Pope Leo XIV Releases September Prayer Intention

Vatican City, September 2, 2026: Pope Leo XIV has called for greater care of water, highlighting its importance as a source of life, renewal, and hope, while urging Christians to defend everyone’s right to access it.

The Pope released the “Pray with the Pope” video accompanying his prayer intention for September 2026. Produced by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, the video focuses on water as a “source of fruitfulness, freshness, and hope” and recognises it as “a right without borders.”

Water, Pope Leo says, “quenches thirst, nourishes the earth, and heals wounds.” For Christians, he notes, water is also a symbol of God’s grace and love and of renewal through Baptism.

“Forgive us for turning it into a commodity, forgetting that it is a universal gift, a right without borders, meant for all your children,” he prays. “We see with pain so many brothers and sisters who lack clean water, who walk for miles to find it, who become ill due to its scarcity.”

Pope Leo also prays that the Holy Spirit may make Christians “pilgrims of the essential”, enabling them to live simply and avoid waste and pollution.

He encourages people to defend everyone’s right to water, so that all may drink “without fear and without inequality.”

“May our care for water be a sign of love for the Creator and a commitment to the lives of the poor, educating new generations to value and protect the Earth’s resources,” he concludes.

‘Living water’

Christians around the world observe the Season of Creation from September 1, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, until October 4, the Feast of St Francis of Assisi.

The theme for this year’s event is “Living Water”, drawing attention to the growing scarcity of fresh water and unequal access to it.

According to the press release accompanying the Pope’s intention, Pope Leo is inviting everyone to take personal action by fixing leaks, taking shorter showers, turning off unused taps, and avoiding pollution of drains and rivers.

UN agencies report that around 2.1 billion people still lack access to safely managed drinking water, while 106 million depend exclusively on rivers, lakes, or other untreated surface water.

Fr. Cristóbal Fones, International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, describes water as one of the great essentials of life.

“This prayer intention invites us to think deeply about creation, to safeguard it, and to look with God’s eyes on those who today have to walk for miles to obtain a bit of clean water, and to convert what we see into concrete actions that demonstrate moderation, care, and solidarity,” he says in the press release. “No one should live without water, and no one should die because they lack water.”

Courtesy: Vatican News