(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 04.12.2026).- On Sunday, April 12, the Feast of Divine Mercy, Pope Leo XIV recited the Regina Coeli prayer with thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square. As is customary, before the Marian prayer, the Holy Father delivered his Sunday address, which we present below in English translation:
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Dear brothers and sisters, happy Sunday and happy Easter once again!
Today, on the Second Sunday of Easter, dedicated to Divine Mercy by Saint John Paul II, the Gospel recounts the appearance of the risen Jesus to the Apostle Thomas (cf. Jn 20:19–31). This event took place eight days after Easter, while the community was gathered together. There, Thomas encountered the Master, who invited him to look at the marks of the nails and to put his hand into the wound in his side, and to believe (cf. v. 27). This scene invites us to reflect on our own encounter with the risen Jesus. Where can we find him? How can we recognize him? How can we believe? Saint John, who narrated the event, gives us precise indications: Thomas met Jesus on the eighth day, in the gathered community, and recognized him in the signs of his sacrifice. His profession of faith, the highest in the entire Fourth Gospel, emerged from this experience: “My Lord and my God!” (v. 28).
Of course, it is not always easy to believe. It was not easy for Thomas, and it is not easy for us either. Faith needs to be nourished and sustained. For this reason, on the “eighth day” — that is, every Sunday — the Church invites us to do as the first disciples did: gather together and celebrate the Eucharist. During Mass, we listen to the words of Jesus, we pray, we profess our faith, we share God’s gifts in charity, we offer our lives in union with the Sacrifice of Christ. His Body and Blood nourish us, so that we too may become witnesses of his Resurrection, as indicated by the term “Mass,” which means “sending forth,” or “mission” (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1332).
The Sunday Eucharist is indispensable to the Christian life. Tomorrow I will depart for my Apostolic Journey to Africa. Some of the martyrs of the early African Church, particularly the Martyrs of Abitene, have left us a beautiful testimony in this regard. When offered the chance to save their lives by renouncing the celebration of the Eucharist, they replied that they could not live without celebrating the Lord’s Day. It is there that our faith is grows and is strengthened. It is there that our efforts, though limited, are united by God’s grace to the actions of the members of a single body — the Body of Christ — for the accomplishment of a single great plan of salvation that embraces all humanity. It is through the Eucharist that our hands become “the hands of the Risen One,” giving witness to his presence, mercy and peace. The signs of work, sacrifice, illness and the passing of the years are often etched into our hands, just as they are in the tenderness of a caress, a handshake, or a gesture of charity.
Dear brothers and sisters, in a world that is in such great need of peace, this calls on us more than ever to be steadfast and faithful in our Eucharistic encounter with the risen Lord, so that we may go forth as witnesses of charity and messengers of reconciliation. May the Virgin Mary help us to do this, she who is blessed because she was the first to believe without seeing (cf. Jn 20:29).
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