Pope at Audience: Crying Out Is Not Weakness but Hope

Vatican City, September 10, 2025 – At the weekly General Audience, Pope Leo XIV reflected on the crucifixion, stressing that Jesus’ cry from the cross revealed “the final stage of a love that is given up to the very end,” and encouraged the faithful to see crying not as weakness but as an act of profound prayer and hope.

Continuing his catechesis on the Passion, the Pope underlined that Jesus did not die in silence. “He does not fade away gradually, like a light that burns out, but rather he leaves life with a cry.” That cry, he explained, was not simply a physical surrender, but “the final sign of a life being surrendered.”

Before His last breath, Jesus voiced the words: “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” The Pope highlighted that this shows the Son, who had always lived in communion with the Father, experienced silence, absence, and the abyss in His Passion. Yet, “it is not a crisis of faith, but the final stage of a love that is given up to the very end.”

The Pope explained that Jesus’ cry was not despair but “sincerity, truth taken to the limit, trust that endures even when all is silent.” At that moment, the skies darkened and the temple veil was torn, as though all creation was drawn into His pain. Yet from this darkness came a revelation: “God no longer dwells behind a veil—His face is now fully visible in the Crucified One.”

The broken body of Christ manifested God’s greatest love, showing that He is not distant but present with humanity in suffering. The Pope noted that the centurion at the cross— a pagan—was the first to believe after witnessing Jesus’ death, and this was no fleeting statement but a true conversion of heart.

“At times, what we are unable to say in words, we express with the voice,” the Pope continued. “When the heart is full, it cries.” He emphasised that such an act is not weakness but deep humanity, adding that the Gospel gives “immense value to our cry,” since it can express struggles and become prayer when words fail.

In His final cry, Jesus gave all He had left, showing that crying out is not surrender but an expression of trust that someone is listening. “One cries not out of desperation, but out of desire. Jesus did not cry out against the Father, but to Him,” the Pope explained.

He noted that crying out is also a human gesture—it is the first act at birth and remains essential for life. In times of trial, Jesus’ cry teaches us not to fear doing the same. “A cry is never pointless, if it is born of love,” he urged, insisting that when directed to God it will never be ignored.

The Pope concluded by inviting the faithful to cry out with openness of heart, for such a cry can become “the threshold of a new light, of a new birth.”

Courtesy: Vatican News