On Sunday, October 19, 2025, St. Peter’s Square was filled with pilgrims from around the world as Pope Leo XIV celebrated Holy Mass and canonized seven new saints: Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan, Peter To Rot, Vincenza Maria Poloni, Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez, Maria Troncatti, José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros, and Bartolo Longo. The canonization took place on the 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time and was marked by a profound reflection from the Holy Father on the enduring question posed by Christ: “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Pope Leo reminded the faithful that this question reveals what is most precious to the Lord: faith, the living bond of love between God and humanity. The seven new saints, he said, are luminous witnesses who kept the flame of faith alive through their lives of sacrifice, charity, and prayer. Their examples are lamps that continue to spread the light of Christ in a world often dimmed by disbelief and indifference.
Faith, the Pope explained, is the key that gives meaning to all human achievement—material, scientific, or artistic. Without faith, he said, life itself risks becoming meaningless. “A world without faith,” the Holy Father reflected, “would be populated by children living without a Father.” It is faith that restores our relationship with God, transforms despair into hope, and grants freedom even in the face of death.
The Pope urged Christians to persevere in prayer as a visible sign of living faith. Just as breathing sustains the life of the body, he said, prayer sustains the life of the soul. Drawing on the parable of the persistent widow, Pope Leo encouraged believers to trust in God’s justice, even when it seems delayed or hidden. God is not indifferent, he affirmed, but acts with the perfect wisdom and mercy of a Father who always wills the good of His children.
The Holy Father also spoke of the temptations that test faith: the doubt that God hears the cries of the suffering, and the pride that seeks to instruct God on how He should act. Christ, through His passion and prayer, has freed us from these illusions. On the cross, the Pope said, God’s justice is revealed as mercy. “There is no tear far from His heart,” he reminded the faithful, “and no cry that He does not console.”
Turning again to the new saints, Pope Leo described them as authentic men and women who lived the Gospel with simplicity and courage. Bishop Ignazio Choukrallah Maloyan and catechist Peter To Rot gave their lives as martyrs; Sister Maria Troncatti served as a missionary in distant lands; Sisters Vincenza Maria Poloni and Maria del Monte Carmelo Rendiles Martínez founded religious communities of charity; Bartolo Longo and José Gregorio Hernández Cisneros dedicated their gifts to the service of the poor and the sick.
In their lives, the Pope said, we see how faith blossoms into sanctity. Each of them bore witness that God’s love is stronger than death and that holiness is attainable for all who pray with perseverance and trust in divine providence. Concluding his homily, Pope Leo XIV invited the faithful to imitate their example and to “pray without ceasing,” so that faith on earth may always sustain our hope for heaven.