By Hannah Brockhaus
Vatican City, Feb 25, 2025 / 10:55 am
In his message for Lent 2025, Pope Francis emphasized the importance of living one’s life as a constant journey of conversion, choosing to walk in peace and hope alongside one’s fellow humans.
“May the hope that does not disappoint, the central message of the jubilee, be the focus of our Lenten journey toward the victory of Easter,” the pope said in the message, released Tuesday.
He also quoted St. Paul’s exclamation in the first letter to the Corinthians: “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”
Though Francis is in Gemelli Hospital to receive treatment for multiple respiratory infections, his Lenten message is dated Feb. 6, well ahead of his hospitalization on Feb. 14.
The season of Lent will begin on Ash Wednesday, March 5. The Vatican said the pope continues to carry out some work duties with the help of his secretaries while in the hospital.
In his message, the pontiff wrote that this Lent is an opportunity to consider three areas where one may be in greater need of conversion: journeying with others, being synodal, and having hope.
“A first call to conversion,” he said, “comes from the realization that all of us are pilgrims in this life; each of us is invited to stop and ask how our lives reflect this fact.
