Saint Joseph Catholic Church

“The Holy Father wishes to express his sorrow for the people who lost their lives, uniting himself spiritually to the pain of their families,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, wrote in his January 30 message to the president of the Portuguese Episcopal Conference. “His Holiness prays for the national and local authorities, as well as for the civil, military and religious institutions that are uniting to come to their aid.”

“These beautiful images we are contemplating today recall the greatness of the vocation to which God calls us, namely, the universal vocation to holiness,” Pope Leo continued. “I encourage you, with God’s grace, to be witnesses and examples of that holiness in today’s world. For that is God’s will: our own sanctification.”

The event took place on the afternoon of January 31, with the Peruvian bishops, the ambassador of Peru to the Holy See, and the president of the Governorate of Vatican City State in attendance.

Addressing young people involved in a political innovation hackathon associated with the Focolare Movement, Pope Leo XIV reflected on peace as “a gift, a covenant and a promise” and said that “there can be no peace while humanity wages war against itself.”

February 2, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, is also the 30th World Day for Consecrated Life, a commemoration instituted by Pope St. John Paul II in 1997.