I would like to thank all those who have prayed for me in recent days. I wish to express my particular gratitude to the doctors, nurses and all the staff of the Gemelli Hospital. This experience has made me feel particularly close to all those who are living with illness or infirmity. Now that I have overcome this delicate phase I will gradually resume my activities, always with God’s help and your prayers.

Today we celebrate the 100th World Mission Day. Let us think of how much missionary history has unfolded over these one hundred years! Let us #PrayTogether that the Church may always remain faithful to the mandate of the Risen Lord. Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.

This is precisely what it means to “give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s”: to be truthful, free from servile fear or hypocrisy, free to do good. Let us pray to the Lord to help us live in this way. #GospelOfTheDay (Mt 22:15-21)

Prayer becomes effective when it reaches out to others. The charity born of the Holy Spirit is God’s love poured into our hearts: a love that takes shape in a commitment to life and service. This love must become the goal, the way, and the meaning of our lives.

Dear friends, during some recent medical examinations, the doctors found a small, localized nodule in my lung. It was detected at a very early stage and is well-localized. The doctors believe that it is best to intervene, so, following their advice, I have decided to undergo surgery to remove it. The operation is already scheduled to take place in the coming days. I thank you for your spiritual closeness and entrust myself to your prayers.

The war in tormented Ukraine continues to cause suffering far beyond its borders, especially in the poorest countries, where so many people depend on grain imports. I make a heartfelt appeal to the parties to the conflict to allow for the safe transport of grain through the Black Sea. The daily bread of millions of people cannot be held hostage by the war.

In the #GospelOfTheDay, Jesus speaks of the wedding feast prepared by a king for his son (cf. Mt 22:1–14). The wedding feast is ours, and the banquet hall is our churches and homes, the places where we live and where the King’s Son, Jesus Christ, continues to declare His love for us and await our “yes.”

The death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person. The common good can be safeguarded and the requirements of justice can be met without recourse to capital punishment: effective systems of detention have been developed that protect citizens while at the same time do not completely deprive those who are guilty of the possibility of redemption. #NoDeathPenalty

Intelligence must draw on memory. The mind must not simply compile data — as an algorithm now does more quickly than we can — but recall lived experiences, which contain depths of meaning that only the human soul can recognize, and connect more deeply with the goodness of these experiences. Everything that is good begins “with the Spirit” and thus possesses a breath, a dynamism and a sense of communion that, once experienced, are engraved upon the heart. vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/e…

Families participate in the Church’s mission in the ordinary fabric of their lives, through love and fidelity, care and forgiveness, the education of children, their efforts in transmitting faith, attention to the elderly and the vulnerable, and the many ways in which they serve their communities and society. In all these ways, families bear witness to the Gospel and contribute to the life and mission of the Church.

In an age dominated by technology, in which efficiency and profit often take precedence, it is so important that we continue to cultivate a spirit of contemplation and allow time and space for beauty. Such an attitude will greatly help humanity, especially young people, to discover the ability of art to uplift and reveal the depths of the human spirit and our openness to the divine. Contemplation presents a marvelous opportunity to encounter the God who is Beauty.

The first mission of the Church is to help people be attentive to the profound questions of life: those concerning our origin and our destiny, as well as those concerning the meaning of love and suffering. The logic of profit at all costs and the manipulation of information risk exerting undue pressure on people to conform to a lifestyle centred on the consumption of material goods, but our hearts are made to look upwards. #GeneralAudience

True love is a gift from God, and we cannot simply create it ourselves. Whereas human love is often tainted by selfish desires, God’s love, on the other hand, is selfless, long-suffering, patient and possesses all the wonderful qualities that Paul lists in his Letter to the Corinthians (1 Cor 13). #Youcat

From 1 to 7 October, “Aid to the Church in Need” is promoting “A Million Children Praying the Rosary” initiative for peace and unity in the world. I wholeheartedly thank all the boys and girls who are joining in this prayer in so many parts of the world. Let us all follow their example, invoking the intercession of the Virgin Mary so that peoples may be freed from the scourge of war. In particular, let us pray for the Holy Land and for the innocent victims of violence.

In this era of artificial intelligence, it is becoming urgent to distinguish human art from what machines produce. There is an ontological difference, even before an aesthetic one, between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of humanity. For this reason, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions to safeguard our humanity.