompanied by expert educators and implemented through the involvement of all, as advocated in the Apostolic Constitution Veritatis Gaudium (see no. 4).

I know how much and how Cardinal Silvestrini was a teacher and guide in the formative journey of many of you, and how his teaching still inspires many projects carried out by the Villa Nazareth community. Your formative program, which ultimately contains the guidelines for each of your human and spiritual journeys, includes several biblical icons: may they always be a source of inspiration for your actions! In particular, the Gospel story of the Washing of the Feet and the parable of the Good Samaritan help us understand what the lifestyle of a disciple of the Lord should be: we are called not to be served but to serve, attentive to every man or woman we meet along the way, to offer concrete gestures of love.

From this perspective, it is good to remember what Pope Francis wrote: "We become fully human when we are more than human, when we allow God to lead us beyond ourselves to reach the truest part of our being" (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium , 8). Indeed, as I wanted to emphasize in the recently published Encyclical, "what saves us is not enhanced self-sufficiency, but a relationship that liberates, a communion that transforms" ( Magnifica Humanitas , 128). Today, humanity finds itself "faced with a decisive choice: to erect a new Tower of Babel or to build the city where God and humanity dwell together […] in which the dignity of every person is safeguarded, justice promoted, and fraternity made possible" ( ibid . , 1). And these two icons remind us how to respond to the challenges we face.

In light of all this, I would like to recall and encourage one final aspect of your work: the intention to make Villa Nazareth a hotbed and a breeding ground for Christian thought, where the convergence of the intellectual, moral, and economic efforts of men and women from different generations and walks of life contributes to the deepening, growth, and dissemination of a culture increasingly enlightened by the teachings of the Gospel.

On the occasion of the visit for the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Community, Saint John Paul II encouraged you to assimilate and transmit that Wisdom which "purifies, integrates, brings to fullness the noblest efforts of human intelligence and industriousness, freeing them from the prison of pride and the logic of domination and opening them to the perspective of love and service" ( Address to the Community of Villa Nazareth on the 50th anniversary of its foundation , 8 June 1996).

A few years later, Pope Benedict XVI reiterated his invitation at Villa Nazareth to "form his young people in the courage to make decisions, in an attitude of openness to dialogue, with reference to reason purified in the crucible of faith" ( Address to the "Domenico Tardini Community" , 11 November 2006). And recalling the conversation between the deacon Philip and the Ethiopian, recounted in the Acts of the Apostles (cf. 8:26-40), he added: "It is therefore important that someone comes alongside those who are on the journey and announces to them 'the good news of Jesus', as Philip did. Here is a foreshadowing of the 'diakonia' that Christian culture can carry out in helping people in search to discover the One who is hidden in the pages of the Bible as in the events of each person's life" ( ibid . ); and he concluded: "No culture can be satisfied with itself until it discovers that it must be attentive to the real and profound needs of man, of every man" ( ibid . ).

These appeals are more valid than ever today, at a time when young people have wonderful opportunities and means of knowledge and growth, but they also have a great need for light and guidance, especially to create unity between mind and spirit, between faith, study, profession, and life.

For this reason, I too echo my predecessors, urging you to continue your work with renewed enthusiasm. I heartily thank all of you—educators, students, associates, alumni, friends—for the good with which you enrich the Church and society every day.

I entrust you to Mary, Mother of Wisdom and Star on our path, as I heartily impart my Apostolic Blessing to all. Thank you.

Translation from the Vatican News Bulletin with Vatican Media Image (text added)