Pope Leo XIV on Sunday appealed for greater international assistance to Somalia, where violence and extreme weather are worsening an already severe humanitarian crisis, particularly for women and children.
After reciting the Angelus on Sept. 20, the pope said: “With great concern, I am following the humanitarian crisis unfolding in certain areas of Somalia, where acts of violence and extreme weather events are exacerbating the already precarious living conditions of the population, particularly of women and children.”
“I hope for the generous involvement of the international community, so that our brothers and sisters may not lack the necessary assistance,” he added.
According to UNICEF, about 4.8 million people in Somalia need urgent humanitarian assistance, including some 3 million children. The U.N. agency has also warned that about 1.9 million children are suffering from acute malnutrition, including nearly half a million experiencing severe acute malnutrition.
The pope also used his remarks after the Angelus to emphasize the importance of historical memory.
He sent his blessing to residents of Pescantina, near Verona, who gathered Sunday at a monument honoring those who were deported and held prisoner during World War II.
Leo said the commemoration should serve “to emphasize that we must not forget, but rather learn from history so as not to repeat the mistakes of the past.”
God’s plans are greater than human calculations
Before the Angelus, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the day’s Gospel account of the laborers called to work in the vineyard, some for the entire day, others for only a few hours and still others near the end of the day.
Drawing on the prophet Isaiah, Leo said that God’s ways exceed human expectations.
“God’s plans are infinitely greater — and, let us say, more ‘human’— than those that we men and women, marked by sin, can conceive or bring to fruition,” he said.
The pope recalled Isaiah’s invitation to turn away from sin and return to the Lord, saying “the prophet’s call, which is more relevant than ever, is that we abandon our warped ways and return to the Lord, who is mercy and forgiveness.”
Turning to the Gospel parable, Leo said its central moment comes when the vineyard owner pays the workers. Although he keeps the agreement made with those hired first, the owner also gives the same payment to those who arrived later.
“Jesus’ parables describe the newness of what God has in store for us; yet they also reveal the resistance we generally offer to a more generous justice and greater love,” the pope said.
Leo drew particular attention to the landowner’s instruction that the workers be paid “beginning with the last and then going to the first.”
“The negative reaction of those who had worked all day, then, could easily have been avoided; it was intentional, however, because the revelation of God’s goodness is for everyone, not just for a few,” he said.
The pope said the parable also challenges those who see themselves as having earned their place or accomplishments.
“God has different ways and fresh ideas even for those who consider themselves to be first and believe they have earned what they have, that they deserved the results they have achieved,” he said.
Leo concluded that God’s mercy moves beyond calculations based solely on merit and reward.
“Instead, we all gain joy, wisdom and a better future when the law of love interrupts that of calculation, when the experience of mercy broadens that of merit, and when the gift of peace suspends rivalries and brings us closer together in gratitude,” he said.
This story was first published in two parts by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.