This Sunday, January 18, 2026, II of Ordinary Time, Pope Leo XIV led the Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace before the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. In his brief catechesis, taking the Gospel of John (Jn 1:29-34) as a starting point, he centered his reflection on the figure of St. John the Baptist, who recognizes Christ as the “Lamb of God” and, having fulfilled his mission, steps aside to make room for the Lord.
From that testimony, Leo XIV warned about the contemporary temptation to seek approval, visibility, and success as “substitutes for happiness,” capable— he said—of conditioning ideas and behaviors and generating suffering and divisions. In the face of that logic of appearances, the Pontiff called for a sober and vigilant life: returning to what is essential, cultivating silence and daily prayer, and learning from the Baptist and the Virgin Mary simplicity, humility, and fidelity to what is necessary.
We leave below the full message from Leo XIV:
Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday!
Today’s Gospel (cf. Jn 1:29-34) speaks to us of John the Baptist, who recognizes in Jesus the Lamb of God, the Messiah, saying: “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (v. 29). And he adds: “I came baptizing with water for this reason, that he might be revealed to Israel” (v. 31).
John recognizes in Jesus the Savior, proclaims his divinity and his mission to the people of Israel, and then steps aside, once his task is fulfilled, as these words of his attest: “After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me because he was before me” (v. 30).
The Baptist is a man greatly loved by the crowds, to the point of being feared by the authorities in Jerusalem (cf. Jn 1:19). It would have been easy for him to take advantage of this fame; instead, he does not yield at all to the temptation of success and popularity. Before Jesus, he acknowledges his own smallness and makes room for his greatness. He knows that he has been sent to prepare “the way of the Lord” (Mk 1:3; cf. Is 40:3), and when the Lord comes, he recognizes his presence with joy and humility and withdraws from the scene.
How important his testimony is for us today! In fact, excessive importance is often given to approval, consensus, and visibility, to the point of conditioning people’s ideas, behaviors, and moods, causing suffering and divisions, and producing ephemeral, disappointing, and oppressive lifestyles and relationships. In reality, we do not need these “substitutes for happiness.” Our joy and our greatness are not based on fleeting illusions of success and fame, but on knowing that we are loved and desired by our Father who is in heaven.
The love that Jesus speaks to us about is that of a God who even today comes among us, not to surprise us with special effects, but to share our efforts and take on our burdens, revealing to us who we really are and how much we are worth in his eyes.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us not allow ourselves to be distracted before his passing. Let us not waste time and energy chasing what is mere appearance. Let us learn from John the Baptist to keep our spirit alert, loving simple things and sincere words, living with sobriety and depth of mind and heart, contenting ourselves with what is necessary, and finding each day, as much as possible, a special moment to stop in silence to pray, reflect, listen; in short, to “go into the desert,” and there meet the Lord and be with him.
May the Virgin Mary help us in this, model of simplicity, wisdom, and humility.