Pope Leo XIV prays at the Jubilee of Youth in Rome on August 3, 2025 (@Vatican Media)
Pope’s Lenten message: Abstain from harsh
words and rash judgement
Ahead of the start of Lent, Pope Leo XIV
invites Catholics to open ourselves to listening, fasting, and community,
urging us to abstain from words of hatred in order to make space for words of
hope and peace.
By Devin
Watkins
“I would like to
invite you to a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence:
that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.”
Pope Leo XIV made
that invitation at the heart of his message for Lent 2026, which was released
on Friday.
As Lent begins on
Ash Wednesday, February 18, the Pope said this liturgical season offers
Christians an opportunity to place the mystery of God back at the center of our
lives.
Every journey of
conversion, he said, begins by letting God’s word touch our hearts, so that we
may renew our commitment to follow Christ in the mystery of His saving passion,
death, and resurrection.
Pope Leo focused
on the importance of listening to God and to those around us, allowing
ourselves to enter into authentic relationships.
“In the midst of
the many voices present in our personal lives and in society,” he said, “Sacred
Scripture helps us to recognize and respond to the cry of those who are
anguished and suffering.”
Christians, said
the Pope, can cultivate inner openness to listening, as God does, by growing in
awareness that the poor challenge our lives and economic systems, as well as
the Church.
Pope Leo XIV then
turned to how fasting helps open us to the deep desire for justice, which he
said frees us from complacency.
“Precisely because
it involves the body, fasting makes it easier to recognize what we ‘hunger’ for
and what we deem necessary for our sustenance,” he said. “Moreover, it helps us
to identify and order our ‘appetites,’ keeping our hunger and thirst for
justice alive”.
Fasting, he added,
teaches us to govern our desire by purifying, freeing, and expanding it, in
order to direct our desire toward God and good deeds.
However, we must
fast in faith, humility, and communion with the Lord, and not in a way that
leads to pride, said the Pope, adding that other forms of self-denial also lead
to a more sober lifestyle.
Pope Leo then
pointed to an under-appreciated form of abstinance, which is refraining from
hurtful words.
“Let us begin by
disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgement, refraining
from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend
themselves,” he said. “Instead, let us strive to measure our words and
cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on
social media, in political debates, in the media and in Christian communities.”
If we do so, we
will let words of hatred “give way to words of hope and peace.”
Pope Leo went on
to emphasize the communal aspect of listening and fasting, which can be lived
out in our parishes, families, and religious communities.
By listening to
the cry of the poor and setting our hearts on a path of conversion to Christ,
we train our conscience and improve the quality of our lives and relationships,
he said.
“It means allowing
ourselves to be challenged by reality and recognizing what truly guides our
desires—both within our ecclesial communities and as regards humanity’s thirst
for justice and reconciliation.”
Pope Leo XIV
concluded his 2026 Lenten Message with a call for Christian communities to
become places where those who suffer find welcome.
“Let us ask for
the strength that comes from the type of fasting that also extends to our use
of language,” he said, “so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a
greater space for the voice of others.”
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