*To Preside At Mass Every Sunday In June
THE Catholic pontiff, Pope Leo XIV, has renewed his appeal for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and cessation of hostilities, saying: “I renew my appeal to allow the entry of dignified humanitarian aid and to put an end to the hostilities, whose heartbreaking price is paid by the children, elderly, and the sick.”
According to Vatican News, Pope Leo XIV made that appeal in his remarks to Italian pilgrims toward the conclusion of his first General Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Wednesday, May 21, said “the situation in the Gaza Strip is increasingly worrying and painful.”
The humanitarian emergency in Gaza is at a breaking point, according to international organisations,including the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), supported by the United Nations (UN), which warned of an imminent famine.
According to aid agencies, the humanitarian crisis has intensified as Israeli airstrikes on May 20 resulted in many Palestinian deaths, including children, amid ongoing military operations that have killed thousands of people since October 2023, when Hama terrorist attck on Israel escalated the conflict.
Despite Israel permitting a limited number of aid trucks into Gaza, international criticism has mounted, with calls for Israel to halt its military campaign and ease aid restrictions, even as the UN expressed concern for the unprecedented destruction of housing in Gaza.
Pope Leo XIV held his first Wednesday General Audience and reflected on Jesus’ parable of the sower, stressing that God “does not wait for us to become the best soil.”
In his first General Audience as Pontiff, Pope Leo XIV continued with Pope Francis’ Jubilee series on the theme, ‘Jesus Christ, Our Hope.’
He carried on with his predecessor’s reflection on the parables of Jesus, which he said “help us to rediscover hope, because they show us how God acts in history.”
He focused on the parable of the sower, “a rather unique parable, as it serves as a kind of introduction to all the others,” saying this story reveals how Jesus communicates, and it can give us guidance on how to proclaim the Gospel today.
While parables are taken from everyday life, their goal is to convey something more profound. They encourage us all to “raise questions within us; they invite us not to stop at appearances.”
Reflecting on the story, the Pope urged everyone to ask themselves two questions: Where am I in this story? What does this image say to my life?
In this parable of the sower, Pope Leo XIV explained that we can see God’s power and the impact it has on us. “Every word of the Gospel is like a seed sown in the soil of our lives,” he shared, highlighting that the soil is not only our heart, “but also the world, the community, the Church,” dding that there is no aspect of life that remains untouched by the Gospel.
While greeting pilgrims in the popemobile during his first General Audience, he recalled that people from all walks of life and backgrounds came out to listen to Jesus tell this parable.
This he noted, shows us that “Jesus’ word is for everyone, but it works in each person differently.”
In the story, where the seeds fall seems to be of little concern to the sower, which the Pope pointed out symbolises how God loves each and every one of us, adding: “We are used to calculating and planning things, but love doesn’t work that way.”
The Pope emphasised that God “scatters the seed of His word on every kind of soil, meaning, in every one of our situations.” Whether we receive it with enthusiasm, superficiality or fear, God trusts that at one point or another the seed will bear fruit. God “does not wait for us to become the best soil.”
Before praying the Our Father in Latin, Pope Leo XIV remembered his predecessor, Pope Francis, on the one month anniversary of his passing, saying: “And we cannot conclude our encounter without remembering with such gratitude our beloved Pope Francis, who exactly one month ago returned to the house of Our Father.”
Meanwhile, the pontiff is scheduled to preside at a papal Mass every Sunday in June and he will hold a Consistory of Cardinals to vote on several Causes of Canonisation.
The calendar for the Pope’s liturgies in June released by the Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff showed that Pope Leo XIV begins the month with Mass in St. Peter’s Square to mark the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday, June 1, at 10:30am.
On Pentecost Sunday, June 8, he returns to the Vatican Square to celebrate Mass at 10:30am for the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations and New Communities.
The next day, Monday, June 9, he is scheduled to preside at Mass on the Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church, in St. Peter’s Basilica at 11:30am, marking the Jubilee of the Holy See.
Later in the week, on Friday, June 13, at 9am, Pope Leo XIV will hold an Ordinary Public Consistory of Cardinals to vote on several Causes of Canonisation.
On Sunday, June 15, he will join participants in the Jubilee of Sport to celebrate Mass in St. Peter’s Square at 10:30am.
As the Church marks the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ (Corpus Christi) on Sunday, June 22, Pope Leo XIV will preside at Mass at 5pm in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and take part in the Eucharistic procession to the Basilica of St. Mary Major.
On Friday, June 27, he will return to St. Peter’s Square to celebrate Mass for the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus at 9am, and two days later, on Sunday, June 29, he presides at Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica, at 9:30am, to mark the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, Apostles.
