Rate Field hosted a special mass and celebration in honor of Chicago-born Pope Leo XIV Saturday, the first American-born pope and a confirmed White Sox fan.
The event was emceed by Chicago Bulls announcer Chuck Swirsky and featured speeches from those who know the pope personally, including Sister Dianne Bergent, Father John Merkelis and Cardinal Blase Cupich.
Cupich introduced the pope’s special recorded message saying he specifically wanted to address his statement to young people.
Leo began his message with a greeting to all those gathered at Rate Field celebrating as a community of faith.
He encouraged the crowd to continue building up their community, before turning to directly addressing young people.
Leo noted that younger generations have lived through the pandemic and times of isolation, as well as great difficulties in the world.
“It may be that the context of your life has not given you the opportunity to live as participants in the faith community,” Leo said. “I’d like to take this opportunity to invite each one of you to look into your own hearts to recognize that God is present.”
The pope continued on to say God is “reaching out to you” through scriptures, a friend, a relative or a person of faith to discover “how important it is for each one of us to pay attention to the presence of God in our own hearts.”
He urged listeners to find ways to serve others, saying by coming together in friendship and building community, people can find true meaning in their lives.
“Moments of anxiety, of loneliness, so many people who suffer from different experiences of depression or sadness, they can discover that the love of God is truly healing,” Leo said.
The pope went on to name young people “the promise of hope” for many, saying the world looks to them and needs them.
‘We want you to come together to share with us in this common mission as church and in the society of announcing a message of true hope, promoting peace, promoting harmony among all peoples,” Leo said.
Quoting St. Augustine, the pope said that if we want the world to be a better place, we have to begin with ourselves.
“You can discover that you too are indeed beacons of hope, that light that perhaps on the horizon is not very easy to see. And yet, as we grow in our unity, as we come together in communion, we can discover that that light will grow brighter and brighter,” Leo said.
Leo went on to say that restless hearts are not a bad thing, and no one should look for ways to put out that fire or eliminate the tensions they feel but rather recognize how God can work through them.
He concluded the message with an invitation to all to be the “light of hope” and noted how much hope he sees in the world.
“God bless all of you, so that you might always be beacons of hope, signs of hope and peace throughout our world.”
Leo’s speech will be followed by a special Mass, broadcasted live on the NBC 5 Chicago streaming channel.