Jubilee of the Eastern Churches: Pope Leo asks "Who more than you can sing words of hope in the abyss of violence?"

The Jubilee of the Eastern Churches is one of the most spiritually intense moments of the Holy Year. Dedicated to the faithful of the Eastern Catholic Churches, the event is not only an opportunity for pilgrimage to Rome but a visible sign of the unity in diversity of the Universal Church. With its liturgical celebrations in the languages and rites of the different traditions, the Jubilee of the Eastern Churches has demonstrated the irreplaceable role of these communities in the Catholic faith, both yesterday and today.

Welcoming the participants, the Pope began with the Easter greeting: "Christ is risen. He is truly risen!", which contains the very heart of Christian hope. In one of the first meetings of his pontificate, he underlined how precious the Eastern Churches are to the Universal Church and to the entire world. He recalled the “glorious history and the bitter suffering” that many of these communities have lived through and continue to live through, reiterating how much they must be loved and supported.

In his speech, the Pope quoted the words of Pope Leo XIII, who back in 1894 recognized the dignity of the Eastern Churches, emphasizing that “the work of human redemption began in the East”. This root gives them “a unique and privileged role”. The Pontiff then expressed his deep concern about the risk of the Eastern communities living in diasporas losing their religious identity, a real threat especially for the new generations who have grown up far from their lands of origin.

The Pope forcefully asked that their traditions of the Eastern rites be preserved: “It is essential to preserve your traditions without watering them down”, he said, rejecting the temptation of liturgical and spiritual assimilation. He praised the Eastern liturgies for their sense of mystery, beauty, and their ability to involve man in his totality, calling them “medicines” for the entire Church.

A central passage of the speech concerned the theme of peace. Addressing the “martyr” Churches, he spoke words that were both a denunciation and a prayer: “Who, more than you, can sing words of hope in the abyss of violence?” From the Holy Land to Ukraine, from the Middle East to the Caucasus, the Pope recalled the voice of Christ who cries: “Peace be with you!” and reiterated: “War is never inevitable... it is the person who sows seeds of peace who will go down in history, not the one who reaps victims.

“I will make every effort to spread peace. The Holy See is available so that enemies can come together and meet and look each other in the eye. With my heart in my hands, I say to the leaders of peoples: let us meet, let us dialogue, let us negotiate!”

The Jubilee of the Eastern Churches, in the words of the Pope, is an invitation to the entire Church to let itself be evangelized by the East. It is a call not to forget those who suffer, to support those who resist bravely and to carefully guard the deep roots of the faith that continues to shine from the East.