Pope Leo XIV, at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, urges priests and faithful to embody Christ’s example of humble service and love amid global suffering.
Newsroom (03/04/2026 Gaudium Press ) In the solemn glow of Rome’s Papal Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Leo XIV began the Sacred Triduum with a moving appeal — one rooted not in grandeur but in humility. Celebrating the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening, the Pope called his brother priests and all believers to the essence of discipleship: service in imitation of Christ’s total self-giving.
“We are called,” he said with quiet conviction, “to serve the People of God with our whole lives.” The homily unfolded as both theological reflection and moral challenge — a summons to compassion in a world still disfigured by war and brutality. “In those places where evil abounds,” the Pope reminded the faithful, “Jesus loves definitively — forever, and with His whole being.”
The Table and the Basin
The evening’s liturgy, commemorating the Last Supper, bridged Scripture and present duty. Pope Leo described the washing of the apostles’ feet as more than a ritual gesture — “a revelation of God’s very way of life.” Referring to the Gospel of John, he noted that the Greek upódeigma means “that which is shown before your eyes.” What Christ shows, he said, is not a moral suggestion but an eternal pattern: divine love kneeling before human frailty.
By taking the basin and towel, Jesus, the “Teacher and Lord,” overturns worldly notions of power. “He purifies our image of God,” Leo said, “from the idolatry of success, and our image of humanity from its obsession with domination.” True greatness, he stressed, lies not in being feared but in stooping to lift the weak — not in commanding but in serving.
“Unless I Wash You”
Drawing upon Christ’s words to Peter — “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” — the Pope explained that allowing Christ to serve us is the first act of faith. “Unless you accept me as your servant, you cannot follow me as Lord.” In the humble washing of feet begins a restoration both spiritual and social: God making humanity whole again through self-giving love.
He cautioned against the temptation, ancient yet enduring, to seek “a God of success” rather than “the God of the Passion.” Echoing Pope Benedict XVI, he recalled how even disciples resist the idea of divine vulnerability. Yet it is precisely in the Passion that God’s power — love given without condition — is revealed.
The Priest and the Basin
At the heart of the Holy Thursday liturgy lies the inseparable link between Eucharist and priesthood. Pope Leo highlighted that in one gesture — the giving of bread and the washing of feet — Jesus institutes not only the sacrament of His Body and Blood but the vocation of the servant-priest.
“The Lord’s gesture is inseparable from the table,” Leo said. “From the Eucharist flows the mission we are called to live.” Quoting the Second Vatican Council’s Sacrosanctum Concilium, he described the Eucharist as “a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a paschal banquet.” For those ordained, it is also a mirror of their identity: a life poured out completely for others.
“Beloved brothers in the priesthood,” the Pope urged, “serve the People of God with your whole lives.” His words, tender yet firm, recalled those of Pope Francis, who once said washing feet was an act he loved to perform “because the Lord taught me to do it.”
Kneeling Beside the Oppressed
As he turned toward the wider world, Pope Leo’s voice grew more somber. He spoke of a humanity “brought to its knees by so many acts of brutality,” and asked the faithful to kneel likewise — not in despair, but in solidarity. “Let us, too, kneel beside the oppressed,” he said, “for in doing so, we follow the Lord’s example.”
Recalling the words of Exodus — “This day shall be a day of remembrance for you” — he framed the Triduum as the ultimate memorial of liberation. Christ is the true Passover Lamb, through whom all pass “from sin to forgiveness, from death to eternal life.”
The Night of Love and Service
As the Basilica’s lights dimmed for Eucharistic adoration, Pope Leo’s message lingered in the silence: to love is to serve; to serve is to give entirely. The world, wounded by division and hardened by indifference, must rediscover the power of this kneeling God — a Lord whose omnipotence is love, whose glory is mercy.
“May this evening,” he concluded, “be a time to contemplate Jesus’ gesture — kneeling as he did — and to ask for the strength to imitate his service with the same love.”
In a time burdened by brutality and longing for hope, the Church once again steps into Holy Week standing beside the suffering — yet this year, as Pope Leo reminded, also on its knees.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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