Pope Leo XIV led pilgrims at the Vatican in a powerful General Audience reflection Aug. 13 about human weakness, Christ’s enduring love for people even when they sin, and the importance of conversion and receiving God’s mercy.
The reflection continues the Pontiff’s weekly catechesis on the Passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
This week, he homed in on the moment in the Last Supper when Jesus says that one of the 12 eating with Him will betray Him.
These are not words of condemnation, Pope Leo said, “but to show how love, when it is true, cannot do without the truth.”
Last week’s address focused on the importance of preparation for Jesus to come to the Upper Room — now, these words fill the prepared room “with a painful silence, made up of questions, suspicions, vulnerability,” Pope Leo said. “It is a pain we too know well, when the shadow of betrayal is cast over the closest relationships.”
According to the Pope, the way in which Christ states this — by not naming Judas specifically, not raising His voice, and not pointing a finger — enables the disciples to each respond in a personal way.
The Gospel of Mark 14:19 says, “They began to be distressed and to say to him, one by one, ‘Surely it is not I?’”
This question, Pope Leo said, “is not the question of the innocent, but of the disciple who discovers himself to be fragile.”
“It is not the cry of the guilty, but the whisper of him who, while wanting to love, is aware of being able to do harm,” he said. “It is in this awareness that the journey of salvation begins.”
He noted that the disciples respond to this statement not with anger and indignantly but with sadness — “a pain that arises from the real possibility of being involved.”
Recognizing this sorrow with sincerity — rather than denying the existence of evil — can create an opportunity, albeit a painful one, for conversion, according to the Pope.
Pope Leo also explained the depths of sorrow behind Jesus’ words, “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.”
This statement “is not a curse, but rather a cry of pain,” Pope Leo said. In Greek, he explained, the word “woe” indicates a tone akin to the compassionate exclamation of the word “alas.”
“We are used to judging. Instead, God accepts suffering,” Pope Leo said. “When He sees evil, He does not avenge it, but grieves. And that ‘better if he had never been born’ is not a condemnation imposed a priori, but a truth that any of us can recognize: if we deny the love that has generated us, if by betraying we become unfaithful to ourselves, then we truly lose the meaning of our coming into the world, and we exclude ourselves from salvation.”
But one even at his or her darkest point can be born again, “if we recognize our limit, if we let ourselves be touched by the pain of Christ,” Pope Leo said.
“Faith does not spare us from the possibility of sin,” he explained, but always provides a means out, through mercy.
“Jesus is not scandalized by our fragility,” Pope Leo said. “He knows well that no friendship is immune from the risk of betrayal. But Jesus continues to trust. He continues to sit at the table with His followers. He does not give up breaking bread, even for those who will betray Him. This is the silent power of God: He never abandons the table of love, even when He knows He will be left alone.”
The Pontiff encouraged the faithful to ask themselves the disciples’ question, “[n]ot to feel accused, but to open a space for truth in our hearts.” It is crucial, according to the Pope, to recognize one’s shortcomings but also one’s ability to choose renewal with God.
“Ultimately, this is hope: knowing that even if we fail, God will never fail us,” he concluded. “Even if we betray him, He never stops loving us. And if we allow ourselves to be touched by this love — humble, wounded, but always faithful — then we can truly be reborn. And we can begin to live no longer as traitors, but as children who are always loved.”