Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the Jubilee of Choirs, emphasizing the importance of unity within the Church. The Pope encouraged choristers to view their ministry as a service of love, unity, and synodality. He highlighted that liturgical music should foster communion and help the Church journey forward. Pope Leo XIV stated that sacred music is rooted in divine love and is an expression of love, pain, tenderness, and desire.
22 days ago
Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass on November 23, 2025, in St. Peter's Square for the Jubilee of Choirs and Choral Groups, drawing over 40,000 participants amid the Solemnity of Christ the King.1 4 The event coincided with the diocesan celebration of World Youth Day, integrating prayers for young people to ignite the world with Gospel witness.3 In his homily, the Pope reflected on liturgical music as a vocation of praise, unity, and love, addressing choristers directly as ministers who elevate the assembly's participation.2 5
The Pope described Jesus as the gentle King whose power is love, reigning from the Cross to reveal God's mercy, making this love the core inspiration for sacred song.1 2 Drawing from Psalm 122, he invited the faithful to journey in joy toward Christ, with singing as a foretaste of heavenly praise.4 6 Music, he noted, uniquely expresses human emotions—love, pain, tenderness—that words alone cannot capture, uniting mind, body, and soul in life's great moments.3 5
Quoting St. Augustine's "Cantare amantis est"—singing belongs to those who love—the Pope emphasized that choristers voice divine grace as "singers of the new song" raised by the Risen Christ.1 2 For the baptized, liturgical song becomes invocation and communal praise, manifesting joy in the Spirit.4 He portrayed choirs as exultant in their "iubilum," drawing others deeper into worship while edifying the Church.5 6
Pope Leo highlighted choirs as models of harmony, where diverse voices blend into one hymn, mirroring the Church's unity in love.2 3 Citing St. Ignatius of Antioch, he urged singing "in unison" to reflect synodality, advancing together like pilgrims consoling one another amid trials.1 4 Being in a choir means taking others by the hand, exhorting the weary, and lightening the journey through shared praise, even amid tensions that echo the Church's historical pilgrimage.5
Choirs exercise a "true ministry" demanding preparation, mutual understanding, and above all, a profound spiritual life to ensure singing is prayer that aids the assembly.2 6 The Pope warned against ostentation or performance, stressing that choristers are not on stage but integral to the community, fostering active participation without hindering it.1 3 He called for studying conciliar documents like Sacrosanctum Concilium to align service with Magisterium norms, making choirs brighter images of the praising Church.4
Entrusting choristers to St. Cecilia, patron of music who sang love through martyrdom, the Pope invoked her as a model of faith offered to Christ.1 5 Post-Mass, he appealed for the release of kidnapped priests, faithful, and students in Nigeria and Cameroon, praying churches and schools remain safe havens.2 6 He also blessed World Youth Day participants worldwide, urging youth to embrace Christ's kingdom of love, justice, and peace, while announcing his upcoming trips to Türkiye and Lebanon, including an apostolic letter on Nicaea's anniversary.3 4
Across sources, the Pope's words underscore liturgical music's role in building communion, countering individualism with collective harmony.1 2 This Jubilee event reinforces choirs' evangelizing potential, blending tradition with synodal walking to sustain hope in a divided world.3 5 By prioritizing spiritual depth over showmanship, choristers can authentically express liturgy's grace, inviting all to rejoice in God's house.4 6
Explore the role of liturgical music as a sign of Church unity
Liturgical music holds a profound place in the Catholic tradition, serving not merely as an artistic enhancement to worship but as an essential element that embodies and promotes the unity of the Church. Rooted in Scripture, patristic writings, and magisterial teachings, it unites the faithful in a shared expression of faith, transcending cultural and linguistic barriers while drawing the community into deeper communion with God and one another. This exploration draws from key Church documents to illuminate how sacred song acts as a visible and audible sign of the ecclesial bond, fostering harmony in the Body of Christ.
The Second Vatican Council's Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, establishes the theological groundwork for understanding liturgical music's role in unity. It declares that sacred music is "greater even than that of any other art" because, united to the words of the liturgy, it forms an integral part of solemn worship. This integration is not incidental; it "fosters unity of minds" among the participants, conferring greater solemnity on the rites and drawing the assembly into a collective act of praise that mirrors the Church's communal nature. The liturgy itself is described as a celebration of the Church as the "sacrament of unity"—a holy people united under their bishops—where actions pertain to the whole Body of Christ, manifesting its oneness and affecting all members according to their roles. In this context, music becomes a vehicle for this sacramental reality, enabling the faithful to experience the Church not as fragmented individuals but as a cohesive community.
