The Vatican today released a papal video message to American college students taking part in SEEK 2026, three conferences that are simultaneously taking place from January 1-5 in Ohio, Colorado, and Texas.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The world is not saved by threatening violence or by judging, oppressing or getting rid of others, Pope Leo XIV said.

"Rather, it is saved by tirelessly striving to understand, forgive, liberate and welcome everyone, without calculation and without fear," the pope said during Mass in St. Peter's Basilica for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and World Peace Day Jan. 1.

Therefore, at the beginning of a new year with "new and unique days that await us, let us ask the Lord to help us experience at every moment, around us and upon us, the warmth of his fatherly embrace and the light of his benevolent gaze," he said in his homily. 

The Mass marked the 59th World Day of Peace celebrated by the church. The pope's message for the world day, published in December, was dedicated to the humble, "unarmed and disarming" peace of the risen Christ who loves unconditionally.

Thousands of people were present in the basilica for the celebration on New Year's Day, including young people dressed as the three kings who visited Jesus. A figurine of the infant Jesus was before the altar, in keeping with the Christmas season of celebration, and an image of Our Lady of Hope was to the side of the main altar as a sign of the Jubilee of hope, which will end Jan. 6.

In his homily, Pope Leo reflected on the mystery of Mary's divine motherhood, which "helped give a human face to the source of all mercy and benevolence: the face of Jesus. Through his eyes -- first as a child, then as a young man and as an adult -- the Father's love reaches us and transforms us."

By being born of Mary in a grotto, he said, "God presents himself to us 'unarmed and disarming,' as naked and defenseless as a newborn in a cradle."

"He does this to teach us that the world is not saved by sharpening swords, nor by judging, oppressing or eliminating our brothers and sisters," he said. Rather, the world is saved by seeking to understand, forgive, free and welcome everyone with love. 

Mary bearing the Christ child represents "two immense, 'unarmed' realities" that come together, he said: "that of God, who renounces every privilege of his divinity to be born in the flesh, and that of a human person who, trustingly and fully, embraces God's will."

"Thus, at the dawn of the new year, the liturgy reminds us that for each of us, every day can be the beginning of a new life, thanks to God's generous love, his mercy and the response of our freedom," Pope Leo said. "It is beautiful to view the coming year in this way: as an open journey to be discovered."

"Indeed, through grace, we can venture forth on this journey with confidence -- free and bearers of freedom, forgiven and bringers of forgiveness, trusting in the closeness and goodness of the Lord who accompanies us always," he said.

Overlooking St. Peter's Square after Mass, Pope Leo urged Christians to help usher in "an era of peace and friendship among all peoples."

"The Jubilee, which is about to end, has taught us how to cultivate hope for a new world. We do this by converting our hearts to God, so as to transform wrongs into forgiveness, pain into consolation, and resolutions of virtue into good works," he said before praying the Angelus. 

The Son of God also illuminates "the consciences of people of goodwill, so that we can build the future as a welcoming home for every man and woman who comes into the world," he said.

"The heart of Jesus, therefore, beats for every man and woman; for those who are ready to welcome him, like the shepherds, and for those who do not want him, like Herod," he said.

"His heart is not indifferent to those who have no heart for their neighbor: it beats for the righteous, so that they may persevere in their dedication, as well as for the unrighteous, so that they may change their lives and find peace," Pope Leo said.

Every unborn child reveals "the divine image imprinted in our humanity," he said, and he called for prayers for peace: "first, among nations bloodied by conflict and suffering, but also within our homes, in families wounded by violence or pain." 

Pope Leo welcomes 2026 with a call for peace

Celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and World Peace Day Jan. 1, 2026, Pope Leo reflected on Mary’s role in revealing the tenderness and mercy of God, urging believers to reject violence and embrace a path of...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The tenacious hope of people of faith, believing in a better tomorrow, keeps God's plan of salvation alive in the world, Pope Leo XIV said. 

