Rediscover the grace of Baptism, Pope preaches on First Sunday of Lent
February 22, 2026
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass this morning at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus at the Praetorian Barracks in Rome (video) and encouraged the faithful to “rediscover the richness of our Baptism, to live as creatures fully renewed thanks to the Incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus.”
The Mass took place during the second of five weekly Sunday pastoral visits to parishes in the Diocese of Rome. On February 15, he celebrated Mass at Santa Maria Regina Pacis in Ostia Lido.
Reflecting on the first reading of the First Sunday of Lent, Pope Leo described the account of the Fall in the Book of Genesis as an “unsurpassed masterpiece that represents the drama of freedom.”
“The Genesis account brings us back to our condition as creatures, put to the test not so much by a prohibition, as is often believed, but by a possibility: the possibility of a relationship,” the Pope said in his Italian-language homily. That is, the human being is free to recognize and accept the otherness of the Creator, who recognizes and welcomes the otherness of creatures. To prevent this possibility, the serpent insinuates the presumption of being able to eliminate any difference between creatures and the Creator, seducing man and woman with the illusion of becoming like God.”
Turning to the Gospel reading (Matthew 4:1-11), the Pope preached that “the Gospel seems to answer the age-old dilemma: Can I fulfill my life to the fullest by saying ‘yes’ to God? Or, to be free and happy, do I have to get rid of Him? ... We see the Son of God who, opposing the snares of the old Adversary, shows us the new man, the free man, the epiphany of the freedom that is realized by saying ‘yes’ to God.”
Discussing the relation between this freedom and Baptism, the Pontiff said:
This new humanity is born from the baptismal font. And so—especially in this Season of Lent—we are called to rediscover the grace of Baptism, as the source of life that dwells in us and that, in a dynamic way, accompanies us with the utmost respect for our freedom ...
Grace is an interior voice that urges us to conform ourselves to Jesus, freeing our freedom so that it may find fulfilment in love of God and neighbor. In this way we understand the relational nature of Baptism, which calls us to live friendship with Jesus and, thus, to enter into his communion with the Father.
This relationship full of grace also enables us to live an authentic closeness to others, a freedom that—unlike what the devil proposes to Jesus—is not a search for one’s own power, but a love that gives itself and that makes us all brothers and sisters.
Pope Leo XIV recalled that St. John Bosco constructed the parish at the behest of Pope Leo XIII and thanked the Salesians who minister there today.
“May Mary Help of Christians always sustain our journey, make us strong in times of temptation and trial, to live fully the freedom and fraternity of the children of God,” the Pontiff concluded.
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