"Claire of Assisi reminds us that young people love the Gospel," said Pope Leo XIV during a Jubilee audience on October 4, 2025. Before thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square, the Pontiff invited young people to follow the courageous example of the saint from Umbria by making a radical and consistent choice for the Gospel.
Under a radiant sun, St. Peter's Square was filled with pilgrims and faithful for this audience specially organized for the Holy Year. The Holy Father particularly welcomed the participants in the jubilees for missionaries and migrants being held in Rome this weekend.
On this feast of St. Francis, the Pope decided to devote his teaching to the figure of St. Clare of Assisi, the young woman who decided to follow in the footsteps of the founder of the Franciscans, beloved around the world and hailed for his respect for God's creation.
Clare of Assisi "knew how to choose," noted the pontiff, recalling the "scandal" that her choice to follow, "as a woman," the radical evangelical poverty adopted by St. Francis and his brothers represented for her contemporaries.
"To hope is to choose"
More broadly, the pontiff emphasized the importance of choice in Christian life — "to hope is to choose, for he who does not choose despairs" — and warned against "spiritual laziness, which is worse than death."
To hope is to choose. This means at least two things. The most obvious is that the world changes if we change. Pilgrimage is done for this reason; it is a choice. We pass through the Holy Door to enter a new time. The second meaning is deeper and more subtle: to hope is to choose, because those who do not choose despair. One of the most common consequences of spiritual sadness, that is, sloth, is not choosing anything. Then those who experience it are overcome by an inner laziness that is worse than death. To hope, on the other hand, is to choose.
For Leo XIV, Clare had the "courage to live in the city differently," for "even in a city that considers itself Christian, taking the Gospel seriously can seem like a revolution."
He emphasized how her choice bore fruit, inspiring other young women to follow her example, even today, all over the world.
"Clare of Assisi reminds us that young people love the Gospel," he said.
"This is always the case: young people love people who have made a choice and who accept the consequences of their choices," said the Pope, affirming that "this is how the Church is young and attracts young people."
"It is a holy imitation: one does not become a 'photocopy'; but each person, in choosing the Gospel, chooses himself," he said.
And he concluded: "Let us pray to be a Church that does not serve money or the self, but the Kingdom of God and his justice."
