Pope Leo XIV says the world needs a “revolution of love” and looked at the Parable of the Good Samaritan while celebrating Mass at the Parish of St. Thomas of Villanova in Castel Gandolfo, a lakeside town outside of Rome.

The pontiff began a short vacation in the town last Sunday, re-beginning a papal tradition skipped by Pope Francis, who had preferred to stay at the Vatican in Rome for the summer.

Speaking about the parable in the Gospel of Luke, Leo said it was “so challenging for each of us.”

In the parable, Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor?”

Jesus replied with the story of a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers. After not being helped by two passing Jews – one a priest and one a Levite – a Samaritan saw him, helped with his wounds and took him to an inn for safety.

“If Christ shows us the face of a compassionate God, then to believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings.  It means learning to have a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need,” Leo said.

“If we realize deep down that Christ, the Good Samaritan, loves us and cares for us, we too will be moved to love in the same way and to become compassionate as he is.  Once we are healed and loved by Christ, we too can become witnesses of his love and compassion in our world,” the pope continued.

“Brothers and sisters, today we need this ‘revolution of love.’ Today, the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Jericho is the road travelled by all those who descend into sin, suffering and poverty.  It is the road travelled by all those weighed down by troubles or hurt by life.  The road travelled by all who fall down, lose their bearings and hit rock bottom,” he said.

“The road travelled by all those peoples that are stripped, robbed and pillaged, victims of tyrannical political systems, of an economy that forces them into poverty, and of wars that kill their dreams and their very lives,” Leo went on.

“What do we do?  Do we look and walk by, or do we open our hearts to others, like the Samaritan?  Are we content at times merely to do our duty, or to regard as our neighbor only those who are part of our group, who think like us, who share our same nationality or religion?  Jesus overturns this way of thinking by presenting us with a Samaritan, a foreigner or heretic, who acts as a neighbor to that wounded man.  And he asks us to do the same,” he said.

After Mass, Pope Leo returned to the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo. There, he read the Angelus and spoke another passage in the day’s Mass, where someone asked Jesus: “Master, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“These words express a constant desire in our lives: The desire for salvation, that is, for an existence free from failure, evil and death,” the pontiff said.

“What the human heart hopes for is described as a good to be ‘inherited’: It is not a question of conquering it by force, nor of imploring it as servants, nor of obtaining it by contract. Eternal life, which God alone can give, is transmitted as an inheritance to man as from father to son,” he said.

The pope said Jesus is the revelation of true love for God and for man.

“Love that gives itself and does not possess, love that forgives and does not demand, love that helps and never abandons,” Leo explained.

“In Christ, God has made himself a neighbor to every man and woman: Therefore, each one of us can and must become a neighbor to those we meet along the way. Following the example of Jesus, Savior of the world, we too are called to bring consolation and hope, especially to those who are discouraged and disappointed,” he said.

“To live eternally, therefore, it is not necessary to cheat death, but to serve life, that is, to take care of the existence of others in the time we share. This is the supreme law, which comes before any social rule and gives it meaning,” the pope said.

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