Pope Leo XIV closes each Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square with greetings tailored to the language groups present. These brief remarks, often overlooked in coverage of the longer catechesis, carry their own pastoral weight. You can read Aleteia’s full reflection on this week’s greetings. For Catholics watching from home or reading transcripts later, these closing words reveal how the Pope speaks when the formal teaching is done.
What happens at the end of general audiences
After the main catechesis and Angelus, Pope Leo addresses pilgrims by language. French speakers hear a greeting in French, Polish groups in Polish, and so on. Each greeting is short, two or three sentences at most.
The Pope uses these moments to acknowledge feast days, mention current events affecting a region, or offer a specific prayer intention. It is pastoral work at small scale. A word of encouragement for young people. A reference to a saint whose feast falls that week. A reminder to pray for peace in a troubled country.
The format is Pope Leo’s inheritance from his predecessors, but the content is his own. Benedict XVI used these greetings for theological precision. Francis favored spontaneous asides. Leo tends toward direct invitations: pray this novena, visit this shrine, read this encyclical.
Why this matters
General audiences draw thousands of pilgrims and reach millions through Vatican media. The main catechesis sets the doctrinal agenda, but the closing greetings show how a Pope relates to the Church as individuals, not just as the universal body. They are brief enough to memorize, specific enough to act on.
For readers who do not follow Vatican news closely, these greetings also reveal what the Pope is reading, which saints he turns to, and where his pastoral concern is directed in a given week. June audiences this year have included references to the Sacred Heart (June 27 is the Solemnity), prayers for refugees in the Mediterranean, and encouragement for university students finishing exams.
For Catholic readers
Vatican.va publishes full transcripts of general audiences, including the language-specific greetings, within 24 hours of each Wednesday event. If you want to hear what the Pope said to your language group, or to catch a pastoral gem that didn’t make the news, the transcripts are worth browsing.
Sources:
1. Aleteia — original reflection
