«The last word is the one closest to my heart: communion». It was with this powerful call to unity that Pope Leo XIV concluded his address in the Basilica of San Marino, during the pastoral segment of his visit to Mount Titano.
The Pontiff first pointed to the liturgy and the Eucharist as the heart of the Christian community’s life, urging the faithful not to experience them individually, but as the «common action of a single living body», from which each person can draw the strength needed to bear witness in the world.
«We believe that the Gospel is a path of freedom for men and women of every era», Leo XIV emphasized. For the Pope, it is in the encounter with Christ that an answer can be found amid humanity’s joys, wounds and deepest questions. From this stems his call to practise charity «in all its forms, without reserve», keeping the integral good of the person at the centre.
His gaze then widened to take in an international landscape marked by conflicts, violence, closed doors and a growing fear of the other. Faced with these «troubling drifts», Leo XIV said, Christians must respond by walking the path of the Gospel with even greater conviction — a path grounded in respect for freedom, attention to the weakest, forgiveness, solidarity and communion.
A passage closely tied to the local context was devoted to inland areas and small communities grappling with depopulation and a lack of services. The Pope praised the experiences of mutual support and closeness through which these territories keep alive their sense of family and community.
Realities that may seem marginal, but which Leo XIV described as «small flames» from which to draw in order to rekindle values that are solid, ancient and ever relevant. According to the Pontiff, such experiences can offer a response to the individualism of metropolitan, consumerist culture, as well as to insularity and parochialism, nurturing instead fraternity and peace.
He then delivered his closing message to the Church of San Marino-Montefeltro: «Let us bear witness to unity within our communities» — among parishes and within them, between pastors and the faithful, and among the different charisms and ministries.
A legacy that Leo XIV traced directly back to Saints Marinus and Leo, pointing to communion as the heritage to be preserved and made to grow. Before bidding farewell, the Pope assured the community of his prayers and asked the faithful to keep praying for him.
