On the Feast of the Assumption, Pope Leo XIV delivered a homily that urged the faithful to recognize Mary’s courageous “yes” as the model for Christian discipleship. Speaking in Rome, the Holy Father reminded the Church that while death continues to cast its shadow, God’s life-giving love breaks through whenever His people choose trust, forgiveness, and solidarity.
Mary Hallan FioRito, Catholic attorney and public speaker, joined John Morales on Morning Air to reflect on the Pope’s words. She noted how his call to “reject the voice of death and choose life” continues the legacy of Pope St. John Paul II, who championed the dignity of the human person from conception to natural death. Like his predecessor, Pope Leo is showing the world that strength lies not in domination or fear, but in joyful fidelity to Christ and in love for life itself.
In his homily, the Pope drew attention to Mary of Nazareth as the vessel through whom God conquered death. By her free acceptance of God’s will, she stands as the witness that our “yes” to the Lord can change history. “His is the Kingdom, but ours is the ‘yes’ to his love that can change everything,” he said. Pope Leo reminded the faithful that this “yes” is lived out not only in great acts of martyrdom, but in daily fidelity, gentleness, and works of peace.
The Assumption liturgy presents the Gospel of the Visitation, when Mary and Elizabeth, both bearing miraculous children, rejoiced together in faith. Pope Leo pointed out that this moment contained the seed of every future grace in Mary’s life, a moment that still resounds in the Church’s song of the Magnificat. Just as Elizabeth’s fruitfulness confirmed Mary’s trust, so too the life of the Church flourishes wherever God’s Word is welcomed with humility.
Pope Leo did not shy away from naming the temptations that can dull Christian hope: self-reliance, complacency, resignation, and fear. These, he said, are forms of death. The antidote is the Magnificat, sung daily by God’s poor, the persecuted, and the peacemakers of our time. “Let us not be afraid to choose life,” he urged, even when it seems risky or imprudent.
For FioRito, this message was strikingly clear. Just as John Paul II often called the world to resist the “culture of death,” Pope Leo is renewing that same call with calm conviction. His words highlight that the Church’s mission is not simply to defend life as an idea, but to live it concretely in fraternity, mercy, and hope.
In Mary assumed into heaven, the Church sees her own destiny. The Pope reminded the faithful that her glory reveals the truth of Christ’s Resurrection, which is not an isolated event but the promise extended to all believers. Choosing life, he said, begins here and now, whenever we reject fear and live for Christ rather than for ourselves.
“Many voices whisper: ‘Why bother? Let it go. Think of your own interests,’” the Pope said. “These are voices of death. But we are disciples of Christ.” With that, he entrusted the Church once more to the example of the Blessed Virgin, whose “yes” continues to bear fruit for the world.