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Papal Insights | September 2026
Welcome to Papal Insights for the month of September. We may have just ended the Season of Creation, but that doesn’t mean we can cover our ears against the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor. You are more than welcome to continue using our Season of Creation resources all year round!
This month we written reflections on the Pope’s homily from a Votive Mass for the Care of Creation, as well as one of his regular Sunday Angelus addresses.
Homily – Mass for the Care of Creation, 1st September
On the 1st September, Pope Leo XIV said Mass for the Care of Creation at Borgo Laudato Si’ just outside of Rome. In his homily, he offered his thoughts on the need to cultivate a healthy contemplative life, beginning with silence which allows us to hear the “melodious voice of creation”, through which we can begin our journey of an “authentic ecological conversion, where the effects of our encounter with Jesus Christ become evident in our relationship with the world around us.”
The Season of Creation lasted from the 1st September to the 4th October (Feast of St Francis of Assisi) and is an ecumenical celebration of the gift of Creation, but also a profound opportunity to recognise the harmful effects of human activity on Creation. Referencing his own message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, the Holy Father explained that “it is not yet too late” to ‘beat swords into ploughshares’ (Isaiah 2:4).
As he has made clear since the start of his pontificate, the need for the peace of Christ is evident in all parts of the world. This peace can only be brought about by a conversion, by turning away from those things which cause harm to ourselves and others.
“It is not yet too late, and the Season of Creation calls us to a profound conversion: ‘What has been used for destruction can be redirected toward life, toward the care of the poor, the nourishment of the hungry, and the safeguarding of creation.”
Address – Angelus, 13th September
On one of his Sunday Angelus addresses at St Peter’s Square, the Pope offered a short reflection on the Gospel reading for that particular day. The gospel reading open with St Peter asking Jesus how often he should forgive someone, to which Jesus replied ‘seventy times seven.’
Offering his own words, the Pope explained:
“With these words, Jesus reminds us that gift and forgiveness are the foundation of our existence. All things are given to us by God out of pure love...”
We are expected to respond this same way to our brothers and sisters – or at least as best we can, as the Holy Father goes on: “..and none of us can claim to be perfect in responding.” We respond to God by simply passing on to others the gifts and forgiveness He has offered to us.
Pope Leo goes on to explain how crucial forgiveness is as an instrument of peace:
“Sooner or later conflicts, accusations, grudges and acts of vengeance emerge in our hearts and among people, and these acts destroy relationships, divide families and unleash wars.
Only forgiveness sets us free and restores the light, even where human material and moral poverty has darkened the horizon and made the path uncertain. Forgiveness, like a gentle breeze, sweeps away even the thickest clouds until the sun shines once more.”
The Pope’s words are key for our own times, as we feel society becoming increasingly fractured, and our differences – whatever they may be – become battlegrounds on which wars of the mind and heart are fought. It does not have to be so.
Forgiveness is free and sets us free. After denying and abandoning Jesus, St Peter himself could not buy or earn his forgiveness, instead it was offered as a gift: “It was as if nothing had happened.”
Is there a person or people in our lives that we need to forgive?
How can both hearing and saying the words “I forgive you” transform our lives?
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