Pope Leo XIV criticized the gap between the rich and the poor in the world to a packed St Peter’s Square on Saturday.
He said that the wealth of the Earth lies in the hands of a few – very few – during the last audience of the year, which had been declared a Jubilee Year by his predecessor Francis.
Leo asserted that wealth is unjustly becoming more concentrated in the hands of those who often do not want to listen to the groans of the Earth and the poor.
He added that God intended all the goods of creation for everyone, so that all could share in them. At the same time, the pontiff urged people to maintain hope.
“The Jubilee is drawing to a close,” the pope said, “but the hope that this Year has given us does not end: We will remain pilgrims of hope.”
Jubilee Year in final stretch
After Christmas Eve, the Jubilee Year enters its final stretch, when the Holy Doors are due to be closed. First, the door of Basilica of Saint Mary Major is scheduled to be closed on Christmas Day.
In the Jubilee Year, which officially ends on January 6, 2026, believers could obtain grace, forgiveness and renewal. They were called on to pray and make a pilgrimage to Rome, where they could gain special indulgences by passing symbolically through the Holy Doors.
At Christmas 2024, the then already ailing pope Francis, sitting in a wheelchair, inaugurated the year by opening the Holy Door of St Peter’s Basilica.