Pope Leo leads a Pentecost Vigil prayer service for pilgrims taking part in the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations, and new Communities.

By Christopher Wells

Some 70,000 pilgrims from more than 100 countries took part in the Vigil of Pentecost in Saint Peter’s Square Saturday evening, as part of the festivities for the Jubilee of Ecclesial Movements, Associations, and New Communities.

After a “pre-Vigil” consisting of prayer, song, and witness testimonies, the jubilant crowd of pilgrims was joined by Pope Leo, who led a Liturgy of the Word focused on the unity that is a gift of the Holy Spirit.

“St Peter’s Square, with its wide-open and welcoming embrace, magnificently expresses the communion of the Church,” which is experienced in the various groups present, Pope Leo said his homily.

Synodality unites us to all

The Holy Father went on to highlight the concept of synodality, rooted in the communion of the three Persons of the Trinity and as “God-with-us”; and pointing to the future. Where the Spirit is, the Pope said, “there is movement, a journey to be made.”

Pope Leo explained that this journey unites us to all of humanity, with the Holy Spirit teaching us to walk in unity, in contrast to the violence and division that marks our world. “The earth will rest, justice will prevail, the poor will rejoice and peace will return,” he said, once we no longer act as predators, but as pilgrims; no longer each of us for ourselves, but walking alongside one another.”

“God created the world so that we might all live as one,” the Pope continued, explaining that ‘Synodality’ is the term the Church uses to describe this unity.

‘Evangelization is always God's work’

Finally, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the work of evangelization, which does not mean trying to take over the world, but refers instead to “the infinite grace that radiates from lives transformed by the Kingdom of God.”

Evangelization, then, can be understood as the way of the Beatitudes, the path chosen by Jesus. To follow that Path, Pope Leo said, “we have no need of powerful patrons, worldly compromises, or emotional strategies. Evangelization is always God’s work.”

The Holy Father encouraged members of ecclesial movements to be attached to their particular Churches and their local parish communities. “Together with the bishops and in cooperation with all the other members of the Body of Christ, all of us will then work together harmoniously as one,” he said; and then, “the challenges facing humanity will be less frightening, the future will be less dark, and discernment will be less complicated… if together we obey the Holy Spirit.”

Source: Vatican News.