Pope Francis: The Three Kings Found God in Poverty

“Humanly, we are all inclined to seek greatness, but it is a gift to know how to truly find it — to know how to find greatness in the littleness that God loves,” Pope Francis said.

“For the Lord is encountered like this: in humility, in silence, in adoration, in the smallest, and in the poor.”

The Solemnity of the Epiphany is traditionally celebrated on Jan. 6, but Catholic dioceses in the United States mark the feast on the Sunday that falls between Jan. 2-8. U.S. Catholics will celebrate the Epiphany this year on Jan. 8.

Celebrations for the Solemnity of the Epiphany outside of the Vatican on Jan. 6, 2023. Alexey Gotovsky/EWTN

Epiphany is a national holiday in Italy. According to the Vatican gendarmerie, about 60,000 people were present in St. Peter's Square for the Angelus.

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Italian pilgrims gathered at the Vatican for the pope’s Angelus message celebrated the solemnity with costumes, music, decorative banners, and a small parade in the street leading up to St. Peter’s Square.

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, Pope Francis thanked the parade participants and said that he was also thinking of the many Three Kings parades taking place in Poland for the feast.

Celebrations for the Solemnity of Epiphany outside of the Vatican on Jan. 6, 2023. Alexey Gotovsky/EWTN

Pope Francis said that the Magi reveal how “God calls us through our aspirations and our greatest desires.”

“The Magi allowed themselves to be amazed and discomforted by the novelty of the star and they set out on a journey toward the unknown. Wise and educated, they were fascinated more by what they did not know than by what they knew. They felt called to go beyond,” he said.

“This is important for us as well — we are called not to be satisfied, to seek the Lord by stepping out of our comfort zone, journeying toward him with others, immersing ourselves in reality. For God calls every day, here and now, in our world.”

At the end of the Angelus, Pope Francis extended his greetings to the Oriental Churches that will celebrate Christmas Day on Jan. 7. The pope also asked people to pray for “the battered population of Ukraine.”

At the pope's Angelus address on Jan. 6, 2023, some pilgrims held up a banner calling for the late Benedict XVI to be named a doctor of the Church. Vatican Media

Earlier on Friday, Pope Francis presided over a Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for the Epiphany solemnity.

In his homily, the pope encouraged Catholics not to be sedated by the many “tranquilizers of the soul” offered today, like “nonstop media” and “empty promises of pleasure.”

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“Often we try to soothe our hearts with creature comforts. ... If the Magi had done that, they would never have encountered the Lord,” Francis said.

“Like the Magi, let us fall down and entrust ourselves to God in the wonder of worship. Let us worship God, not ourselves; let us worship God and not the false idols that seduce by the allure of prestige and power ... let us love God and not bow down before passing things and evil thoughts, seductive yet hollow and empty,” he said.

Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.