Pope Leo XIV has dedicated his prayer intention for February 2026 to children living with incurable diseases, calling on the faithful to pray for their care, support, and hope amid suffering.
In a video set for release on February 5, the Holy Father emphasized that the smiles of children enduring incurable illnesses, even in the midst of pain, “are a testimony of [God’s] kingdom.” The message encourages believers to recognize the presence of God in the resilience and innocence of these children.
On the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website, he recites a prayer written specifically for this month’s intention. The full prayer reads:
𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑠𝑢𝑠,
𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑦,
𝑡𝑜𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑤𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠.
𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛, 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑑𝑜𝑚.
𝑊𝑒 𝑎𝑠𝑘 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒,
ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒.
𝑆𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒,
𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑢𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑦,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑤𝑠 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑎𝑙.
𝐵𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑜𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑠, 𝑛𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑠,
𝑠𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑏𝑒 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛.
𝑀𝑎𝑦 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑆𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦.
𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑑, 𝑡𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑.
𝑀𝑎𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑣𝑢𝑙𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑢𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒
𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑒 𝑔𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑦.
𝑀𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑢𝑠 𝑎 𝐶ℎ𝑢𝑟𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡,
𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑒,
𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦,
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡,
𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑛𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒.
𝐴𝑚𝑒𝑛.
The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network encourages Catholics around the world to unite in this monthly prayer, supporting children and families affected by life-limiting illnesses, and acknowledging the dedication of healthcare workers and caregivers.
The initiative, “Pray with the Pope,” is accessible via the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network website and digital platforms, where followers can view the video message, recite the prayer, and join in solidarity with the Holy Father’s intentions.