They keep hope alive even though today, just like in the past, there are other kinds of plans unfolding, he said during an evening prayer service in St. Peter's Basilica Dec. 31. 

They include plans "aimed at conquering markets, territories and zones of influence. Weaponized strategies, cloaked in hypocritical speeches, ideological proclamations and false religious motives," he said. 

The pope, accompanied by dozens of cardinals and bishops, and thousands of visitors in the basilica, prayed vespers and then sang the "Te Deum" ("We praise you, oh God") in thanksgiving for the blessings of the past year. 

The prayer service was held less than a week before the official close of the Holy Year 2025, which was inaugurated by Pope Francis when he opened the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica during Christmas Eve Mass in 2024. Pope Leo was scheduled to close the door Jan. 6, the feast of the Epiphany, thereby officially marking the end of the Holy Year. 

"Let us thank God for the gift of the Jubilee, which has been a great sign of (God's) plan of hope for humanity and the world," Pope Leo said in his homily. 

In this plan, God has "reserved a special place for this city of Rome," he said. "Not because of its glories, not because of its power, but because Peter and Paul and so many other martyrs shed their blood here for Christ." 

"That is why Rome is the city of the Jubilee," he told the congregation, which included Rome's mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, who was seated in the front row. 

The birth of the Son of God "suggests a plan, a great plan for human history," the pope said, which will "sum up all things in Christ, in heaven and on earth." 

"Sisters, brothers, today we feel the need for a wise, benevolent, merciful plan," he said. "May it be a free and liberating, peaceful, faithful plan, like the one the Virgin Mary proclaimed in her canticle of praise: 'His mercy is from age to age to those who fear him.'" 

"The Holy Mother of God, the smallest and highest among creatures, sees things through the eyes of God: she sees that with the might of his arm, the Most High disperses the plots of the arrogant, overthrows the powerful from their thrones and raises up the lowly, fills the hands of the hungry with good things and empties those of the rich," he said. 

"God loves to hope with the heart of the least" and the meek, he said, "and he does so by involving them in his plan of salvation." 

"The more beautiful the plan, the greater the hope," he said. "And indeed, the world goes on like this, driven by the hope of so many simple people, unknown but not to God, who, despite everything, believe in a better tomorrow, because they know that the future is in the hands of the One who offers them the greatest hope." 

After the service, Pope Leo visited the Vatican Nativity scene in St. Peter's Square and prayed at the creche while the band of the Swiss Guard played Christmas carols. He then greeted the faithful gathered there, exchanging small talk and wishing people a happy new year. 

2025: From Francis to Leo

For the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics -- and for millions of others -- 2025 became defined by the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV. (CNS video/Robert Duncan)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Close to 3 million pilgrims and visitors attended audiences, liturgies or meetings at the Vatican with Pope Leo XIV from the time of his election in May through December, according to the Prefecture of the Papal Household.

The prefecture, which handles the free tickets to audiences and Masses, as well as arranges the pope's daily schedule of meetings, published statistics for the year Dec. 30. 

The numbers did not include events outside the Vatican -- for instance, it did not count the Mass with more than 1 million people the pope celebrated Aug. 3 at Tor Vergata on the outskirts of Rome to conclude the Jubilee of Youth, nor did the tabulations include the crowds who came to see him in Turkey and Lebanon during his first foreign trip as pope Nov. 27-Dec. 2.

The prefecture did include people who came to see Pope Francis before his death April 21. The pope, who was hospitalized from Feb. 14 to March 23, was present for eight Wednesday or Jubilee general audiences at the Vatican, welcoming 60,500 people.

In special audiences with groups, Pope Francis encountered more than 10,000 people; some 62,000 people joined Pope Francis for Masses and prayer services and an estimated 130,000 joined him for the midday recitation of the Angelus prayer on Sundays, the prefecture said. That means he encountered 262,820 people in 2025.

