Pope Leo’s address to participants in the “Domus Fraternal Association” meeting
Clementine Hall – Thursday, 12 March 2026
“the Christian vocation is about creating unity among people”
Pope Leo’s address
Your Excellencies, dear brothers and sisters,
I am pleased to meet you and to share with you some reflections on the theme you face as the “Chair of Hospitality meeting”.
This theme is born from the spiritual experience of the Domus Fraternal Association which is supported by other ecclesial and social organizations.
Your days are filled with the knowledge that the Christian vocation is about creating unity among people. This communion is born from your ability to welcome others by offering them your ear, hospitality, and assistance.
The word “welcome,” the center of all your activities, has a possible etymology dating back to the Latin “accipere”, means “to receive” or “to take with oneself.”
At the heart of every authentic welcome there is a relationship that is born from the grace of an encounter.
We experience many types of encounters, and therefore, many types of welcomes: encounters with people who love us, family members, colleagues, and strangers, who are sometimes hostile.
When an encounter is genuine, it can transform us and progressively involve others, giving rise to a communal experience.
Your decision to dedicate the fourth edition of “Chair” to young people is rooted in this dynamic of meetings.
In times marked by profound cultural and social changes, young people are the future of society and the Church. In fact, they are already the Church’s living and creative present.
In fact, their questions and concerns, encourage us to renew the style of our relationships.
Welcoming young people means listening to their voices, meeting their gaze, and recognizing that the Spirit continues to act in their lives, pointing us toward renewed paths of presence and care.
I would like to reflect carefully on these two words – presenceand care– that contribute to the refinement of the Christian sense of welcome.
From the moment we are born, we grow up in a social reality.
The family, the parish, the school, the university, and workplace are models of society in which various dimensions – psychological, legal, moral, pedagogical, cultural – are intertwined.
These are spaces for selecting one’s identity, the main task of which is establishing a clear presence.
Being present in the lives of others means sharing time, experiences, and meanings. It means offering stable reference points where others can recognize themselves and grow.
Looking to the Holy Family of Nazareth – whose model inspired the Domus Fraternal Association – each hospitality community can rediscover its own vocation and learn to orient itself on the path of service.
The Gospel story of Mary and Joseph losing and finding Jesus in the Temple after three days of despair teaches us that the presence of others is not automatic, It is the result of constant searching.
Each of us has lost someone or something to which we were very attached.
At that moment, we realized how precious this presence is.
The same is true in the life of faith.
We take Jesus’ presence in our lives for granted until it suddenly seems as if he is no longer where we left him. We are astonished.
In reality, He has not disappeared; we have simply drifted apart.
When this happens, we are called to seek Him with confidence and courage, following undiscovered paths and looking at the world with new, hopeful eyes.
In this way, we stop looking for God at our level and meet him where he lives.
Seeking Jesus means transitioning from the certainty of our convictions to the responsibility of encountering and learning to recognize the presence of God, who is always “beyond.”
This is exactly what St. Joseph did when he took care of the family entrusted to him by the Lord.
In it, we understand that greeting, as well as presence, is also care.
Protecting someone means being close to them, paying attention to them, respecting their choices, and taking care of them.
This approach primarily belongs to God, who is portrayed in the Bible as the guardian of his people.
Remember the psalm that says, “The Lord watches over you; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The Lord is your guardian” (Psalm 121:4-5).
From this perspective, we understand that the human family is also called to preserve what has been entrusted to it: relationships, creation, and the lives of our sisters and brothers, especially the most fragile and suffering.
Joseph shows us that presence and care are inseparable: one cannot guard without being present, nor can one be present without taking responsibility for others.
These two words symbolize two lamps that illuminate the path to holiness
This path is never self-referential, but rather relational and fraternal, as the encyclical Fratelli Tutti reminds us.
In it, Pope Francis says, “Only a social and political culture that embraces free welcome can have a future for the new generations” (no. 141)
Dear friends,
Thank you for your quiet and discreet commitment.
I encourage you to be educators and welcoming individuals.
Cultivate acceptance by listening to the Holy Spirit. St. Paul says the fruit of the Spirit is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22).
By doing so, you will be able to continue creating environments that promote goodness and fraternity within the Christian community and society.
May Mary Most Holy and Saint Joseph watch over and intercede for you.
I bless you with all my heart. Thank you!
