Vatican City: In a moving reflection on the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful message during his Wednesday General Audience: compassion isn’t a religious commandment — it’s a human necessity.
Drawing from the Gospel of Luke, the Pope revisited the encounter between Jesus and a “learned doctor of the Law.” This man, steeped in scripture, approaches Jesus not just with theological curiosity, but with a deeper yearning — masked by a simple question: “Who is my neighbour?” Pope Leo, however, reads between the lines. He sees the young man’s search not as a quest for rules, but as a desire for relevance — for connection.
Jesus responds not with a direct answer but with a story that reshapes the question entirely. The focus shifts from self-centeredness to selflessness. “Who loves me?” becomes “Whom have I loved?” Pope Leo emphasizes that this transformation marks spiritual maturity. One question waits passively for affection; the other demands active empathy.
The parable unfolds along the treacherous road from Jerusalem to Jericho — a symbolic descent reflecting the rough terrain of human life. A traveler is ambushed, robbed, and left half-dead. Pope Leo suggests this can be any one of us, undone by life, betrayed by people we trusted, and abandoned without warning.
What follows, the Pope insists, is a mirror for us all. Two religious figures — a priest and a Levite — pass the wounded man without pause. Their actions suggest a hard truth: rituals and religious labels do not guarantee mercy. Compassion isn’t born of theology; it’s born of humanity.
“They represent all of us,” the Pope says, “when we’re too preoccupied with our own agendas to stop for someone in need.” In our haste to get somewhere, we forget that love is found in the detours.
It’s the Samaritan — an outsider from a community looked down upon — who halts, stoops down, and intervenes. He doesn’t help because of doctrine. He helps because he sees another human being in pain.
“True compassion,” Pope Leo notes, “is not neat. It’s not safe. It requires risk.” Helping someone means breaking the boundary of distance. It means showing up, even if it costs you something. Even if it’s messy.
The Samaritan touches the wounds. He carries the burden. He pays the price. This, the Pope says, is love in action. And that kind of love has no denomination — only humanity.
Pope Leo concludes by inviting us to stop seeing ourselves only as givers of help. To truly love, he says, we must first admit our own wounds. Only when we recognize ourselves in the suffering of others can we offer compassion that is real — and life-changing. Compassion, then, is not a religious exercise. It is the heartbeat of being human.