Pope Leo held 36 general and Jubilee audiences during the year since his election May 8, encountering just over 1 million people, the prefecture reported.

In special audiences with smaller groups, the office said, he met with another 148,300 people. 

Some 796,500 people attended liturgies celebrated by Pope Leo at the Vatican during the year, and an estimated 900,000 people joined him for the recitation of the Angelus on Sundays and holy days.

The prefecture said that meant 2,913,800 people had encountered Pope Leo at the Vatican in 2025.

The total for 2024, which was not a Holy Year, was close to 1.7 million people at audiences and prayers with Pope Francis.
 

ROME (CNS) -- The path to conversion, the door to God's mercy and the call to live in Christian hope all continue beyond the Jubilee Year, said the three cardinals who closed the Holy Doors at three major basilicas in Rome.

On the feast of the Epiphany, Jan. 6, Pope Leo will solemnly close the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, formally concluding the Holy Year 2025, which Pope Francis opened on Christmas Eve 2024. But diocesan and other local celebrations of the Jubilee concluded Dec. 28.

Cardinal Rolandas Makrickas, archpriest of Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major, presided over the rite of closing the basilica's Holy Door at dusk Dec. 25 before celebrating a special Mass. Cardinal Baldassare Reina, papal vicar of Rome and archpriest of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, did the same there Dec. 27. And U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, presided over the closing of its Holy Door and the celebration of Mass Dec. 28.

The Holy Doors are bricked up between Jubilee Years, which usually occur every 25 years. Pope Leo has indicated, however, that an extraordinary Holy Year will be celebrated in 2033, to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the death and resurrection of Jesus. 

"What is closing is not divine grace, but a special time of the church, and what remains open forever is the heart of the merciful God," Cardinal Makrickas said in his homily Dec. 25. While the Holy Door is closed, "the door that truly matters remains that of our heart: it opens when it listens to the word of God, it widens when it welcomes our brother or sister, it is strengthened when it forgives and asks for forgiveness,” he said.

"In this basilica, precisely during this Holy Year, we have been granted the grace of a very special task: to safeguard a memory that becomes prophecy," he said, drawing attention to the late Pope Francis, who is buried at St. Mary Major "and honored by thousands of faithful every day."

According to SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops' conference, an estimated 20 million pilgrims passed through the Holy Door at the basilica in the past year.

Hope, the theme of the Jubilee Year, "moved the countless pilgrims who left on our roads the footprints of steps weighed down by the burdens pressing upon their hearts," Cardinal Reina told people during the Mass at St. John Lateran. "They passed through the Holy Door in order to find the One they were seeking. The door of our cathedral bears the imprints of the caresses of all those who passed through it in search of mercy." 

Though the Holy Door is closed, he said, "we know that the Risen One passes through closed doors and never tires of knocking on our closed doors, in order to offer and to find mercy. Yes, to find it -- because he too seeks it."

"Indeed, he has told us of the final surprise: that in the end we will be judged on love, on mercy, on the glass of water given to the thirsty; on the morsel of bread to the hungry; on closeness to those who are imprisoned or ill; on clothing the naked; on welcoming the stranger," Cardinal Reina said.

At St. Paul Outside the Walls, the burial place of the Apostle Paul, Cardinal Harvey noted that the Jubilee's theme, "Hope does not disappoint," was taken from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans. "It is not only a motto, but is most of all a profession of faith," the cardinal said. 

"In a world marked by war, crises, injustices and confusion, the church wanted to reaffirm that Christian hope is far different from trying to flee history," he said; rather, "it is expressed in the ability to pass through it with one's gaze fixed on Christ."

The Holy Door is not simply a material passageway, Cardinal Harvey said, "it is a spiritual threshold, a call to each one of us to leave behind that which weighs on our hearts to enter the space of mercy. Crossing it means recognizing that salvation flows from humbly entrusting ourselves to the only One who can give us fullness of life."