Pope Leo at General Audience: Love That Persists Even in Betrayal

This morning in the Paul VI Audience Hall, Pope Leo devoted his weekly General Audience to a reflection on one of the most striking gestures in the Gospel: Jesus offering a morsel of bread to Judas during the Last Supper. The Pope described this as not simply an act of sharing, but as “love’s last attempt not to give up,” even in the face of rejection.

Drawing from the Gospel of John, Pope Leo recalled that Jesus, fully aware of His impending Passion, “loved them to the end” (Jn 13:1). This phrase, he said, holds the key to understanding Christ’s heart: a love that remains steadfast, even when confronted by betrayal, disappointment, or ingratitude.

Jesus did not retreat or defend Himself, the Pope observed. Instead, He knelt to wash the feet of His disciples, dipped the bread, and handed it to Judas. “With this simple and humble gesture,” Pope Leo explained, “Jesus carries His love forward and to its depths, not because He is unaware of what is happening, but because He sees it clearly. Forgiveness does not wait for repentance; it offers itself first, as a gift.”

The Pope reflected on the tragic response of Judas, who did not accept this gesture of love. “After the morsel, Satan entered him,” the Gospel recounts. Yet, Pope Leo noted, even this moment contains the seeds of salvation. “That morsel is our salvation,” he said, “because it tells us that God does everything — absolutely everything — to reach us, even in the hour when we reject Him.”

Forgiveness, the Pope continued, is not weakness or forgetfulness. Rather, it is the power to free the other while continuing to love to the end. “Jesus’ love does not deny the truth of pain,” he explained, “but it does not allow evil to have the last word.” Even when human relationships break down and words are left unsaid, Christians are called to prevent resentment from determining the future.

Reflecting on John’s words — “When Judas left the room, it was night” (Jn 13:30) — Pope Leo pointed out that the darkness of betrayal was real, but immediately afterward Jesus proclaimed, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” “The night was there,” the Pope said, “but a new light was already shining. And it shines because Christ remains faithful to the end, and His love is stronger than hatred.”

The Pope encouraged the faithful to carry this lesson into their own lives. Everyone experiences “nights of the soul,” he acknowledged: betrayals, disappointments, and wounds inflicted by others. The instinct is to close in, protect oneself, or strike back. Yet Jesus shows another way: “He teaches us that one can still offer a morsel, even to one who turns his back; that we can move forward with dignity, without renouncing love.”

Pope Leo concluded by inviting Christians to pray for the grace to forgive, even in moments of misunderstanding and abandonment. “Forgiveness frees the one who gives it,” he said. “It dispels resentment, restores peace, and returns us to ourselves.”

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Appeal for Peace

Looking ahead to the memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary on Friday, August 22, Pope Leo invited the faithful to dedicate the day to fasting and prayer for peace.

“Mary is invoked as Queen of Peace, while our earth continues to be wounded by wars in the Holy Land, in Ukraine, and in many other regions,” he said. He asked the faithful to implore the Lord “to dry the tears of those who suffer” and entrusted the world to Mary’s intercession so that peoples may rediscover the path to peace.