Just as we wouldn’t leave newborns without clothes or food, we cannot leave them without faith and baptism, Pope Leo XIV told parents of children he baptised in Sistine Chapel on Sunday. Source: OSV News.
The tradition of baptising children of Vatican employees started in 1981 with St John Paul II. Pope Leo baptised 20 children on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
“The children you now hold in your arms are transformed into new creatures,” the Pope told parents and godparents gathered for the ceremony in the breathtaking interior of Michelangelo’s chapel.
“Just as they received life from you, parents,” he said, “so now they receive the meaning to live it: faith.”
In seeking good for our children, we wouldn’t “leave newborns without clothes or food, waiting for them to choose how to dress and what to eat as adults,” would we? the Pope asked.
Addressing the gathering as “Dearest ones,” the Pope said that if “food and clothing are necessary for life, faith is more than necessary, because with God life finds salvation.”
Pope Leo said that “as a light in the darkness, the Lord makes himself available where we least expect him: He is the holy one among sinners, who wants to dwell among us without keeping his distance, but rather, fully embracing all that is human”.
Through the baptism of the Lord, “in his infinite mercy, the Father makes us righteous through his Christ, the only Saviour of all,” as “he who is baptised by John in the Jordan makes this gesture a new sign of death and resurrection, of forgiveness and communion. This is the sacrament we celebrate today for these children: Because God loves them, they become Christians, our brothers and sisters.”
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Parents can’t wait for children to choose baptism, says Pope, baptizing 20 infants in Sistine Chapel (By Paulina Guzik, OSV News)
