Pope Leo XIV to Assisi youth: ‘Europe and the whole world are looking to you to be new saints’

ASSISI, Italy — Pope Leo XIV called on young people gathered in Assisi to become “new saints,” reject the culture of power, and help build a world founded on fraternity rather than domination.

The pope celebrated Mass on Thursday at the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels before the Portiuncula, the small chapel closely associated with the life and vocation of St. Francis.

Addressing approximately 2,500 participants in the GO! Franciscan Youth Meeting on the feast of the Transfiguration, Pope Leo said Assisi has long drawn pilgrims because “everything whispers that our lives can take on a new form, radiate light and heal the world.”

“It was here that the transformation of Francis, Clare and then thousands of other young people began,” he said. “They embraced the Gospel sine glossa — we could say, in its simplicity — then the life of Jesus began anew within them.”

Reflecting on the Gospel account of the Transfiguration, the pope said the young pilgrims had come to Assisi in search of direction and meaning.

“We have come here to understand where history is heading and where we ourselves are going,” he said. “In the Gospel, we see that meaning can indeed be found, that a…