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In the first General Audience of his pontificate, Pope Leo XIV today called for humanitarian aid to be allowed in the Gaza Strip and resumed catechesis following the Jubilee theme “Jesus Christ Our Hope,” which the late Pope Francis had started.
“The situation in the Gaza Strip is increasingly worrying and painful,” Pope Leo said in the May 21 address. “I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, the heart-rending price of which is being paid by children, the elderly and the sick.”
Speaking to the faithful in St. Peter’s Square, he led a reflection on the parable of the sower in chapter 13 of the Gospel of Matthew. The Pope said meditating on Jesus’ parables helps us “regain hope, because they show us how God works in history.”
He spoke in English and Italian during the audience, explaining that the soil in the parable “is our heart, but it is also the world, the community, the Church. The word of God, in fact, makes fruitful and provokes every reality.”
Jesus gives the parable while surrounded by a crowd of people in various situations, Pope Leo noted.
“The word of Jesus is for everyone, but it works in each person in a different way,” he continued. “This context allows us to understand better the meaning of the parable.”
The parable recounts a sower who throws seeds on various soils, such as rocky, dry, and rich — all bearing different results.
“A rather unusual sower goes out to sow, but does not care where the seed falls,” Pope Leo reflected. “He throws the seeds even where it is unlikely they will bear fruit: on the path, on the rocks, among the thorns. This attitude surprises the listener and induces him to ask: how come?”
“We are used to calculating things — and at times it is necessary — but this does not apply in love! The way in which this ‘wasteful’ sower throws the seed is an image of the way God loves us,” Pope Leo said.
God offers the seed of His Word to people of any situation, ranging from times when people are distracted to when they are welcoming of the Word, for example, he said.
“God is confident and hopes that sooner or later the seed will blossom,” he added. “This is how he loves us: he does not wait for us to become the best soil, but he always generously gives us his Word. Perhaps by seeing that he trusts us, the desire to be better soil will be kindled in us. This is hope, founded on the rock of God’s generosity and mercy.”
Pope Leo also recalled a painting titled “The Sower at Sunset” by Vincent van Gogh. He noted that in it, the grain is ripe and that the brilliant sun indicates how hard the farmer is working.
“It seems to me an image of hope: one way or another, the seed has borne fruit… At the centre of the scene, however, is not the sower, who stands to the side; instead, the whole painting is dominated by the image of the sun, perhaps to remind us that it is God who moves history, even if he sometimes seems absent or distant,” Pope Leo said. “It is the sun that warms the clods of earth and makes the seed ripen.”
He encouraged the faithful to pray for the grace to be open to the seed of God’s Word.
“And if we realize we are not a fruitful soil, let us not be discouraged,” he said, “but let us ask him to work on us more to make us become a better terrain.”
Before the General Audience, Pope Leo also went through St. Peter’s Square in the popemobile, waving to the faithful and blessing them.