St. Agatha shows us true freedom, Cardinal Grech preaches in Catania

February 06, 2026

Crowds thronged the streets of Catania, Sicily, to celebrate the feast of St. Agatha on February 5 (videos).

Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the General Secretariat of the Synod, was the principal celebrant at the pontifical Mass at Catania Cathedral.

Recalling that St. Agatha told the proconsul, “I was born free and of a noble family,” Cardinal Grech preached on freedom.

“Freedom is the most important value we have; it is the starting point of all our rights,” he preached. “Without freedom there is no dignity and we are deprived of the right to choose how to live. For this reason, freedom is not just any good, but the good that makes all others possible.”

“If freedom is the most important value we have, freedom is also one of the great problems of our time because it has become fragile, often confused and misunderstood,” he continued. “Today we think that every desire should become a right. We ended up confusing freedom with doing what we like.”

“A freedom that does not want any bond is an empty freedom, which cannot build anything stable,” he added. “True freedom, on the other hand, is that which knows how to choose a good bond and remain faithful to it. It is there that something stable, true, human is born. When we choose a commitment, a value or a promise, our freedom takes shape and acquires meaning.”

Cardinal Grech also preached that “the silence dictated by fear—omertà —is not only something wrong: it takes away the freedom of the person, prevents him from telling the truth and from behaving according to his conscience.” The prelate concluded:

Dear brothers and sisters, freedom and hope walk together: without hope there can be no true freedom. But what hope can sustain us in a society like ours, which often rejects all that is spiritual? What happens when the true God is replaced by so many “gods” who do not save? Saint Agatha understood this well when she said to the proconsul, a man of idols but not of Jesus Christ: “Your freedom leads you to a great slavery: it makes you servants of sin and subjects you to wood and stones”.

If we want to restore hope and freedom to our city, let us ask St. Agatha for this grace: that she may protect us not only from natural disasters, but above all from spiritual ones. It is important that our Patroness intercedes so that everyone can soon understand that faith in Jesus Christ is not something absurd, but a fire that gives strength and fills life with energy, light, love. Amen.

 

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Further information:

• Sant'Agata ancora in processione tra i suoi fedeli, il "giro interno" e l'attesa per la salita di Sangiuliano -- Sant'Agata, comincia la festa: le candelore, il corteo e la sfilata delle carrozze del Senato (Catania Today, 2/6/26)
• Libertà, testimonianza e speranza (General Secretariat of the Synod, 2/5/26)