The Council further emphasizes that liturgical services are public celebrations, not private functions, which inherently call for active participation through song. When divine offices are celebrated "solemnly in song," with the assistance of ministers and the people's involvement, worship takes on a "more noble form." This participation is key to unity, as it aligns the voices and hearts of diverse peoples in a single act of adoration. The Church approves various forms of true art in divine worship, provided they align with ecclesiastical tradition and serve the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful. Thus, music's unifying power lies in its ability to bridge personal devotion with communal expression, adapting to cultural contexts while preserving the substantial unity of the Roman Rite. Even in adaptations for different groups or regions, the rites must maintain this unity, respecting the genius of peoples without compromising the faith.
A cornerstone of this unifying tradition is Gregorian chant, which the Church acknowledges as "specially suited to the Roman liturgy" and deserving of "pride of place" in sung services. Its enduring value stems from its role in nurturing faith and devotion across centuries, serving as a "special heritage of incomparable excellence." Pope Pius XII, in Musicae Sacrae, highlights how the chant's universality allows the faithful, wherever they are, to hear familiar music tied to the Latin liturgy, evoking the "wonderful unity of the Church." This universality counters fragmentation, creating a sense of belonging to a global communion.
The 1974 instruction Voluntati obsequens from the Sacred Congregation for Divine Worship reinforces this, presenting Gregorian chant as a "bond that forms the members of many nations into a single people, gathered together in Christ’s name with one heart, one mind, and one voice." Echoing St. Ambrose, it describes this unity as a "diversified harmony" in the one Church: voices in different languages and inflections blend into one melody, symbolizing how the Holy Spirit plays upon the hearts of a whole people without error. The diversity of languages and musical settings conveys the religious spirit of each culture, yet Latin and Gregorian chant underscore the "unity of faith," standing out markedly. In this way, chant is not a relic of the past but a living sign of ecclesial oneness, especially poignant during events like Holy Years, where simpler melodies invite all to sing together.
Pope John Paul II, in his 2003 Chirograph on the centenary of Tra le Sollecitudini, reaffirms chant's place as an "element of unity in the Roman Liturgy," inherited from the Church Fathers and proposed to the faithful as the supreme model of sacred music. While other forms, like polyphony, are welcomed if they accord with the liturgical spirit, chant's primacy ensures a shared foundation that binds the universal Church. Congregational singing, urged by Pius XII in Mediator Dei, further testifies to this: the harmonious voices of the people rising "like the bursting of a thunderous sea" demonstrate the "unity of their hearts and minds," as befits children of the same Father.
Patristic tradition deepens this understanding, with St. Augustine of Hippo portraying sacred song as an expression of the Church's unity in love. In his Expositions on the Psalms, he contrasts the "old song" of earthly lusts with the "new song" of divine love, commanded by Christ: "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another." This new song builds the house of God, which is the whole earth—the Church—where unity is forged through forbearing one another in love, forming "one stone" from many, bound by the Spirit in peace. Augustine urges the faithful to sing with the entire earth, for discord sings an old song, while charity praises the Lord in harmony.
He extends this to praise: "Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His Name together," emphasizing oneness in exalting God. Without this unity—where Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one—the multitude becomes a mere crowd, disordered and lacking the celestial oneness essential to the Church. Augustine's vision aligns with the liturgy's call to active participation, where singing is "twice praying" (qui cantat bis orat), opening the personality more fully to God and community. As Pope Paul VI noted in 1967, drawing from Augustine, one sings because one loves—loving Jesus and seeking to honor Him—making music a language of charity that undergirds the whole law. John Paul II echoed this in 1983, calling for a "new song" in harmony with Christ's eternal hymn, where voice, heart, life, and deeds unite in praising God.
In contemporary practice, liturgical music continues to manifest unity by eliminating barriers of age, origin, or status, fusing voices and hearts in praise. The Council calls for commissions on sacred music in dioceses to collaborate with those on liturgy and art, ensuring music's promotion aligns with the Church's reform and adaptation to modern needs. This fosters a liturgy that imparts vigor to Christian life, promotes union among believers, and calls humanity into the Church's household. As an article on liturgical music observes, sacred song clothes the text with melody to rouse devotion and dispose the faithful for grace, hearing the mysteries in a theological synaesthesia that unites them to Christ, the eternal hymn.
Even amid diversity, music preserves rites of equal dignity, revising them in light of tradition to meet contemporary circumstances. Pope Pius XI, in Divini Cultus Sanctitatem, praised how adherence to liturgical norms revives art's beauty and religious spirit, as seen in grand choruses enhancing solemnity. Today, this extends to ecumenical contexts, where shared song—rooted in common creeds like Nicaea's—signals hope amid division, as Pope Leo XIV noted in addressing pilgrims.
In conclusion, liturgical music serves as a sacramental sign of Church unity by integrating diverse voices into one harmonious praise, echoing the Trinity's oneness and Christ's new commandment of love. From Gregorian chant's universal bond to Augustine's call for a new song of charity, it builds the faithful into living stones of the ecclesial edifice. As the Church journeys forward, especially in Jubilee years of hope, may sacred song continue to exalt the Lord together, strengthening communion in faith, worship, and mission.