In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you.

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters,

It is very good to meet all of you, Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, in this Jubilee Year.

You have come to Rome from various parts of the world, and this reminds us that the practice of pilgrimage lies at the origin of your own history. Indeed, you were founded to protect the Holy Sepulchre, to care for pilgrims and to support the Church of Jerusalem. You continue to do so today, with the humility, dedication and spirit of sacrifice that characterize the Orders of Knights and Dames. In particular, you do so with “a constant witness of faith and solidarity towards Christians residing in the Holy Places” (Saint John Paul II, Address to the participants in the Jubilee of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem , 2 March 2000).

In this regard, I think of the considerable help you provide, without fuss or publicity, to the communities of the Holy Land, supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem in its various activities, including: the seminary, schools, charitable and welfare works, humanitarian and educational projects, the University, aid to the Churches and special interventions in times of acute crisis including during Covid and in tragic days of war.

In all these works, you demonstrate that protecting the Tomb of Jesus does not simply mean preserving a historical, archaeological or artistic heritage, albeit an important one, but means supporting a Church made of living stones (cf. 1 Pet 2:4-5), which was born around it and still lives today as an authentic sign of Easter hope.

For this reason, in the Jubilee Year of Hope, I would like to focus with you for a moment on the theme of hope itself, highlighting three aspects.

The first aspect is hopeful expectation (cf. Francis, Bull Spes non Confundit , 4). Pausing at the Lord’s Tomb means renewing our faith in the God who keeps his promises, whose power no human force can overcome. In a world where arrogance and violence seem to prevail over charity, you are called to bear witness to the fact that life conquers death, that love conquers hatred, that forgiveness conquers vengeance and that mercy and grace conquer sin. May your “guard” of the Holy Places, first and foremost, be a “guard of faith” that helps the men and women of our time to pause with their hearts at the tomb of Christ, where pain finds its answer in hope and where, for those who know how to listen, the proclamation continues to resound: “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified. He is not here… as he said” (Mt 28:5-6). You can do this by nourishing your own hearts through a deep sacramental life, listening to and meditating on the word of God, personal and liturgical prayer, and spiritual formation, which is so carefully cultivated in the Order.

The second aspect of hope which I would like to mention can be seen embodied in the icon of the women who went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body (cf. Mk 16:1-2). This is the face of service , for not even the death of the Master prevents Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome from caring for him. I have already expressed my gratitude to you for the great work you do, in keeping with your long tradition of assistance that characterizes your Order. On many occasions, thanks to your work, a glimmer of light reappears for individuals, families and entire communities, who risk being overwhelmed by terrible tragedies at every level, particularly in the places where Jesus lived. Your charity supports them, recognizing in their needs those “signs of the times” that Pope Francis has invited us to make our own in order to transform them into “signs of hope” (cf. Spes non Confundit, 8).

There is a third aspect of hope that I wish to refer to, namely that which leads us to look towards our goal . The image that comes to mind is that of Peter and John running towards the tomb (cf. Jn 20:3-10). On Easter morning, having heard from the women, they immediately set off in haste, on a “run” that took them to the empty tomb in order to renew their faith in Christ in the light of the Resurrection. Saint Paul uses the same image when he speaks of his life as a race in the stadium, not without a goal, but directed toward an encounter with the Lord (cf. 1 Cor 9:24-27). That is what expresses the act of pilgrimage as a symbol of the search for the ultimate meaning of life (cf. Spes non Confundit, 5). You too have now completed your pilgrimage. I now invite you to treat your time here not as a point of arrival but as a stage on your ongoing journey towards the only true and definitive goal: that of full and eternal communion with God in Paradise. In this way, you will be witnesses to the brothers and sisters you will meet, inviting them to live the things of this world with the freedom and joy of those who know they are on their way to the infinite horizon of eternity.

Dear friends, today the Church once again entrusts you with the task of being guardians of the Tomb of Christ. Do so with the hopefulness of expectation , the zeal of charity and the joyful enthusiasm of hope . As Saint Augustine said to the Christians of his time: “Advance, advance in goodness... Do not stray from the path, do not turn back, do not stop!” (Serm . 256.3). I give you my heartfelt blessing, and I pray for all of you. Thank you.

Let us pray together. [Our Father ... Blessing]

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Osservatore Romano