Participants in this year’s “ALS Walk for Life,” organized by the Les Turner ALS Foundation at Soldier Field on Sept. 16, received a special message from Pope Leo XIV.
The pope sent the message in support of his fellow Augustinian and friend Father Jim Halstead, a retired priest with ALS who taught religious studies at DePaul University for 41 years. Halstead told news media that he reached out to the pope in July by email asking if he would share a message.
Pope Leo began his message by sharing his admiration for scientists and researchers working to find a cure for ALS, which is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerves in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement.
“Our Jewish brothers and sisters tell us that one of the great projects given the human family by God is to complete and perfect the very good creation given us — ‘tikkun olam.’ My predecessor, Pope John Paul II, wrote, ‘If an artist cannot be stopped from using his creativity, neither should those who possess particular gifts for the advancement of science and technology be prevented from using their God-given talents for the service of others.’”
Pope Leo expressed gratitude for all of the caregivers present; doctors and nurses; occupational, physical, and speech therapists; social workers; and, most especially, friends and family.
“As our Muslim friends share, in the hadith, we are told that 70,000 angels are present when caretakers arrive in the morning. Seventy thousand other angels arrive in the evening. I believe that you too are angels,” the pope said.
Those living with ALS, “have a special place in my thoughts and prayers,” he went on.
“You have been given a very difficult burden to bear. I wish it otherwise. Your sufferings, however, offer you an opportunity to discover and affirm a profound truth: The quality of human life is not dependent on achievement. The quality of our lives is dependent on love. In your suffering, you can experience a depth of human love previously unknown. You can grow in gratefulness for all that has been and for the people who are caring for you now. You can develop a profound sense of the beauty of creation, of life in this world and of the mystery of love.”