Given on 4 October 2025 at Westminster Cathedral for the 130th Anniversary of the St Francis Leprosy Guild.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, today we celebrate a notable milestone: the 130th anniversary of the St Francis Leprosy Guild.
You are the UK’s only Catholic Leprosy charity working towards a leprosy-free world. In this significant moment we turn to the Word of God, to Galatians 6:14-18 and Matthew 11:25-30, whose profound love and mercy echo the very spirit of the Guild.
St Paul writes, “May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world,” and adds that the marks of Jesus are branded on his own body. The cross is not a symbol of suffering alone; it is the seal of belonging to Christ. Those who bear the cross become instruments of his love, called to carry the burdens of others.
In the Gospel, Jesus thanks the Father for hiding “these things” from the wise and revealing them to “babes”; then declares, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” He offers a gentle yoke, a light burden and the peace of the spirit.
From the very beginning, the St Francis Leprosy Guild has lived the cross‑marked life of St Francis of Assisi, who “did not hesitate to be with lepers in their loathly lazar‑houses” and treated them as brothers and sisters. By caring for those shunned by society, the Guild bears their burdens exactly as Paul urges us (Gal 6:2), embodying the “law of Christ” through fraternal charity.
Since your foundation, you have provided care for people with leprosy: treating patients and the disabilities caused by the disease. You know only too well that nursing care may last a patient’s life time and extend to family members who are outcast from society.
St Pope John Paul II, speaking to leprosy workers, emphasized that the Church must go beyond isolation, allowing sufferers to remain with their families and regain dignity. He called leprosy patients “our brothers and sisters” and urged the world to dispense justice and love. The Guild’s 130 years of service is a living answer to that papal call.
You know that Leprosy impacts the poorest nations and communities. You know also that Leprosy can be cured.
This is clearly to be seen in your TRACE operational strategy, in which you actively seek out and diagnose people affected by leprosy as early as possible, thus enabling them to receive multi-drug therapy, a therapy that can cure the disease.
Through your training programmes, research, active case finding, and by investing in equipment, facilities and maintaining reserves so as to respond to emergencies, you help make a reality the cherished zero leprosy global goal.
Just as Jesus “hid these things from the wise and revealed them to babes,” the Guild brings the hidden face of leprosy - the suffering, the stigma - into the light of the Gospel. By serving the marginalized, we follow St Francis’ example of humble proximity and become channels of the rest that Christ offers to the weary.
Today we can all recommit ourselves to support the work of the guild through our prayers and financial commitment, so that those still afflicted by leprosy, and the members and supporters of the Guild, may be strengthened by the Spirit (Gal 5:22‑23), and that the “light burden” of Christ’s love may continue to reach the most abandoned.
On this anniversary we can take inspiration also from the founding members of the guild. As we accept the call to carry the cross in our daily lives, we also embrace the cross of those weighed down. May the Holy Spirit guide us to continue this mission of love, bearing one another’s burdens, and may the St Francis Leprosy Guild celebrate many more years of faithful service.