Pope Leo XIV says "never cease remembering in your prayers and in your daily efforts those who are persecuted for their faith." FULL TEXT

Pope Leo XIV received the religious of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual (Conventual Franciscans) and the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives (Trinitarians), on the occasion of their respective General Chapters on Friday morning in the Vatican.

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE GENERAL CHAPTERS
OF THE ORDER OF FRIARS MINOR CONVENTUAL
AND OF THE ORDER OF THE MOST HOLY TRINITY AND OF THE CAPTIVES

Clementine Hall
Friday, June 20, 2025
___________________________________

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Peace be with you!

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters! I greet in particular the Superiors General - both have been confirmed - the Councilors and Capitulars of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and those of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives, as well as the delegates of the Third Orders and the lay groups.

Being able to welcome Franciscans and Trinitarians together reminded me of a painting in the apse of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which depicts an audience of which this could be a beautiful reenactment. In fact, the image shows Pope Innocent III receiving St. Francis and St. Juan de Mata together, to honor their great contribution to the reform of religious life.

It is interesting to note that St. Francis is depicted kneeling with a huge open book, almost as if he were about to say to the Pontiff: “Your Holiness, I ask you only to live the rule of the Holy Gospel sine glossa ” (see Test 14-15). St. John of Mata, on the other hand, is standing and holding the Rule that he drafted together with the Pontiff. If St. Francis shows his docility to the Church, presenting his project not as his own but as a divine gift, St. John of Mata shows the approved text, after study and discernment, as the culmination of work that is absolutely necessary to realize the purpose that God has inspired. The two attitudes, far from being in contrast, would have illuminated each other and would have been a guideline for the service that the Holy See has carried out since then in favor of all charisms.

God inspired these two Saints not only a spiritual path of service, but also the desire to discuss with the Successor of Peter the gift received from the Spirit to put it at the disposal of the Church. Saint Francis explains to the Pope the need to follow Jesus without reservations, without other ends, without ambiguity or artifice. Saint Juan de Mata expressed this truth with words that would later prove fundamental and that Saint Francis would make his own. A beautiful example will be that of living “without anything of one’s own”, without anything “hidden in the room of the pocket or of the heart”, as Pope Francis emphasized (see Address to the Canonesses of the Order of the Holy Spirit , 5 December 2024). Another of these terms expresses the need for this dedication to be transformed into service, for the superior to be perceived as a minister, that is, the one who makes himself smaller, to be the servant of all. It is interesting to note how the verse from St. Matthew (cf. 20:27) has influenced the vocabulary of all religious life, because calling someone prior, master, magister or minister shapes the entire conception of authority as service.

To actualize this gift, the Trinitarians have asked us to focus on the purpose of their Institute: to bring consolation to those who cannot live life in freedom. During these months they have prayed for this desire, following the words of Saint Pablo: «Pursed, but not abandoned; derribados, but not eniquilados" ( 2 Co 4,9), which inspire the theme of his chapter. I am one to this prayer and also to God Trinidad who is one of the fruits of his assembly, who must not be recorded in his prayer and in his daily effort to those persecuted because of his faith. This part, the third part ―referring to the persecuted―, according to the magisterium of San Agustín, is the part of God and which marks the vocation of the liberator of his people (cf. Cuestiones sobre el Heptateuco , book II, 15). Furthermore, this tension makes the members of the Church who are most proud of it, will attract the sight of the vocations, of the fieles and of the men of good will to this reality and will keep them available to the frontline services that roll out in the Arabian Peninsula, Middle East, Africa and the Indian subcontinent.

Another essential element of the purpose of you Friars Minor Conventual has been, in this Chapter, to carry out a discernment on the regulations of the General and Provincial Chapters, because in them “we speak of the things of God”. It is not our personal interest that must move us, but that of Christ; it is his Spirit that we must first listen to, to “write the future in the present” – as the motto of your Chapter says. Listen to him in the voice of the brother, in the discernment of the community, in attention to the signs of the times, in the appeals of the Magisterium. Dear sons of Saint Francis of Assisi, in the eighth centenary of the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures or of Brother Sun , I exhort you to be, each one personally and in each of your fraternities, a living reminder of the primacy of the praise of God in Christian life. And I do not want to forget that you Conventuals are celebrating the anniversary of your renewed presence in the Far East.

Dearest, I would like to conclude this meeting with the Praises of God Most High , the trisagion written by Saint Francis: "You are holy, Lord, only God, who works wonderful things. You are strong, You are great, You are most high, You are the almighty king, You, Holy Father, king of heaven and earth" ( Franciscan Sources , 261).

Thank you all and God bless you!
Source: Vatican.va - with Screenshot from Vatican Media