On Wednesday, September 24, Pope Leo XIV reflected once again on the theme of Christian hope during his weekly general audience. Ashley Noronha, Relevant Radio’s Rome correspondent, joined John Morales on Morning Air to share the Holy Father’s message.
Pope Leo directed attention to Holy Saturday, that mysterious day when Christ lay in the tomb and descended into the realm of the dead. He explained that this event, far from being a pause in salvation history, is a source of profound hope. Just as the Lord descended into the darkness to bring salvation to the righteous, He also descends into the places of despair within our own lives. In every shadow of darkness, Christ comes to bring His light.
The Holy Father emphasized that there is no distance too great, no heart too hardened, and no tomb too sealed for God’s love. Christ does not enter our shame, loneliness, or feelings of abandonment in order to condemn, but to liberate. His presence brings freedom and mercy. Even the past, no matter how compromised or disfigured by sin, can be touched and renewed by His grace.
Pope Leo likened Christ’s coming into our desolation to someone entering a hospital room on tiptoe, in order to offer comfort, consolation, and healing. God approaches us gently, meeting us in weakness, so that His saving work can begin. In what may seem to us the lowest moments of failure or defeat, He is already at work preparing what the Pope called “a new creation.”
Pope Leo offered a clear message: death and sin never have the final word when we turn to God’s mercy. Every darkness can be illumined by the light of the Resurrection, and every collapse in human strength can become the seed of something new. What seems like an ending may, by God’s grace, be the beginning of transformation and life.
The mystery of Holy Saturday teaches us to wait with confidence and to trust that God is present, even when His presence feels hidden. It reassures the faithful that there is no situation beyond the reach of Christ’s saving power. As Pope Leo reminded the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square, the Lord’s descent into the realm of the dead proclaims that God enters into the depths in order to raise us to life.
In the silence of Holy Saturday, Christians discover hope. In the risen Christ, they find the certainty that love is stronger than death.