ROME – With a historic year full of major shifts and seismic developments coming to an end, Pope Leo has urged believes to reflect on the ways God has loved them and to be grateful for the gifts received.

Speaking to pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square, the pope said that as the current year draws to a close, “the Church invites us to place everything before the Lord, entrusting ourselves to his providence, and asking him to renew, in us and around us, in the coming days, the wonders of his grace and mercy.”

He said the past year has been marked by both joy and sorrow, with the passing of Pope Francis and the wars that continue to rage, but also the jubilee and the arrival of so many pilgrims.

Noting that he will close New Year’s Eve with the praying of the traditional Te Deum hymn giving thanks and praise to God, Leo said that in signing the hymn, believers praise and acknowledge God as the source of their hope and ask him for mercy.

“It is with these attitudes that today we are called upon to reflect on what the Lord has done for us over the past year,” he said.

Pope Leo said it is also an occasion “to examine our consciences honestly, to evaluate our response to his gifts and to ask forgiveness for all the times we have failed to treasure his inspirations and invest the talents he has entrusted to us in the best possible way.”

To this end, he reflected on the journey the church has made with the Jubilee of Hope, noting that countless pilgrims have traveled to Rome from all over the world to pray and reaffirm their commitment to Christ.

“This reminds us that our whole life is a journey, whose final destination transcends space and time, to be fulfilled in the encounter with God and in full and eternal communion with him,” he said.

In this sense, Leo quoted Pope Paul VI, who described the jubilee year as “a great act of faith in anticipation of future destinies…which we already foretaste and…prepare for.”

One characteristic of the jubilee year is passing through the holy door to pray for oneself and one’s friends and family, he said, saying this act “expresses our ‘yes’ to God, who with his forgiveness invites us to cross the threshold of a new life, animated by grace, modelled on the Gospel” and characterized by love of neighbor.

“Every man is included” in the definition of one’s neighbor, he said, including every person “in need of understanding, help, comfort, sacrifice, even if personally unknown to us, even if bothersome and hostile, but endowed with the incomparable dignity of a brother.”

He added the “yes” that believers give is a commitment to the present but which is focused on eternity, he said, saying the Christmas season is a time to rejoice, because it is a reminder of what is to come.

“Let the sinner rejoice, because he is offered forgiveness; let the pagan take courage, because he is called to life,” he said, saying this is an invitation that God has issued to all believers.

This call, he said, is “to us sinners, because, forgiven, with his grace we can stand up and set off again; and finally, to us, poor and fragile, because the Lord, making our weakness his own, has redeemed it and shown us the beauty and strength of his perfect humanity.”

Leo concluded his audience quoting Paul VI’s speech at the close of the jubilee of 1975, saying his predecessor captured the “fundamental message” of what jubilee years are all about.

In this way, the message, he said, is contained “in one word: ‘love’…God is Love!”

This, the pope said, is “the ineffable revelation with which the Jubilee, through its teaching, its indulgence, its forgiveness and finally its peace, full of tears and joy, has sought to fill our spirit today and our lives tomorrow: God is Love! God loves me! God awaited me, and I have found him! God is mercy! God is forgiveness! God is salvation! God, yes, God is life!”

“May these thoughts accompany us in the passage from the old to the new year, and then always, in our lives,” he said.

Follow Elise Ann Allen on X: @eliseannallen