Dear brothers and sisters from Brazil!

“The solemn season has arrived, which should remind us to humble our souls and chastise our bodies with prayer and fasting more earnestly and intensely than at other periods of the year” (Sermon 210). Thus wrote Saint Augustine in one of his sermons on the liturgical season we are about to begin, during which we receive a special call from God to authentic conversion, redirecting our whole life to Him, as we follow, through fasting and penance, in the footsteps of Our Lord who withdrew into the desert for forty days. In this time of intense prayer, we are also invited to practise with renewed commitment the virtue of charity towards the poorest and most in need, with whom Christ himself identifies (cf. Mt 25:35-40). May the Holy Spirit, the author of our sanctification, lead us along this path.

In order to encourage the faithful during each Lenten journey, for more than sixty years the Church in Brazil has been conducting the Fraternity Campaign, a time when, as a community of faith, it directs its pastoral and charitable action towards the poor, the true recipients of our preferential love, as I made a point of recalling in the Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te: convinced that “there is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor” (no. 36), “we need to be increasingly committed to resolving the structural causes of poverty” (no. 94). As in 1993, this year, inspired by the motto “He came to dwell among us” (cf. Jn 1:14), the proposal is to turn our eyes to our brothers and sisters who suffer due to a lack of decent housing.

My holy predecessor, Saint John Paul II, invited us to turn our attention to “the millions of human beings lacking adequate housing or with no housing at all, in order to awaken everyone’s conscience and to find a solution to this serious problem with its negative consequences for the individual, the family and society”, adding that “the lack of housing, an extremely serious problem in itself, should be seen as a sign and summing-up of a whole series of shortcomings: economic, social, cultural or simply human in nature” (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, 17).

In this sense, it is my hope that reflection on the harsh reality of the lack of proper housing, which affects so many of our brothers and sisters, will lead not only to isolated actions – which are undoubtedly necessary – that come to their aid in an emergency, but also raise awareness in everyone that sharing the gifts generously granted to us by the Lord cannot be restricted to a period of the year, a campaign or a few specific actions, but must be a constant attitude that commits us to encountering Christ present in those who have nowhere to live.

I also hope, dear brothers and sisters, that the initiatives born of the Fraternity Campaign may inspire government authorities to promote public policies so that, by working together, it will be possible to offer significant improvements in the housing conditions of those most in need.

I entrust these wishes to the care of Our Lady, who found no place to give birth to the Redeemer in Bethlehem, but who has her home, as Queen and Patroness of Brazil, in the National Shrine of Aparecida. And as a pledge of abundant graces, I gladly impart my Apostolic Blessing to the sons and daughters of the beloved Brazilian nation, especially to those who strive to ensure that everyone has decent housing.

Vatican, 11 February 2026, liturgical memorial of Our Lady of Lourdes.

LEO PP. XIV

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Bulletin of the Holy See Press Office, 18 February 2026