Pope Leo XIV urged Catholics to examine where their hearts truly rest during his weekly General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, warning that modern life’s relentless pace and unjust economic systems risk emptying human life of meaning and peace.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in the square, the Holy Father reflected on the widespread pressure to remain constantly productive and active. This drive, he said, often promises fulfillment but leaves people spiritually exhausted. According to Vatican News, the Pope noted that many feel compelled “to do, to act,” believing speed and achievement are necessary to reach ideal goals in nearly every area of life.
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Rather than encouraging withdrawal from responsibility, Pope Leo pointed the faithful toward the Resurrection of Jesus Christ as the proper lens for understanding rest. Participation in Christ’s victory over death, he explained, does not lead to passivity, but to a deeper form of peace and joy that can already transform daily life. He posed a direct question to the faithful: “So, should we just wait, or can this change us right now?”
Pope Leo warned against the illusion that constant activity leads to fulfillment. According to Vatican News, he said this mindset “becomes a vortex that overwhelms us, takes away our serenity, and prevents us from living to the fullest what is truly important in our lives.” Even lives filled with responsibilities, decisions, and accomplishments can end in emptiness if they are detached from their ultimate purpose.
The Pope emphasized that human beings are not machines driven only by output. “Because we are not machines, we have a ‘heart’; indeed, we can say that we are a heart,” he said, highlighting the heart as the core of human identity. He described it as “the symbol of all our humanity, the sum of our thoughts, feelings, and desires, the invisible centre of ourselves,” according to Vatican News.
Drawing from the Gospel of Matthew, Pope Leo encouraged Catholics to reflect seriously on where they store their treasure. He cautioned against placing hope in material wealth or financial systems, particularly when such systems harm human dignity. According to Vatican News, he warned that financial investments today are “out of control and unjustly concentrated at the bloody price of millions of human lives and the devastation of God’s creation.”
This misplaced focus, he said, contributes to a growing sense of dispersion and despair. When life becomes overloaded with commitments disconnected from love and purpose, people risk losing sight of their reason for existence altogether.
Turning to the wisdom of St. Augustine, Pope Leo spoke of the cor inquietum, the “restless heart,” famously described in Confessions. This restlessness, he explained, is not a flaw but a sign that the human heart is oriented toward something greater. According to Vatican News, the Pope said our hearts are not moving “in a disordered way, without a purpose or a destination,” but toward a final “return home.”
That destination, he stressed, is God Himself. True treasure is found in the God who loves, and this love is encountered concretely through love of neighbor. Pope Leo reminded the faithful that recognizing others often requires slowing down, making room for compassion, and sometimes changing plans altogether.
Ultimately, the Pope emphasized that meaning and hope are essential to human life. “The human heart cannot live without hope,” he said, “without knowing that it is made for fullness, not for want,” according to Vatican News.
Through the Incarnation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, Pope Leo concluded, humanity has been given a sure path to that fullness. When people enter “into the dynamism of the love for which it was created,” their restless hearts will not be disappointed. Life, he affirmed, has already won in Christ and continues to win “in every death of daily life.”
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