Pope Leo took a look at the "years ahead of us" in a meeting with the Vatican's Dicastery for Evangelization, but also took a moment to look back.
"Over 33 million!" -- that was the number of pilgrims who flocked to Rome during the Jubilee of Hope in 2025, he noted.
He then referred to a description of hope as the youngest sister of the three theological virtues.
"Throughout the world, hope became the central theme of Christian life. The emphasis placed on the 'youngest sister,' who, almost unnoticed, pulls along the two older ones, faith and charity, still needs to be proclaimed and lived with intensity and conviction."
"The world," he said, "thirsts for hope more than ever. It longs to live in peace and in the certainty that the commitment to building a city worthy of God’s children is not only possible but real, because it is imbued with a hope that offers true, not illusory, objectives."
Urging his listeners to continue to proclaim hope, he also insisted:
Evangelization must remain the fundamental motivation behind every action of the universal Church and of local communities; only in this way is the faith itself continually rediscovered in all its beauty and able to express its credibility to the full.
The Holy Father assured that the Gospel is not a "utopian proposal" -- it instills hope and it is "a witness that draws people in because it reveals the call to love and truth."
From the Catechism
Buoyed up by hope, he is preserved from selfishness and led to the happiness that flows from charity.
