With practically half of the world’s population living in urban areas, Pope Leo XIV dedicates his August prayer intention to “evangelisation in the city”.
Through this intention, he invites the faithful to discover, amid the anonymity and loneliness that often characterise city life, ways of building open and welcoming homes “where no one feels invisible”.
Through the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network’s Pray with the Pope campaign, the Holy Father calls the faithful and all people of goodwill to join him each month in praying for his intentions.
In this prayer, Pope Leo XIV asks the “Good Shepherd” who “walks through our streets and squares” to “enter tall buildings and humble neighbourhoods” and to “silently accompany millions” of people who “seek meaning amid noise and haste”.
The Pope acknowledges that cities, meant to be places of “freedom and opportunity”, can also become “spaces of anonymity and isolation”.
So, he calls for a new perspective, capable of discovering “fertile ground for proclaiming your Gospel” in urban life. He continues his prayer, asking for a creative faith expressed not only in words, but incarnated in “simple and loving gestures”.
He also asks the Lord to make the Church a community that “goes forth,” and is capable of reaching out to the peripheries to sow fraternity where indifference reigns.
The city: today’s mission territory
Today, almost 45% of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This means that large cities are the largest mission territories of our time. Demographic growth has led to a high concentration of people, generating social and community challenges: neighbourhoods, buildings, commercial zone and peripheries that have become anonymous and lonely places for many people.
According to statistics from the United Nations – World Urbanization Prospects (2025), among the world’s most populated cities are Jakarta (42 million people), Dhaka (37 million), Tokyo (33 million), New Delhi (30 million) and Shanghai (30 million).
In this context, loneliness influences mental health. Young people are particularly affected: 35% are aware that it affects their daily lives, even though they are continually connected to the digital world. Urban loneliness is manifested in superficial relationships, a lack of closeness to neighbours and the surrounding community, the feeling of not belonging anywhere, lack of emotional support during difficult times and few spaces for genuine social interaction.
Thus, Pope Leo XIV recalled that “the future of human flourishing depends on which ‘love’ we choose to organize our society around – a selfish love, the love of self, or the love of God and neighbour,” in a speech to participants in the annual meeting of the International Catholic Legislators Network, in August 2025.
he Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network is a Pontifical Work entrusted to the Society of Jesus. It is present in over 92 countries, forming a spiritual community of more than 22 million people who seek to live each day with availability to God’s mission. At the centre of its mission are the monthly prayer intentions of the Pope, inviting its members to focus on the pressing challenges facing humanity and the Church’s mission.
