Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to refrain from “words that offend and hurt” and to renew their attentiveness to the cry of the poor and the earth.
In his message for the Lenten Season dated Feb. 5 at the Vatican, the pontiff framed the penitential season as a time to reorder priorities and center life once more on God.
“Lent is a time in which the Church, guided by a sense of maternal care, invites us to place the mystery of God back in the center of our lives, in order to find renewal in our faith and keep our hearts from being consumed by the anxieties and distractions of daily life,” he said.
Titled “Listening and Fasting: Lent as a Time of Conversion,” the message develops two traditional Lenten practices, presenting them as concrete responses to contemporary social and spiritual fragmentation.
Listening as the beginning of conversion
The pope said conversion begins with openness to the word of God and to others.
“The willingness to listen is the first way we demonstrate our desire to enter into relationship with someone,” he said.
Quoting Exodus, Leo pointed to God’s attentiveness to suffering: “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry” (Ex 3:7).
He added that hearing “the cry of the oppressed is the beginning of a story of liberation.”
Sacred Scripture, he said, enables believers “to recognize and respond to the cry of those who are anguished and suffering.”
Leo stressed that “the condition of the poor is a cry that, throughout human history, constantly challenges our lives, societies, political and economic systems, and, not least, the Church.”
The pope said listening in the liturgy should translate into attentiveness to reality, especially to those on the margins.
Fasting beyond food
Turning to fasting, Leo described it as “an ancient ascetic practice that is essential on the path of conversion.”
Because it involves the body, he said, it helps believers discern “what we ‘hunger’ for” and keeps “our hunger and thirst for justice alive.”
Quoting Saint Augustine, he reflected on the spiritual tension between present longing and future fulfillment: “In the course of earthly life, it is incumbent upon men and women to hunger and thirst for justice, but to be satisfied belongs to the next life. Angels are satisfied with this bread, this food. The human race, on the other hand, hungers for it; we are all drawn to it in our desire. This reaching out in desire expands the soul and increases its capacity.”
He cautioned that fasting must be practiced “in faith and humility” and rooted in communion with God, since “those who are unable to nourish themselves with the word of God do not fast properly.”
He added that “austerity alone makes the Christian life strong and authentic.”
‘Refraining from words that offend’
In one of the message’s most pointed appeals, the pontiff invited Catholics to adopt “a very practical and frequently unappreciated form of abstinence: that of refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.”
“Let us begin by disarming our language, avoiding harsh words and rash judgment, refraining from slander and speaking ill of those who are not present and cannot defend themselves,” he said.
He urged believers to “measure our words and cultivate kindness and respect in our families, among our friends, at work, on social media, in political debates, in the media, and in Christian communities.” In doing so, he said, “words of hatred will give way to words of hope and peace.”
A shared Lenten journey
Leo also underscored Lent’s communal dimension, recalling how the people in the Book of Nehemiah gathered to hear the Law and fast in order to renew their covenant.
“Our parishes, families, ecclesial groups and religious communities are called to undertake a shared journey during Lent,” he said, where listening to “the cry of the poor and of the earth” becomes part of community life and fasting becomes “a foundation for sincere repentance.”
Conversion, he added, concerns not only personal conscience but also “the quality of our relationships and dialogue,” and involves “recognizing what truly guides our desires — both within our ecclesial communities and as regards humanity’s thirst for justice and reconciliation.”
Leo prayed that Lent would lead the faithful to “greater attentiveness to God and to the least among us” and that fasting might extend “to our use of language, so that hurtful words may diminish and give way to a greater space for the voice of others.”
