Look to Saints Cyril and Methodius to overcome divisions, Pope tells pilgrims
February 12, 2026
At the conclusion of his February 11 general audience, Pope Leo XIV spoke about Saints Cyril and Methodius in remarks to Polish-speaking pilgrims.
Referring to their upcoming feast day, Pope Leo said that “in these days we are commemorating Saints Cyril and Methodius, Apostles of the Slavs and patrons of Europe, fathers of Christianity, of the language and culture of the Slav peoples.”
Citing Slavorum Apostoli, Pope St. John Paul II’s 1985 encyclical on the saints’ evangelizing work, Pope Leo added:
Let us return to their apostolic work—as Saint John Paul II exhorted—in building a new unity of the European continent, in order to overcome tensions, divisions and antagonisms—religious and political.
The Vatican did not include these words of the Pontiff in its English translation of the Pontiff’s remarks.
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