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Before the participants of the Meeting, the Pontiff addressed the identity and renewal of ecclesial movements, synodality, unity with the Church and evangelization in secularized societies, as well as warning against ideology in education, the idolatry of profit and the “businesses of death”.
In his address, Pope Leo XIV expressly exhorted the members of Communion and Liberation to “always love the Church” and preserve unity with those called to lead the movement, with the Apostolic See and with the Successor of Peter.
The Pope affirmed that “synodality is not the name of a process, but the nature of a people” and maintained that this path also requires the renewal of ecclesial associations and movements.
Later, during the Mass celebrated in the port of Rimini, he recalled that authority within the Church must be understood as service and pointed to the Pope, bishops, priests and deacons as the first called to exercise it in that way.
“Freeing education from ideology”
In the Rimini fairgrounds, Pope Leo XIV started from the international situation and the need for a “social friendship” capable of overcoming divisions and conflicts. He recalled that “before borders, definitions and institutions there are always persons” and presented the encounter between human beings as a central dimension of the Christian experience.
The Pope then contrasted what he called “false realism” that “rearms minds, words and nations” with the “realism of mercy.” According to him, for the Christian “there can be no enemies” and even adversaries must be considered brothers and sisters to be looked in the eye and encountered in truth.
In one of the most forceful passages of the speech, Pope Leo XIV called for a conversion that reaches social, economic and technological structures:
“Let us therefore free coexistence from distrust, culture from arrogance, education from ideology, work from the idolatry of profit, and technology and finance from the businesses of death”.
The Pontiff also called for “unmasking unjust relations of power,” which he placed at the root of poverty, inequalities, war and environmental disasters, and urged to “disarm technological development when it becomes omnipresent and destructive”.
Young people: “The future is a promise, not a threat”
Pope Leo XIV devoted a significant part of his address to the numerous young people present, many of them volunteers at the Meeting. “You are the sign that the future is a promise, not a threat!”, he told them.
The Pope asked them to open themselves to a “true catholicity” and to prevent their belonging to movements or communities from ending up enclosing them in too narrow spheres:
“The Movement, the groups, the communities be a springboard from which to launch yourselves into all reality”.
He also exhorted them to oppose anything that seeks to distance them from persons “of different cultures, sensibilities and backgrounds, especially the poorest,” and encouraged them to go out to meet everyone.
He also maintained that Christian love excludes any form of coercion: “In love there is never coercion or indoctrination; there is never seduction, deception or recruitment”. Love, he added, only exists “in freedom, in living confrontation, in the generous gift of oneself.”
Thousands of young people request Baptism in secularized societies
The Pontiff also dwelt on a phenomenon he linked to the contemporary search for meaning. He pointed out that it is currently surprising for many that young people adhere to Christ, feel attracted by his Word and belong to the Church.
“It is not a question of numbers, although the thousands of your contemporaries who request Baptism in societies considered among the most secularized in the world are moving. It is a question of freedom: truth is found only in freedom.”
Pope Leo XIV added that “a certain loss of influence” that adults “perhaps have feared and fought” can allow a better appreciation of “the power of the Gospel”, the bonds it generates and the life it brings forth.
In that context he took up a well-known formulation used by his predecessors: “The Church does not proselytize. It grows rather by attraction.”
“Always love the Church”
Toward the end of his speech, Pope Leo XIV directed a specific exhortation to Communion and Liberation:
“Dear friends, always love the Church! Love and preserve unity.”
The Pope immediately reiterated the request—“Always love the Church!”—and called for preserving “the unity of the ‘company’ through which Christ has reached you and draws you to himself.”
Pope Leo XIV recalled at this point some words of Francis spoken in 2022, on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of Fr. Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation. Francis had then pointed out that difficult moments could also become “moments of grace” and rebirth and had recalled that Giussani faced the stages of change in the movement “with evangelical courage, trust in Christ and in communion with the mother Church.”
