From St. Peter's Square, on Easter Monday during the Regina Caeli prayer, Pope Leo XIV offered a profound reflection on the contradictory narratives surrounding the Resurrection, drawing a parallel with contemporary challenges in information. Before the gathered faithful, the Supreme Pontiff vigorously denounced the proliferation of "fake news" and unfounded accusations, seeing in them a form of malice that distorts the understanding of history and troubles the peace of consciences.
The successor of Peter centered his meditation on the day's Gospel, which recounts the events following the discovery of the empty tomb. The text contrasts two radical testimonies: that of the women, who came to joyfully announce that Christ is alive, and that of the guards, paid to assert that Jesus's body was stolen while they slept. For the Holy Father, this biblical passage illustrates how a single event can give rise to two divergent interpretations, one leading to a "new and eternal life," while the other leads to a "certain and definitive death."
Beyond the historical account, Leo XIV emphasized the pastoral consequences of this duality. He lamented the persistence of deceitful narratives that, even today, seek to obscure the truth. Evoking the "malice that corrupts history," the Pope recalled that the refusal of truth is not merely an intellectual error, but an obstacle to human dignity. He expressed his particular wish that the Gospel message might reach first and foremost those who suffer from these manipulations and who find themselves "oppressed by malice."
This intervention, delivered during the transition from the Angelus to the Marian prayer of the Regina Caeli for the Easter season, is intended as a call to the responsibility of the baptized in the public square. The Pontiff exhorted Christians not to yield to fear and to actively engage to "give a voice back to hope." According to him, the proclamation of the Resurrection constitutes the fundamental remedy against the troubling of minds, inviting each faithful to become a witness of the light in the face of the darkness of gratuitous accusations.
In conclusion, Leo XIV reaffirmed that the mission of the Church remains to carry this word of life where falsehood attempts to impose itself. He thus invited the community of believers to proclaim the Gospel with boldness, in order to break the cycles of disinformation by the power of the Paschal truth.