Pope Leo XIV's Jubilee Audience: We Hope for Things We Have Not Yet Seen

Pilgrims of Hope in the Jubilee

Pope Leo told the pilgrims attending Saturday's Jubilee audience they had accomplished their pilgrimage; however, similar to the Holy Disciples of Jesus Christ, they now must both convert their earthly view of life to live in a different world than that in which they have been living.

The Pope told them, “This Jubilee is a blessing that changed us into ‘Pilgrims of Hope,’ so we can see everything with eyes of Christ's cross. Salvation comes from this very hope we all share.”

At the same time, we need to allow Jesus to "illuminate our perspective," allowing us to perceive that, even with "the many opposing differences and clashes confronted," we can see clearly that "love has prevailed."

Hope signifies a state of uncertainty

Pope Leo depicted Nicholas of Cusa as a testament to how hope can endure even without total understanding. He states that although Nicholas lived in the tumultuous 15th century, he had no way of seeing the unity of the Church or how peace could be made in the face of outside threats to Christianity.

Even so, the Pope said that Nicholas remained hopeful, believing in people, and acknowledging there exist two contrary forces that have to live together, and God is a mystery where eventually, tension will result in peace. Nicholas also accepted his inability to understand everything, which gave him greater and greater clarity about the truth of all existence. “Wow! what a great gift for the Church!” the Pope said. “What a wonderful invitation to the renewing of our hearts!”

He went on to say that the Church can derive from Nicholas the ability to create space, to embrace opposing views, and to cultivate hope for things that remain unseen.

An expedition of optimism

Pope Leo then set about to put into action the teachings he received in his own time the Church, and at that time, there were many questions posed to the Church from the youth, the poor, women, and many others who have been marginalized or judged for being different than the majority. Pope Leo said, “What an amazing time this is! So many questions!”, he also said, “The Church learns about humanity by walking with humanity, and her spirit has within her heart the echo of humanity's questions!”

While there will never be a way of knowing every question; Pope Leo stated, ‘To hope is not to have knowledge of something… We have Jesus. We are following Jesus. So we look forward to what we don’t see’. He also made statements such as ‘Let us go forward as explorers into the great new land of Jesus who is the Risen One’. He believes it is an experience that is not only a part of the Church but will include all mankind; and is thus about ‘the journey of hope’.