During a Lenten pastoral stop near Rome’s Termini station, the Pope joked that he once considered joining the Salesians: ‘They came in second place, sorry!’
Pope Leo XIV on Sunday visited Rome’s Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in the central Castro Pretorio neighborhood, steps from Termini station, telling parishioners that true freedom “is fulfilled by saying yes to God” and urging the community to be a visible sign of charity in an area marked by sharp social contrasts.
The visit was part of the Pope’s Lenten round of pastoral stops at parishes across Rome.
In his homily, the Pope invited Catholics to rediscover baptism as a source of freedom and new life, describing Lent as an “intense” season that offers an opportunity to “rediscover” the richness of the sacrament and to live as people renewed through Jesus’ incarnation, death, and resurrection.
Reflecting on readings from Genesis and the Gospel account of the temptations, Leo said they shed light on baptism as a gift “that encounters our freedom.” The Genesis narrative, he added, is not primarily about “a prohibition, as is often believed,” but reveals the human person as “free to recognize and welcome the otherness of the Creator.”
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