The Young Pope’s Homily on Vaccines, Matthew 24:19, and John 14-16
“Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days!” (Matthew 24:19)
Brothers and sisters, these words of Christ are not to be ignored. He speaks of tribulation, of days when the world will shake, and the weakest will suffer most. The mothers who nurse their children, the unborn who have no voice—who speaks for them? Who protects them in an age where science claims dominion over life itself?
We have seen the world change. Men once bowed before the altar of God; now they kneel before the altar of medicine. We have heard the prophets of the modern age, men in white coats, proclaiming salvation through the needle. They say, “Take this, and you will be free.” But what is freedom if it is purchased at the cost of submission? At the cost of fear?
The Book of Matthew warns us of days when the powerful will dictate who may buy and sell, who may move and live freely. A mark, a seal—have we not seen the foreshadowing? Have we not seen the righteous condemned for their refusal to partake?
And yet, as your Pope, I do not come to wage war against medicine. I do not say, “Reject all things modern.” No, I come as the Vicar of Christ, and what does the Lord say in the Gospel of John?
“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of Truth.” (John 14:16-17)
An advocate, a Paraclete, a defender of the weak. That is my role, my duty. Not to follow the world blindly but to ask—where is the truth? Where is the justice for those who question? For those who seek to protect their own children, their own bodies, their own souls?
The Spirit of Truth does not come to soothe the world. He comes to divide, to separate the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the lie. And if the world hates you for this truth, take heart, for it hated Christ first.
In John 16, the Lord warns that they will cast you out of the synagogues, that those who persecute you will think they serve God. Today, are not the faithful cast out of society? Are they not shamed and ridiculed for daring to doubt the wisdom of those who sit in ivory towers?
So I say to you—be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Do not be deceived. The world will tell you that to question is to sin, but I tell you that to question is to seek. To doubt is not to betray but to walk the road of discernment.
And when they say, “This is for your own good,” ask yourself—who profits? Who gains power? And who suffers? For Christ did not come to enrich the mighty but to lift up the lowly.
May God give you wisdom. May the Spirit of Truth guide you. And may we never forget—our bodies belong to the Lord, not to the world.
Amen.