“Synodality is not the name of a process”
Pope Leo XIV then placed this call to unity within the Church’s synodal journey. He pointed out that in recent years “the synodal and missionary dimension of our being Church” has been rediscovered, which requires, above all, learning to listen to one another.
The Pontiff acknowledged that the gift of listening “has often been lost in some sectors of the Church” and called for recovering the listening of the Word of God, mutual listening and also the wisdom that can be found in those who seek the truth even though “they are not yet, and perhaps never will be, members of the Church.”
He applied this reflection directly to ecclesial movements:
“It is a path that also requires the renewal of every associative reality and ecclesial movement.”
The Pope invited the members of Communion and Liberation, both within the movement and in their respective particular Churches, to experience this “walking together,” in which each one listens and allows himself to be transformed by the faith of the other and, “under the guidance of the pastors”, mature new decisions and “courageous obediences to the Holy Spirit.”
It was then that he formulated one of the main ecclesiological affirmations of his address:
“Synodality is not the name of a process, but the nature of a people who, in friendship and in encounter with the other, feel that they belong only to God.”
According to Pope Leo XIV, from this perspective “authority becomes service”, which respects differences and facilitates their harmony.
The Pope concluded this part with a concrete indication to Communion and Liberation: to cultivate unity among its members, “with those called to guide the Movement, with the Apostolic See that has recognized you and with the Successor of Peter.”
The sick, persons with disabilities and the poor “at the center”
After his participation in the Meeting, Pope Leo XIV moved to the Cathedral of Rimini, where he held a meeting with the sick, persons with disabilities and the poor assisted by Caritas.
The Pope recalled that Jesus, when he encountered sick, disabled or poor persons, “welcomed them and placed them at the center” in order to heal them and restore to them a life in accordance with their dignity.
Pope Leo XIV encouraged them to participate actively in the life of the Church, both in parishes and in associations and places of welcome and service, and exhorted them to allow themselves to be healed, forgiven and converted by Christ in order then to “walk together in his Church.”
“In the Church, at all levels, authority is service”
The day concluded with Holy Mass celebrated in the port of Rimini, attended by some 25,000 people, according to the Holy See Press Office.
In his homily, Pope Leo XIV started from the passage of the Gospel of Saint Matthew in which Christ gives the keys to Peter to reflect on the exercise of authority:
“In the Church, at all levels, authority is service.”
The Pontiff expressly applied this principle to those who exercise the ordained ministry: “The Pope, the bishops, the priests and the deacons are the first called to live it this way”, to which the entire People of God must be joined according to the particular vocation of each one.
Pope Leo XIV subsequently developed his reflection from the biblical figure of Shebna, an official to whom King Hezekiah had entrusted an important project of religious, moral and social renewal of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah.
According to the Pope, Shebna, “out of ambition and greed,” began to abuse the authority received, accumulating riches “for himself and for his circle of friends and relatives” and lording it over persons. He had forgotten that economic means and power were to be placed at the service of the renewal and good of the entire community.
“For this reason he was removed and his mission entrusted to Eliakim, an honest man free of conditioning.”
For Pope Leo XIV, the passage contains a precise teaching: “All that we are and have is a gift from God” and has been entrusted to man to become, in his hands, an instrument of salvation and justice for others.
A warning about certain forms of leisure
In the final part of the homily, the Pope also referred to Rimini’s condition as an important tourist destination on the Adriatic coast and encouraged the Catholic community to ensure that the territory is welcoming not only for rest and entertainment, but also “for the spirit.”
Pope Leo XIV warned that the contemporary world offers numerous forms of entertainment, some of which “lead rather to dispersion and ruin” than to a true return to oneself and “leave emptiness in the heart.”
Faced with a conception of leisure as “escape,” as if “ordinary life were a prison from which to flee,” the Pontiff pointed out that true rest and the encounter with God are not found “outside, in the chaos,” but “within us, in the depths of the soul.”
The Eucharistic celebration brought to an end Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral visit to Rimini. The Pope departed by helicopter from the port at 8:20 p.m. to return to the Vatican, after a day that had begun in the morning with his visit to the Republic of San Marino.