At the Jubilee Audience in St. Peter’s Square on Saturday, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the meaning of Christian hope, inviting the faithful to make courageous choices rooted in the Gospel.

Drawing from the day’s Gospel reading (Lk 16:13–14), the Pope spoke about the challenge of serving God rather than wealth, and highlighted St Clare of Assisi as a shining example of youthful faith and radical discipleship.

“To Hope is to Choose”

Commenting on the passage in which some listeners mock Jesus’ teaching on poverty, Pope Leo noted that “his discourse on poverty seemed absurd to them. More precisely, they felt personally affected because of their attachment to money.”

Addressing the thousands of pilgrims present, he underlined that the Jubilee is a “time of concrete hope,” a moment when hearts can find forgiveness and mercy, so that everything can begin anew.”

“In this year,” he said, “we must choose whom we will serve: justice or injustice, God or money.”

The Pope explained that authentic hope is inseparable from personal decision. “To hope is to choose,” he said, pointing out two key aspects: first, that “the world changes if we change,” and second, that those who refuse to choose risk falling into despair.

“One of the most common consequences of spiritual sadness — that is, of acedia — is to choose nothing,” he warned. “The person who experiences it is seized by an interior laziness that is worse than death. To hope, on the other hand, is to choose.”

Clare of Assisi: A model of courageous choice

The Pope then turned to the example of St Clare of Assisi, describing her as “a courageous and countercultural young woman” who, with the grace of God, made a decisive choice for the Gospel.

Recalling how Francis of Assisi embraced evangelical poverty even at the cost of breaking with his family, the Pope noted that Clare’s decision was “even more striking: a young woman who wanted to be like Francis, who wanted to live, as a woman, free like those brothers.”

He observed that even in a city that considered itself Christian, Clare’s radical embrace of the Gospel appeared revolutionary. “Then, as today, one must choose! Clare chose, and this gives us great hope,” he said.

The Pope pointed to two lasting fruits of her decision: the inspiration she gave to many other young women to follow Christ in poverty, and the enduring witness of her choice, which “was not like a flash in the pan, but has endured through time, down to us.”

Young people drawn by authentic choices

Quoting Jesus’ words, “You cannot serve two masters,” Pope Leo noted that the Church remains young and vibrant when it lives the Gospel with authenticity.

“Clare of Assisi reminds us that the Gospel appeals to the young,” he said. “Young people like those who have made choices and live the consequences of their choices. And this makes others want to choose as well. It is a holy imitation: one does not become ‘photocopies,’ but each person — when he or she chooses the Gospel — chooses himself or herself. One loses oneself and finds oneself.”

A Church that serves the Kingdom

Pope Leo concluded his catechesis with a prayer for young people and for the entire Church.

“Let us pray,” he said, “to be a Church that does not serve money or itself, but the Kingdom of God and his justice. A Church that, like Saint Clare, has the courage to inhabit the city in a different way. This gives hope!

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