Pope Leo XIV Releases First Monthly Prayer Intention for June

Vatican, 4 June 2025: Pope Leo XIV has invited the faithful to pray during the month of June, traditionally dedicated to devotion to the Heart of Jesus, “that the world might grow in compassion.” He also expressed hope that “each one of us may find consolation in a personal relationship with Jesus, and from His Heart, learn to have compassion for the world.”

This intention is featured in this month’s The Pope Video, entrusted to the global Church through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network.

For the first time since his election as the 266th Successor of Peter on 8 May 2025, Pope Leo XIV presents the video message in his own voice. It opens with him praying for a deeper relationship with Christ and a heart moved by compassion. The video also includes an original prayer to the Sacred Heart.

Prayer to the Sacred Heart

A woman's voice leads the prayer, which begins, "Lord, I come to Your tender Heart today, to You who have words that set my heart ablaze, to You who pour out compassion on the little ones and the poor, on those who suffer, and on all human miseries." Next, it expresses the desire to know the Lord better, to contemplate Him in the Gospel, to be with Him, and to learn from Him and His charity.

Remembering how Christ "showed us the Father’s love by loving us without measure with Your divine and human Heart," the prayer implores, "Grant all Your children the grace of encountering You."

With this sentiment, it asks for the Lord's closeness and involvement in our daily lives. "Change, shape, and transform our plans," the prayer continues, "so that we seek only You in every circumstance: in prayer, in work, in encounters, and in our daily routine."

Finally, the supplication asks that the Lord, from this encounter, send us out on a mission of compassion and consolation for the world. 

Sacred Heart at the Heart of Pontificates

The Church has traditionally dedicated the entire month of June to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

The relevance of the Sacred Heart to the life of the Church is demonstrated both in popular devotion and in the fact that four Popes have dedicated an encyclical to the topic.

Pope Leo XIII, whose name the current Pope took, wrote Annum Sacrum in 1899, in which he consecrated all of humanity to the Heart of Jesus. In 1928, Pope Pius XI, in Miserentissimum Redemptor, invited us to make reparation through acts of love for the wounds our sins inflict on the Heart of Christ. For his part, Pope Pius XII published Haurietis aquas in 1956, in which he explores the theological basis for devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Most recently, Pope Francis wrote Dilexit nos in 2024, and proposed devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a response to the throwaway culture and the culture of indifference.

Watch the Pope's video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmFWToNIZNM

Courtesy: Vatican News