Be transformed by the love of the Sacred Heart, Pope preaches on Canary Islands

June 12, 2026

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the Mass of the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in Gran Canaria Stadium last evening (video 1, video 2) and encouraged his hearers to be transformed by the humble love of the Sacred Heart.

God’s love is “changeless and faithful even in the face of misunderstanding and rejection, fear, sadness and human resistance,” Pope Leo preached. This love calls us to “a new way of existing and relating, a different criterion for evaluating decisions,” and to “translate the infinite measure of God’s love into the generosity with which we serve him, every day, in the brothers and sisters whom he himself places on our path.”

“Our charity must not be mere welfare, but rather integrate people, for their full fulfilment—spiritual, intellectual and physical—and their dignified and constructive insertion into the community,” the Pope continued, adding:

In light of the Word of God we have heard, I would like to focus on one final characteristic of the Heart of Christ: humility (cf. Mt 11:29). The Heart of Jesus is humble, and that is why its beating is not felt by the “learned,” the “wise”—that is, those who presume to be self-sufficient, to know everything, to need neither God nor others. For these people, in fact, dazed by the clamor of a bombastic, omnipresent, and restless “I,” lack the silence necessary to hear within themselves and in their brothers and sisters the hidden heartbeat of love.

The Pope concluded:

Dear brothers and sisters, today we adore the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a heart that we often depict crowned with thorns and ablaze with a flame, according to the visions of Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque. Let us remember that we are the living presence of the Lord in the world.

Therefore, let us look upon one another, not only on this day but always, with respect and trust, and let us renew, in this awareness, our commitment to complete in our own lives, through charity, what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ, for the good of the Church (cf. Col 1:24). Enkindled by the charity of his Heart, let us be bearers of his mercy and his peace, so that wars may cease in the world and a new humanity, reconciled in love, may grow around us.

 

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Further information:

• Apostolic Journey to Spain: Holy Mass (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 6/11/26)
• Pope: Listen to the ‘hidden, beating heart of love’ (Vatican News, 6/11/26)