CNA Staff, Jul 3, 2025 / 16:50 pm

Pope Leo XIV’s prayer intention for the month of July is for formation in discernment.

“Let us pray that we might again learn how to discern, to know how to choose paths of life and reject everything that leads us away from Christ and the Gospel,” the pope said in a video released July 3.

The Holy Father offered the faithful a prayer to guide them in learning how to discern. In the prayer he also encourages Catholics to call upon the Holy Spirit to help inform their decisions.

According to a press release, this month’s video was made in collaboration with the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, and DeSales Media, a diocesan organization that specializes in communication and media.

“In the rush of daily life, we must learn to pause and create sacred moments for prayer,” said Bishop Robert Brennan of Brooklyn in the press release. “It is in these quiet spaces of attentive listening that we discover which paths truly matter and find the discernment to choose what truly leads to joy that comes only from God.”

Here is Pope Leo’s full prayer for discernment:

Holy Spirit, you, light of our understanding,
gentle breath that guides our decisions,
grant me the grace to listen attentively to your voice
and to discern the hidden paths of my heart,
so that I may grasp what truly matters to you,
and free my heart from its troubles.

I ask you for the grace to learn how to pause,
to become aware of the way I act,
of the feelings that dwell within me,
and of the thoughts that overwhelm me
which, so often, I fail to notice.

I long for my choices
to lead me to the joy of the Gospel.
Even if I must go through moments of doubt and fatigue,
even if I must struggle, reflect, search, and begin again…
Because, at the end of the journey,
your consolation is the fruit of the right decision.

Grant me a deeper understanding of what moves me,
so that I may reject what draws me away from Christ,

and love him and serve him more fully.

Amen.

The video prayer intention is promoted by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, which raises awareness of monthly papal prayer intentions.