Gratitude for papal visit to Assisi: 'Today we feel we are the Church'

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV's visit to Assisi was "an embrace," "a sign that the Successor of Peter walks alongside the People of God, sharing in their hopes and struggles." With these words, at the conclusion of the Mass presided over by the Pope in the Basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli, and before the final blessing, one of the young people, Francesco Varone, addressed the Pope to thank him for his visit to Assisi.

His presence, Varone said, encourages young people not to be afraid "to choose what is good and to believe that the Gospel can still change the human heart."

Young People Participating in the Mass Celebrated by the Pope in Assisi

Christ overcomes division and loneliness

Varone gave voice to "the pain of fragmentation and the fear of loneliness" experienced by so many young men and women. Precisely for this reason, he said, the experience in Assisi had been deeply formative. In the city of the Poor Man of Assisi, young people had been able "to experience firsthand that Jesus keeps us united, that we are not alone"—just as Pope Leo's episcopal motto proclaims: In Illo uno ("In the One, we are one"). In Christ, "no one is a stranger, no one is excluded"; rather, all are "true brothers and sisters, not by chance, but because we are children of the same Father."

The courage to choose the Gospel

Finally, Varone asked the Pope for one particular gift, one "that children ask of their father"—that he "not forget to pray for us."

"Pray that we may never lack the courage to choose Christ," Varone said, "that we may know how to recognize His voice amid the noise of the world, and that our youth may become a life given in service."

"Thank you, Holy Father, because today you make us feel that we are the Church," the young man concluded.