Pope Leo’s Homily for Saturday of the 5th week of Lent
Louis II Stadium, Monaco – Saturday, 28 March 2026
First Reading Ezekiel 37:21-28
Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all sides, and bring them to their own land; 22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all; and they shall be no longer two nations, and no longer divided into two kingdoms. 23 They shall not defile themselves any more with their idols and their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will save them from all the backslidings in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
24 “My servant David shall be king over them; and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall follow my ordinances and be careful to observe my statutes. 25 They shall dwell in the land where your fathers dwelt that I gave to my servant Jacob; they and their children and their children’s children shall dwell there forever; and David my servant shall be their prince forever. 26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will bless[a] them and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28 Then the nations will know that I the Lord sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is in the midst of them for evermore.”
Responsorial Psalm (Jeremiah 31:10-13)
O nations, hear the word of the Lord, proclaim it to the far-off coasts.
Say: ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
For the Lord has ransomed Jacob, has saved him from an overpowering hand.
They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion, they will stream to the blessings of the Lord.
Then the young girls will rejoice and dance, the men, young and old, will be glad.
I will turn their mourning into joy, I will console them, give gladness for grief.
Gospel Reading: John 11:45–57
Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him; but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. If we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place[a] and our nation.” But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all; you do not understand that it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should not perish.” He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad. So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death. Jesus therefore no longer went about openly among the Jews, but went from there to the country near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim; and there he stayed with the disciples. Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover, to purify themselves. They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast?” Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.
Pope Leo’s Homily for Saturday of the 5th week of Lent
Dear brothers and sisters,The Gospel (above) recounts the cruel sentence passed on Jesus.
It tells us of the day when the members of the Sanhedrin “planned to kill him”.
Why did this happen to him?
It is because he raised Lazarus from the dead, restoring life to his friend, at whose tomb he had wept, sharing in the grief of Martha and Mary.
Jesus, who came into the world to free us from the condemnation of death, yet he is condemned to death himself.
This was not a matter of fate, but a deliberate and carefully considered decision.
Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin reached their verdict based on a political calculation stemming from fear.
If Jesus continued to inspire hope and transform sorrow into joy, the Romans would come and destroy the nation.
Instead of recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, the long-awaited Christ, the religious leaders saw him as a threat.
As teachers of the Law, they had such a distorted vision that they violated the precepts of the Law themselves.
Forgetting God’s promise to his people, they sought to kill the innocent.
Behind their fear lay a desire to hold onto power.
Though they had forgotten the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” God did not forget the promise that
would prepare the world for salvation.
His providence transformed the murderous verdict into an act of supreme love.
No matter how wicked Caiaphas was, he “prophesied that Jesus was about to die for the nation.”
Thus, we are witnesses to two opposing forces: the revelation of God, who presents himself as the almighty Lord and Savior, and the hidden schemes of powerful authorities eager to kill without scruples.
Does this not also happen today?
Where these forces converge lies the sign of Jesus: giving one’s life.
This sign is foreshadowed in the resurrection of Lazarus, the closest prophecy to the events that would unfold later in the Passion, Death, and Resurrection of Christ.
During Passover, the Son fulfilled the Father’s work through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Just as God brought life into being from nothing at the beginning of time, so in the fullness of time does he redeem every life from death, the source of destruction in creation.
Our witness is strengthened by the joy of redemption, which is present everywhere and at all times.
Indeed, our stories are part of Jesus’s story, which begins with the lives of the vulnerable and oppressed.
Even today, how many plots are devised around the world to kill the innocent?
How many excuses are made to justify their elimination!
Yet despite the persistence of evil, God’s eternal justice rescues us from our graves as it did Lazarus and gives us new life.
The Lord frees us from pain by instilling hope.
He softens our hardened hearts by turning his transformative power into service, revealing the true nature of his omnipotence: mercy.
Mercy is what saves the world.
It nurtures every human life, embracing its fragility from the moment it grows in the womb until it withers away.
As Pope Francis taught us, the culture of mercy rejects the throwaway culture.
As we have heard, the prophets’ voices testify to how God carries out his plan of salvation.
In the first reading, Ezekiel proclaims that God’s work begins with liberation and is realized through the sanctification of people on a journey of conversion—much like our Lenten journey.
This is an invitation to become involved rather than remaining at the individual level so that our relationships with God and our neighbors can be transformed.
First, liberation takes the form of purifying the people from the “idols” that defiled them.
But what are idols?
The prophet uses this term to refer to anything that enslaves our hearts by deceiving and corrupting them.
The word “idol” means “small idea,” or a diminished vision.
This diminishes not only the glory of the Almighty by transforming Him into an object, but also the human mind.
Thus, idolaters are narrow-minded people whose gaze is captivated, ultimately darkening it.
Thus, the great and wonderful things of this earth become idols, bringing about forms of slavery—not for those who lack these things, but for those who gorge themselves on them while leaving their neighbor in misery and sorrow.
Liberation from idols is thus deliverance from power understood as dominion, wealth turned into greed, and vanity masquerading as beauty.
God does not abandon us when we are tempted, but rather reaches out to the weak and sorrowful, to those who believe that worldly idols can save them.
As St. Augustine taught in De Civitate Dei, VII, 33, “Man is liberated from their dominion when he believes in him who has given an example of humility.”
This example is the life of Jesus, God incarnate who came for our salvation.
Instead of punishing us, he overcame evil with his love, thus fulfilling the solemn promise, “I will purify them, and they will be my people, and I will be their God” (Ezekiel 37:23).
The Lord changed the course of history by calling us from idolatry to true faith and from death to life.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, in the face of the many injustices that plague people and the wars that tear nations apart, the words of the prophet Jeremiah, proclaimed today as a psalm, resonate with power: “I will turn their mourning into joy. I will gladden them and comfort them after their sorrow” (Jeremiah 31:13).
Idolatry enslaves people, but purification from idolatry sanctifies them.
This gift of grace makes people children of God and brothers and sisters to one another.
This gift illuminates our present because the wars that stain it with blood stem from the idolatry of power and money.
Every life cut short wounds the body of Christ.
Let us not grow accustomed to the clamor of weapons and images of war.
Peace is not just a balance of power. It is the work of hearts purified by love, hearts that see others as brothers and sisters to be protected, not enemies to be defeated.
The Church in Monaco is called to bear witness to living in peace with God’s blessing.
Therefore, dear friends, bring happiness to others through your faith by manifesting authentic joy.
This joy is not won through a wager but shared through charity.
God’s love is the source of this joy.
It is a love for new and vulnerable life, which should always be welcomed and cared for.
It is a love for the young and the elderly, who should be encouraged through life’s challenges.
It is a love for the healthy and the sick, who are sometimes alone and always in need of attentive companionship.
May the Virgin Mary, your patroness, help you provide a welcoming and dignified space for the young and the poor and promote integral and inclusive development.
During this prolonged Lent in the world, when evil rages and idolatry hardens hearts, the Lord prepares for Easter.
Human beings are the sign of this event: Lazarus, who was called forth from the tomb; us, forgiven sinners; and the Risen Crucified One, the author of salvation.
He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), sustaining our pilgrimage and the Church’s mission to bring God’s life to the world.
This task is sublime and seemingly impossible, unless we give our lives to our neighbor.
It is an exciting and fruitful task, and the Gospel shines a light for our steps.
