God’s grace shines in our lives, as it did in the lives of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope tells pilgrims

June 30, 2026

God’s grace shines in the lives of Christians today, as it did in the lives of Saints Peter and Paul, Pope Leo XIV said during his June 29 Angelus address (video) on their feast day.

“The testimony of these two Apostles is almost a seal of the New Testament,” Pope Leo said to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “The blood they shed in this city reveals how far the love of God that the Lord Jesus has given us reaches.”

The Pope continued:

Today too, the Lord, who died and rose for love, makes himself present in his witnesses, reaches the centers and peripheries, the capitals and the most remote regions, with the voices, the faces, the courageous choices of those who responded to his invitation: “Follow me!”

Thus, this feast day involves us in the mission of Peter and Paul, that is, in the mission of Jesus himself. God trusts us, who are sinners forgiven by Him, who are not perfect, so that His grace shines in our stories, so that His strength which changes evil into good is revealed.

“Beloved, perhaps Peter and Paul could not have been more different from each other,” Pope Leo added. “They became almost the symbol of many other diversities that the one Spirit composes in unity.”

The Pontiff concluded:

May the Lord grant us, through the intercession of Saints Peter and Paul, to appreciate ever more the catholicity of the Church, to recognize its value at the service of fraternal encounter between individuals and peoples, to avoid what wears out or harms communion, to persevere on the ecumenical journey and in attentive and frank dialogue with all. May Mary, Queen of the Apostles, always protect the People of God, in Rome and throughout the world.

 

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Further information:

• Angelus (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 6/29/26)