Read some highlights of Pope Francis’ Lenten Message for the Year of Hope 2025 in the Church. Let us also continue to pray for his health.
Pope Francis asks us to share in the grace of this Jubilee Year, this Lent, journey together in hope, and listen to God’s call for conversion in his mercy, which is given to all of us individually and as a community.
Pope Francis proposes three reflections for this journey:
First, we must journey akin to the journey in the Book of Exodus made by the people of Israel through the promised land. Second, we must journey together. As the Church of God, we are called to walk together as children of God. Third, we must journey together in hope, for we have been given a promise. God’s promise is Jesus, and by giving thanks to him, we are sustained in the hope that does not disappoint. The Catechism of the Church teaches us that Hope is the “sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.”
“May the hope that does not disappoint (cf. Rom 5:5), the central message of the Jubilee, be the focus of our Lenten journey towards the victory of Easter.”
Pope Francis shares this poem by St. Teresa of Avila on hope:
Hope, O my soul, hope.
You know neither the day nor the hour.
Watch carefully, for everything passes quickly, even though your impatience makes doubtful what is certain and turns a very short time into a long one...
The Exclamations of the Soul to God, 15:3
Below is a collection of Lenten resources from Catholic Climate Covenant, which comes to us from various Catholic religious congregations, dioceses, and organizations.
Let us pray with Pope Francis, "May the Virgin Mary, Mother of Hope, intercede for us and accompany us on our Lenten journey."