Publication “Piazza San Pietro”. Christmas, Pope Leo XIV responds to reader: “Avoid excessive shopping, invite just one person who is alone”

The cover is dedicated to children and Pope Leo XIV’s thoughts for the little ones with the announcement, on November 19, of the second World Children's Day scheduled in Rome from 25 to 27 September 2026.

VATICAN, 6 DECEMBER – The new issue of the magazine Piazza San Pietro, edited by Fr. Enzo Fortunato, is dedicated to Christmas as a time of listening. A special edition, dedicated to the Holy Night around the world, Christmas amid giving and consumerism, without ever forgetting the poor and the theme of Peace with “God does not want war and violence”.

The cover of the December issue is dedicated to children and to Pope Leo XIV’s thoughts for the youngest, with the announcement 19 November last of the second World Children’s Day, to be held in Rome from 25 to 27 September 2026.

The monthly begins with a letter to Pope Leo from Antonio, a forty-year-old psychologist from Pagani, in the province of Salerno, and the Holy Father’s answer, in his first Christmas as the Successor of Peter.

Antonio describes a life frequently beside the most fragile people, inspired by Saint Alphonsus Maria de’ Liguori and Saint Francis. He shares with the Pope his daily commitment alongside young people and families, amid “turmoil, fears, and a hyperbolic search for recognition” that often masks insecurity and loneliness. He observes a time when “making mistakes is a crime and not succeeding is a total failure”, but also a youth thirsty for God, “a need for those who believe, hope for those who do not believe”. In this climate of widespread fatigue, Antonio recognizes in grandparents “the praise of imperfection” and reminds everyone of “the immeasurable gift of our uniqueness”. Hence his request to the Pope for a word that can “touch the hearts” of the many young people he accompanies.

In his reply, Pope Leo XIV considers three central themes related to Christmas.

First of all, he recalls the importance of Christian witness as the way to allow young people to encounter Christ: a simple, authentic witness, matured in prayer, community life and the awareness of being “continually loved by God”.

The Pope then invites us to live Christmas as a period of sobriety and concrete charity. “Let us avoid excessive shopping”, he writes, which turns gifts into objects of desire instead of signs of beauty and hope. And he proposes a gesture capable of restoring meaning to celebration: “Let us invite a poor family or even just one person who is alone” to the Christmas meal. For the Pontiff, poverty – material and existential – remains “an urgent matter that cannot be postponed” as also recalled in the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te.

Finally, Pope Leo XIV indicates to young people the light of the example of Saint John Henry Newman, recently proclaimed Doctor of the Church. A teacher of dialogue and education who, the Pope affirms, can help combat “the obscurity of nihilism” and build a true “civilization of peace”.

The Holy Father concludes by assuring Antonio of his prayer, encouraging him not to be discouraged in his mission alongside the young, and he addresses Christmas wishes to all readers of Piazza San Pietro.

In the editorial, entitled “Children unite where adults divide”, Father Fortunato anticipates World Children’s Day “not only as a celebration but as a call, an invitation to care for others as a personal and social style”. Cardinal Mauro Gambetti presents the 400th anniversary of the dedication of Sain Peter’s Basilica, while Fra Carlos Trovarelli, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual, offers a reading of the exhortation “Dilexi te” through poverty, a manifestation of the flesh of Christ.