Illustration: Immaculate Conception by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (c. 1675)
Pope Leo’s Homily at First Vespers of New Year’s Eve
St. Peter’s Basilica – Wednesday, December 31, 2025
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law,
that we might receive adopted sonship” (Galatians4:4-5).
Pope Leo’s Homily,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
The liturgy of the First Vespers of the Holy Mother of God has a unique richness, resulting both from the incredible mystery it celebrates and from the fact that it takes place at the very end of the solar year. The antiphons of the psalms and the Magnificat emphasize the paradoxical event of the birth of God from the Virgin or, (said backwards), the divine motherhood of Mary.
At the same time, this solemnity, which concludes the octave of Christmas, covers the passage from one year to the next and extends over time the blessing of the One “who was, who is, and who is to come” (Revelations 1:8).
Moreover, today we celebrate it at the end of the Jubilee, in the heart of Rome, at the Tomb of Peter.
The Te Deum that is about to resound in this Basilica will want to expand, as it were, to give voice to all the hearts and faces that have passed through these halls and the streets of this city.
In the biblical reading, we heard one of the Apostle Paul’s astonishing syntheses:
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman,
born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law,
that we might receive adopted sonship” (Galatians4:4-5).
This presentation of the mystery of Christ makes us think of a plan.
It is a grand plan for the history of humanity.
It is a mysterious plan, with a bright center.
It is like a high mountain illuminated by the sun in the middle of a dense forest.
This center is the “fulness of time.”
The word “plan” appears in the Song of the Letter to the Ephesians:
“(God) has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fulness of time, to uniteall things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Eph. 1:10).
In our time, sisters and brothers, we feel the need for a wise, benevolent and merciful plan.
May it be a free and liberating project, peaceful and faithful, like the one the Virgin Mary proclaimed in her canticle of praise: “His mercy from generation to generation / on those who fear him” (Luke 1:50).
However, other designs today envelop the world, as in the past.
They are strategies aimed at conquering markets, territories and spheres of influence.
These strategies are military in nature, hidden under hypocritical speeches, ideological announcements, and false religious motives.
But the Holy Mother of God sees everything with God’s eyes.
She is the least and highest of creatures,
She sees how the Most High dispels the plans of the proud with the power of his arm.
He dethrones rulers and exalts the humble.
He fills the hands of the hungry with goods, and he empties the hands of the rich
(Luke 1:51-53 – He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away.).
The Mother of Jesus is the woman with whom God wrote the Word revealing the mystery, in the fullness of time. God did not impose it on her: First He proposed it to her heart.
Having received her “yes”, He inscribed it with ineffable love in her flesh.
Thus, God’s hope became intertwined with Mary’s, a descendant of Abraham according to the flesh and, above all, according to faith.
God loves to share in the hopes of the little ones, involving them in his plan of salvation.
The more beautiful this plan is, the greater the hope.
And in fact, the world is moving forward, guided by the hope of many simple and unknown people who believe in a better tomorrow despite everything because they know the future is in the hands of the One who offers them the greatest hope.
One of these people was Simon, a fisherman from Galilee, whom Jesus called Peter.
God the Father gave Peter such sincere and generous faith that the Lord was able to build his community on him (Matthew 16:18).
We are here today, praying at Peter’s tomb.
Pilgrims from all over the world come here to renew their faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
This occured in a special way during the Holy Year that is about to end.
The Jubilee was a sign of a renewed and reconciled world according to God’s plan.
In this plan, Providence reserved a special place for the city of Rome.
Not because of its splendor, not because of its power, but because it was here that Peter and Paul and many other martyrs shed their blood for Christ.
That is why Rome is the city of the Jubilee.
What can we wish for Rome?
We wish for it to live up to its purpose: to care for the least among us—children, the lonely, the frail elderly, families struggling to support themselves, and men and women who have come from far away in the hope of a dignified life.
Today, dear friends, we thank God for the gift of the Jubilee, which was a great sign of his plan of hope for humanity and for the world.
We thank all those who have worked in the months and days of 2025 to serve pilgrims and to make Rome more welcoming.
This was the wish of the beloved Pope Francis a year ago.
I hope it continues after this time of grace and even grows stronger.
May this city, animated by Christian hope, remain at the service of God’s plan of love for the human family.
May this intercession of the Holy Mother of God obtain for us – Salus Populi Romani
