The following is the Message sent by the Holy Father Leo XIV on the occasion of the “IV Fiesta de la Resurrección”, taking place in Madrid, Spain, in Plaza de Cibeles today, 11 April 2026:

Message of the Holy Father

Dear friends,

As the Easter Octave draws to a close, I wish to send you my warmest greetings. Throughout these days, the Church has continued to proclaim the central message of her faith: Christ is risen! And this certainty does not belong solely to the past. It is a living force, capable of renewing people’s hearts, revitalizing the life of the Church and rekindling the joy of the Gospel in the world.

This is why it is wonderful that you have gathered to celebrate, and that you are doing so for the fourth consecutive year. It is good and necessary that Easter should also find expression in music, in fellowship and in shared joy. Faith in Jesus Christ gives meaning to human joy; it purifies it, elevates it and brings it to fulfilment. But precisely for this reason, Easter asks of us something greater than a passing emotion; it invites us to let ourselves be touched by the Resurrection, so that our lives too may begin anew.

Saint Matthew records a remarkable event: after the Lord’s Resurrection, the bodies of many saints who had died were raised to life; they came out of their tombs, entered the Holy City and appeared to many (cf. Mt 27:52–53). Easter, therefore, is not confined to the tomb; it bursts into the city and enters daily life through the lives of men and women. And this continues to happen today. It has already happened throughout history. You see it in your compatriots who, in the last century, were martyrs and witnesses to Jesus; in them, Christ’s victory over death became faithfulness, strength and self-sacrifice. You are called not only to remember them, but to draw strength from their example so that Christ may once again walk through your streets, so that the Church may regain its zeal, so that the truth of the Gospel may open those tombs into which so many hearts have transformed, and thus Easter may become present here and now through Christian lives that are light, courage and a joyful proclamation.

The world needs to hear about Christ and to see Him in the deeds of Christians who live out the newness of their baptism. We need young people who are not ashamed of the Gospel, communities that radiate hope, witnesses capable of making the Lord present in every setting, and lives ablaze with faith that make the beauty of the faith visible. Evangelization does not spring, first and foremost, from strategies, but from hearts transformed by the Risen Lord.

How I wish there were a celebration throughout the world! How I wish that everywhere the joy of Easter might find voices, faces and songs! But even more: how I wish that the very existence of Christians might become a concert, a great harmony of faith, unity, communion and charity, capable of proclaiming to the world that Christ lives! May the fire of the Paschal Candle go forth from your churches. May it consume all inner apathy, all resignation, all spiritual mediocrity. May it enter where faith has grown weak, where apostolic enthusiasm has faded, where Christianity risks becoming a habit without fervour. And may the hearts of those who have encountered the Risen One be enflamed (cf. Lk 24:32). Christ is alive, and for that reason, nothing in us is condemned to the darkness of sin.

Dear friends, the Church expects much from you. She expects your joy, but also your spiritual depth; your generosity, your faith and your courage to live as true disciples of the Lord. Let yourselves be touched by Easter. Draw strength from the example of your martyrs and honour their memory by ensuring that your lives and actions bear fruit from the fertile seed sown by their blood. Make your lives a new song, one that renews the Church and brings the light of the Risen Lord to the world! Lift up your eyes: contemplate Christ and follow Him towards holiness!

As the time approaches for us to meet at Cibeles, I ask you: do not let the present moment pass you by; pray, seek Christ in truth; do not settle for the bare minimum, for life, with Christ, is worth living. I pray for you, I bless you and I look forward to seeing you. God willing, we shall meet in June.

Vatican, 8 April 2026

LEO PP. XIV