Pope Leo XIV\u2019s September prayer intention is \u2018for the care of water\u2019 as Christians celebrate the Season of Creation.<\/p>\n
\u2018We see with pain so many brothers and sisters who lack clean water, who walk for miles to find it, who become ill due to its scarcity,\u2019 the Pope said in his monthly video.<\/p>\n
UN agencies reported in 2025 that around 2.1 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water, while 106 million rely exclusively on rivers, lakes, or other untreated surface water.<\/p>\n
In his prayer for the month of September, Pope Leo asked the Holy Spirit to guide Christians to denounce waste and pollution and to defend \u2018the right of every brother and sister to drink without fear and without inequality.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018Forgive us for turning it into a commodity, forgetting that it is a universal gift, a right without borders, meant for all your children,\u2019 he prayed.<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s prayer intention comes as Christians around the world celebrate the Season of Creation from 1 September, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, until 4 October, the feast of St Francis of Assisi.<\/p>\n
A source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s theme is \u2018Living Water,\u2019 recalling the growing scarcity of fresh water and the inequality of access to it.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo\u2019s prayer intention is also a call to personal action to consume water responsibly and moderately, according to the Pope\u2019s Worldwide Prayer Network, which is encouraging people to do what they can to take shorter showers, fix leaks, turn off taps not in use, and to avoid polluting drains and rivers.<\/p>\n
In the video produced by the prayer network, the Pope reflected on how water is a symbol of God\u2019s \u2019grace and love that renews us through Baptism.\u2019 The video shows Pope Leo dipping his hand into a holy water font and making the sign of the cross as he prays inside the Church of San Pellegrino in Vatican City.<\/p>\n
Water, he said, \u2018quenches thirst, nourishes the earth, and heals wounds,\u2019 describing this gift as a \u2018source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018May our care for water be a sign of love for the Creator and a commitment to the lives of the poor, educating new generations to value and protect the Earth\u2019s resources,\u2019 Pope Leo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pope Leo XIV\u2019s September prayer intention is \u2018for the care of water\u2019 as Christians celebrate the Season of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86152,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6866,6864,6865,6310,6868,6869,260,6867,6870,68],"class_list":["post-86151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-archbishop","tag-archdiocese","tag-catholic","tag-child-safety","tag-community","tag-jesus","tag-melbourne","tag-parish","tag-sacraments","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86151"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86151\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}