Relive the events of the Passion and come out of your tombs like Lazarus, Pope tells pilgrims
March 22, 2026
Pope Leo XIV reflected on the raising of Lazarus, recounted in the Gospel reading of the Fifth Sunday of Lent (John 11:1-45), as he addressed pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for today’s midday Angelus address (video).
The raising of Lazarus “is a sign that speaks of Christ’s victory over death and of the gift of eternal life, which we receive through Baptism,” Pope Leo said. “The liturgy thus invites us, in light of the fact that Holy Week is drawing near, to relive the events of the Lord’s Passion—the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the trial, the crucifixion, the burial—so that we may grasp their most authentic meaning and open ourselves to the gift of grace they contain.”
“His grace illumines this world, which seems to constantly search for novelty and change, even at the cost of sacrificing important things—time, energy, values, affections—as if fame, material goods, entertainment and fleeting relationships could fill our hearts or make us immortal,” the Pope continued. “It is a symptom of a longing for the infinite that each of us carries within us, a need that cannot be satisfied by passing things.”
The Pope added:
The account of the resurrection of Lazarus, then, invites us to listen to this profound need and, with the power of the Holy Spirit, to free our hearts from habits, conditioning and ways of thinking which, like boulders, shut us away in the tomb of selfishness, materialism, violence and superficiality. In these places there is no life, but only confusion, dissatisfaction and loneliness.
Jesus also cries out to us: “Come out!” (Jn 11:43), urging us to emerge from these cramped spaces, renewed by his grace, to walk in the light of love, as new women and men, capable of hoping and loving, without calculation and without measure, according to the model of his infinite charity.
“May the Virgin Mary help us to live these holy days with her faith, her trust and her fidelity, so that the glorious experience of encountering her risen Son may be renewed in us each day,” Pope Leo concluded.
Pope Leo then recited, in Latin, the Angelus, the Minor Doxology (three times), and the prayer for the faithful departed, before imparting his blessing and renewing his appeal for peace in the Middle East.
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