✦ That Everyone Might Have Food · May 2026
Pope Leo XIV's monthly prayer intention for May 2026 — that everyone might have food. A prayer for the hungry, from the chair of Peter, offered to the whole world. And received this morning in Caldas da Rainha by a pilgrim who prays with the Pope as naturally as she prays with her Protestant pastors. Because we are all the same.
Lord of creation, You gave us the fertile earth and, with it, our daily bread, as a sign of Your love and providence.
Today we recognize with sorrow that millions of brothers and sisters continue to suffer from hunger, while so many goods are wasted at our tables.
Awaken in us a new awareness: that we learn to thank for every food, to consume simply, to share with joy, and to care for the fruits of the earth as a gift from You, destined for all, not just a few.
Good Father, make us capable of transforming the logic of selfish consumption into a culture of solidarity.
May our communities promote concrete gestures: awareness campaigns, food banks, and a sober and responsible lifestyle.
You who sent us Your beloved Son Jesus, broken bread for the life of the world, give us a new heart, hungry for justice and thirsty for fraternity.
May no one be excluded from the common table, and may Your Spirit teach us to see bread not as an object of consumption, but as a sign of communion and care.
✦ Bread as Communion
Pope Leo prays with the directness that marked his first prayer on Palm Sunday — centered on the Word, aimed at the world. The prayer holds together what the world keeps separate: gratitude and sorrow, abundance and hunger, the daily bread on our table and the empty table of the brother who has none.
And the central image — Your beloved Son Jesus, broken bread for the life of the world. The bread of communion and the bread of the hungry are not two different breads. They are one. The body broken at the table in Jerusalem is the same body that says: I was hungry and you fed Me. Matthew 25:35. The Eucharist and the food bank are connected — because the bread that is blessed must be shared. And the sharing is itself an act of worship.
✦ Not Consumption — Communion
Pope Leo asks for one transformation: from consumption to communion. The world sees bread as an object — to be bought, consumed, discarded, wasted. The prayer asks the Spirit to teach a different seeing: bread as a sign. A sign of communion — the common table where no one is excluded. A sign of care — the awareness that the fruit of the earth is a gift, destined for all, not just a few.
Make us capable of transforming the logic of selfish consumption into a culture of solidarity. The Pope does not merely ask for generosity. He asks for a transformation of logic. The entire way of thinking — the logic that says this is mine, I earned it, I will consume it — must be replaced by a different logic: this is a gift, destined for all, and my abundance exists so that another's lack may be filled.
✦ Hungry for Justice, Thirsty for Fraternity
Give us a new heart, hungry for justice and thirsty for fraternity. The hunger and thirst of the Beatitudes — blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Matthew 5:6. Pope Leo takes the spiritual hunger and applies it to the physical: the heart that hungers for justice will not rest while brothers and sisters go hungry. The thirst for fraternity will not be quenched while anyone is excluded from the common table.
And the prayer closes where it began — with bread. Not as an object. As a sign. A sign that we belong to each other. A sign that the table is meant to be shared. A sign that the God who gave daily bread as a sign of His love expects that love to be passed on — from the one who has, to the one who has not. 🙏
"May Your Spirit teach us to see bread not as an object of consumption, but as a sign of communion and care."
Pope Leo XIV · May 2026 · That everyone might have foodBroken Bread
Your beloved Son Jesus — broken bread for the life of the world. The bread of communion and the bread of the hungry are one. The body broken at the table says: I was hungry and you fed Me.
From Consumption to Communion
Transform the logic of selfish consumption into a culture of solidarity. Bread is not an object. It is a sign — of communion, of care, of the common table where no one is excluded.
Hungry for Justice
Give us a new heart — hungry for justice, thirsty for fraternity. The heart that hungers for righteousness will not rest while brothers and sisters go without bread.
Destined for All
The fruits of the earth are a gift from God — destined for all, not just a few. Awaken a new awareness: to thank, to consume simply, to share with joy, to care.