Pope Leo XIV tells Jubilee choristers their singing is love made audible and the Church’s synodal journey made beautiful, urging fidelity and active participation.
Newsroom (23/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) On the Solemnity of Christ the King, Pope Leo XIV devoted his Sunday homily in St Peter’s Square to thousands of choristers and musicians celebrating their Jubilee Year, urging them to see their ministry as a living icon of the Church’s synodal journey and a powerful expression of divine love.
Addressing the pilgrims with the responsorial psalm’s refrain – “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord” – the Pontiff presented Christ’s kingship as rooted not in earthly power but in the Cross, where “from the wood he reigns” as Prince of Peace. He described the Kingdom’s power as love itself, a love that finds particular voice in sacred music.
Turning directly to the jubilee pilgrims, Leo XIV thanked them for their service, recalling Vatican II’s Sacrosanctum Concilium that liturgical music must lead the faithful deeper into prayer. “Your task,” he said, “is to draw others into the praise of God and to help them participate more fully in the liturgy through song.”
Quoting St Augustine’s famous phrase “Cantare amantis est” – singing belongs to one who loves – the Pope stressed that authentic liturgical singing flows from a heart transformed by grace and, in turn, awakens love in those who hear it. He reminded the musicians that in Christ the baptised become “singers of grace,” offering the “new song” of the Risen Lord to the Father.
Drawing on St Augustine again, Leo XIV encouraged choirs to “sing, but continue the journey,” portraying choral ministry as accompaniment on the pilgrim road: consoling the suffering, exhorting the weary, and fostering unity. He cited St Ignatius of Antioch’s image of the Church as a choir whose diverse voices form one harmonious hymn to the Father through Jesus Christ.
The Holy Father acknowledged the real challenges of choir life – preparation, discipline, occasional tensions – yet insisted these very struggles mirror the Church’s own path through history. “Even when the journey is beset by difficulties,” he said, “singing makes it lighter, providing relief and consolation.”
In a direct pastoral exhortation, Pope Leo XIV called musicians to rigorous fidelity to the Church’s magisterial norms on sacred music, warning against the temptation of ostentation that can hinder the assembly’s active participation. “You are not on stage,” he emphasised, “but part of the community, endeavouring to help it grow in unity.”
Concluding under the patronage of St Cecilia, virgin and martyr, the Pope renewed the psalm’s invitation: “Let us go rejoicing to the house of the Lord,” sending the jubilant pilgrims back to their parishes as bearers of the Church’s song of love.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican.va
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