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As previously reported by the leadership of the Spanish bishops, Pope Francis is working on a document on the Sacred Heart. The Holy Father confirmed this news at the end of the general audience of June 5, 2024.
He said:
We are passing through this month dedicated to the Sacred Heart.
December 27 of last year marked the 350th anniversary of the first manifestation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque. That occasion marked the beginning of a period of celebrations that will end on June 27 next year.
This is why I am pleased to prepare a document that brings together the precious reflections of previous Magisterial texts and a long history that goes back to the Sacred Scriptures, in order to re-propose today, to the whole Church, this devotion imbued with spiritual beauty.
I believe it will do us great good to meditate on various aspects of the Lord’s love, which can illuminate the path of ecclesial renewal; but also says something meaningful to a world that seems to have lost its heart.
I ask you to accompany me in prayer, during this time of preparation, with the intention of making this document public next September.
Devotion
Last month, the Holy Father spoke to a conference marking the 350th anniversary of the apparitions to St. Margaret Mary.
There he encouraged the “beautiful practice of the reparation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,” saying it is an important practice for all the baptized, even if today it “may be somewhat forgotten or wrongly judged obsolete.”
The September document would be Pope Francis’ eighth apostolic exhortation, following:
C’est la confiance about St. Thérèse (2023),
Laudate Deum on the climate crisis (2023),
Querida Amazonia about the Amazon region (2020),
Christus vivit, addressed to youth (2019),
Gaudete et exsultate about the call to holiness (2018),
Amoris laetitia about love in family life (2016) and
Evangelii gaudium about proclaiming the Gospel (2013).
