Pope: At Christmas, Let Music Be a ‘Dwelling Place for the Soul’

Vatican City, December 14, 2025: Pope Leo XIV has encouraged artists and organisers of the Vatican’s Christmas Concert to allow music to become a space of inner reflection and hope, saying the Christmas season reminds humanity that God comes close “at the very heart of our small human stories.”

The Vatican has hosted a Christmas concert for the past 33 years in the Paul VI Hall. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, 13 December, at the auditorium on Via della Conciliazione, near St. Peter’s Basilica.

Meeting the organisers and performers ahead of the concert, Pope Leo highlighted the deep role music plays in human life. He said music accompanies people through their journeys, memories and struggles, becoming a shared and intimate record that preserves emotions such as nostalgia, longing, expectation, disorientation and renewal. In this way, he noted, music tells the human story with both simplicity and depth.

Reflecting on the meaning of Christmas, the Pope said the feast reminds believers that God chooses to reveal himself within ordinary human realities. Rather than relying on grandeur or distance, God enters a simple home, draws near instead of remaining far away, and comes to meet humanity not from an inaccessible heaven but within the most modest and personal stories of daily life.

Pope Leo also drew attention to the charitable dimension of this year’s concert. He recalled that the proceeds will support a Salesian missionary project in the Republic of the Congo, where a primary school for 350 children is planned. This initiative, he said, illustrates that authentic beauty never remains self-contained but naturally leads to responsible choices and concrete commitment to the world.

As Christmas approaches, the Pope expressed his hope that music might become “a dwelling place for the soul” — an interior space where the heart can find its voice. Such a space, he said, draws people closer to God and allows their humanity to be increasingly shaped and inspired by divine love.

Through his address, Pope Leo underlined both the spiritual and social power of music, presenting it as a bridge between faith, culture and compassion, especially during the Christmas season, when hearts are invited to open more fully to God and to one another.

Pope: At Christmas, Let Music Be a ‘Dwelling Place for the Soul’

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