Pope Leo XIV participated this Saturday in the feast of Our Lady of the Lake in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, where he presided over the Mass and later accompanied the procession with the image of the Virgin on a boat across the waters of Lake Albano. During the homily, the Pope called for responding to evil without resorting to hatred and violence and stated that “only the way of love is the way of life.”
The Pontiff traveled in the afternoon from the Vatican to the church of Mary Most Holy of the Lake, a small church belonging to the pontifical parish of Saint Thomas of Villanova and consecrated by Saint Paul VI. The Mass began at 6:00 p.m.
After the celebration, the image of Our Lady of the Lake was carried to a boat for the traditional procession across Lake Albano. Pope Leo XIV joined the journey on the waters.
“Only love saves”
During the homily, Pope Leo XIV recalled that the feast had previously been celebrated by some of his predecessors and mentioned in particular Saint Paul VI, who promoted the construction of the church dedicated to the Virgin and later consecrated it, and Saint John Paul II.
Drawing from the Gospel in which Christ announces to his disciples his Passion, death, and Resurrection, the Pope focused his reflection on sacrifice and Christian love.
“Jesus thus reveals that only love saves,” he affirmed. The Pontiff referred both to “the faithful constancy of everyday charity” and to its most extreme expressions, “even to martyrdom,” and recalled that there are still Christians who suffer it “in various parts of the world.”
Pope Leo XIV also dwelt on the difficulty of accepting a response based on forgiveness in the face of offenses. “Turning the other cheek —they say— is for losers; giving in the face of rejection is for the naïve; forgiving without limits, for the weak,” he noted.
“Even for Peter it was difficult to accept this new and different way of reasoning. But Jesus remains categorical: only the way of love is the way of life,” he added.
“Hatred and violence bring nothing good”
The Pope extended this reflection to personal conflicts and the international situation and warned about the consequences of responding to injustices with violence.
“Hatred and violence bring nothing good, but only destruction and death, always, even when they are a response to suffered injustices,” he affirmed.
Pope Leo XIV pointed out that this reality can be observed “from the smallness of our domestic life to the great stage of the world” and called for not allowing wounds and offenses to end up “corrupting our hearts.”
“We have so much need of life, of hope, of serenity, of peace, in ourselves, in our cities, among peoples and nations,” he added.
The procession across Lake Albano
In the final part of the homily, the Pontiff linked the procession that was about to take place with the Gospel passages of Jesus and his disciples on the Sea of Tiberias.
Pope Leo XIV recalled the image of the disciples frightened by the storm and explained that Christ exhorted them “to have faith, to pray, to find peace and, together with Him, to continue sailing toward the desired goal.”
After the Eucharist, the Pope accompanied the image of the Virgin in the procession across Lake Albano. The Pontiff presented this gesture as a renewal of “our trust in God and our filial devotion to his Most Holy Mother.”
Pope Leo XIV concluded his homily by inviting everyone to remain united with Christ and the Virgin “not only on the lake, but in all the nights of the world,” to be a reflection of God’s presence and of “his love that invites us to love.”