Cardinal Francis Leo calls for embracing human struggles as mysteries, not problems, to foster hope and healing at the 46th Cardinal’s Dinner.
Newsroom (13/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) At the 46th Annual Cardinal’s Dinner on November 5, Cardinal Francis Leo delivered a stirring address, urging attendees to view human struggles not as problems to be solved but as mysteries to be entered with compassion and hope. Speaking to a packed venue in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), the Cardinal emphasized the power of “seeing with the eyes of the heart” to transform lives and mend a fractured world.
The event, a cornerstone of the Archdiocese of Toronto’s charitable outreach, drew a diverse crowd united in fellowship and a shared commitment to supporting vital causes.
“Good evening and thank you very much,” Cardinal Leo began, his voice warm as he welcomed the diverse assembly to a new venue. “It is wonderful to be with you as we gather in fellowship.” He expressed heartfelt gratitude to Mrs. Anna Rossetti, this year’s Chair, whose generous leadership helped make the event a success, and extended appreciation to the steadfast committee, archdiocesan staff, and volunteers who dedicated countless hours to the evening’s planning and execution. Their efforts, he noted, ensured a memorable and congenial experience, complete with a succulent meal, soothing background music, and the convivial atmosphere of shared purpose.
Yet, amidst the joy of the gathering, Cardinal Leo struck a sobering note, acknowledging the stark contrast between the evening’s abundance and the struggles faced by many. “We are conscious that so many of our fellow human beings, our sisters and brothers across the world, including the GTA, are struggling in many ways,” he said. He painted a vivid picture of the challenges afflicting society: poverty, homelessness, addiction, mental health crises, human trafficking, and food insecurity. Citing sobering statistics, he highlighted that 8.7 million Canadians, including 2.1 million children, live in households where food is not always available or affordable. In Ontario alone, food banks recorded 7.7 million visits from over one million residents in 2023–24, with many families relying on them month after month to survive.
On a global scale, Cardinal Leo pointed to pressing moral imperatives: the urgent need to eliminate nuclear weapons, the persecution or discrimination faced by 5.4 billion people in 62 countries due to religious freedom violations, and the crippling debt burdens in impoverished regions, where over 3.4 billion people live in countries prioritizing debt payments over health care or education. He also lamented the ongoing wars that reflect a failure to honor the humanity of others, underscoring the interconnectedness of local and global suffering.
To navigate these challenges, Cardinal Leo turned to the philosophy of Gabriel Marcel, a 20th-century French Christian existentialist whose insights profoundly shaped his perspective. Marcel, who died in 1973, distinguished between problems—external issues addressed through techniques—and mysteries, which demand personal involvement and touch the depths of human existence. Leo recounted Marcel’s formative experience during World War I, when, as a 24-year-old director at a Red Cross information service in Paris, he tracked down information about missing soldiers and delivered devastating news to their families. “For me, it was a question… of taking every particular case that was handed to us by an anguished mother, wife, fiancée, or sister,” Marcel wrote, an experience that revealed the soldier not as a “variable in a formula” but as a singular human being.
Marcel’s distinction, Leo explained, is critical in a world that risks reducing all human experiences to mere problems. “A problem is something which I meet, which I find completely before me, but which I can… lay siege to and reduce,” he quoted Marcel. In contrast, a mystery “is something in which I am myself involved,” where the boundaries between self and other blur, requiring participation rather than detachment. For Marcel, birth, love, and death were quintessential mysteries, irreducible to algorithms or skill sets. Leo warned that modern society’s obsession with “problematic” approaches—evident in everything from media portrayals to bureaucratic systems—dehumanizes those in need, treating them as “cases” or “functions” rather than individuals with inherent dignity.
“I fear that, as we go about our days, we may run the risk of reducing all that we see and experience to mere problems,” Cardinal Leo said, his voice tinged with urgency. He illustrated this with vivid examples from the GTA: young people ravaged by fentanyl addiction, refugees sleeping on church lawns, embryos, the elderly, and victims of human trafficking. “Are they mere problems to solve… or do they qualify as a mystery for me to enter into, a life for me to come to understand, a brother, a sister to encounter?” he asked. The choice, he emphasized, determines whether we remain indifferent or become agents of transformation.
Central to this transformation is the ability to “see with the eyes of the heart,” a concept rooted in St. Paul’s prayer in Ephesians 1:18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which He has called you.” Cardinal Leo argued that humans possess not only physical eyes but spiritual ones, capable of discerning the deeper realities of God and life. Without this vision, he warned, we risk spiritual blindness, a state St. Augustine described as needing to “heal the eye of the heart” to see both God and the needs of others. Quoting T.S. Eliot’s “The Hollow Men,” Leo evoked the desolation of a world without such vision: “The eyes are not here… in this valley of dying stars.”
This call to spiritual sight aligns with the Jubilee Holy Year of Hope, a time, Leo said, to become “providers of hope” and “tireless cultivators of the seeds of hope,” as inspired by Pope Francis and Pope Leo XIV. He echoed Pope Benedict XVI’s insight: “The one who has hope lives differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.” By seeing others as mysteries, individuals and communities can foster belonging, offering a renewed sense of possibility to those in despair.
To bring this vision to life, Cardinal Leo shared the inspiring story of Father Edward J. Flanagan, founder of Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska. In 1917, Flanagan established a haven for poor, orphaned, and at-risk boys, guided by his belief that “there’s no such thing as a bad boy.” In 1918, when older boys at the Home carried Howard Loomis, a child with polio, up and down stairs, one boy, Reuben Granger, responded to Flanagan’s concern with, “He ain’t heavy, Father… he’s m’ brother.” This act of love, Leo said, exemplified seeing with the eyes of the heart, transforming a perceived burden into a profound connection. Flanagan’s legacy, now over a century old, continues to heal children and families, with his cause for sainthood underway.
Cardinal Leo concluded by challenging attendees to embrace their role in building a world that values care, integrity, and compassion. “It takes courage to step out of the echo chambers of our comfort zones,” he said, urging action in everyday interactions—how we teach children, treat neighbors, or engage with those we disagree with. By choosing to see with “healed eyes” of hope and mercy, individuals can honor the mystery of each person as a child of God, effecting lasting change. “The power to change our world… is already in our hands,” he affirmed.
As the evening drew to a close, the Cardinal’s words resonated deeply, a clarion call to move from detachment to engagement, from problems to mysteries. The 46th Cardinal’s Dinner not only raised significant funds but also ignited a renewed commitment to see, serve, and love with the eyes of the heart, offering hope to a world in need of healing.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Catholic Register
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