Pope Leo XIV says “I therefore ask you always, to keep watch and to walk in humility and prayer" to Bishops - FULL TEXT



Bishops ordained to the episcopate over the course of the past year attended a Formation Course in Rome this week, which concluded on Thursday with an audience with Pope Leo XIV.
FULL ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE BISHOPS ORDINATED IN THE LAST YEAR
in the Vatican's Synod Hall
Thursday, September 11, 2025
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Good morning , good morning. We're going to begin singing the Veni Creator . I think you all have a copy. I hope someone has a better voice than mine this morning… Let's start a cappella .
[Singing “ Veni Creator ”]

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

[Cardinal Tagle's greeting]

“At the service of the Church”! Good morning to all of you. I will begin with some prepared remarks in Italian, and then perhaps switch to English to let the translators rest. Then we will have time for dialogue. I would be very happy to listen to as many of you as possible, perhaps to have the chance for you to ask some questions, and in that way to be able to come to know one another a little bit.

We have 200 bishops, only one Pope, and not a whole lot of time, so we'll take the best advantage of it. We'll have a break around 11 o'clock or work towards finishing around 11, and then the second part of the morning will be for an individual chance to say hello, have a nice picture taken—which you can hang up somewhere in your bishop's house—and at least have a chance to greet one another. I know that will be the course of the morning. You're free to begin thinking about questions that you may have or things that you might want to share.

First, a few prepared remarks, in Italian.
Dear brothers in the episcopate ,

I welcome you and greet you with great joy, almost at the conclusion of these days of formation and prayer that you have experienced together here in Rome. I thank the Dicastery for Bishops —I thought I would arrive for this course dressed in black, too, but…—the Dicastery for the Oriental Churches , and the Dicastery for Evangelization , represented by the Prefect, the Secretaries, and their collaborators, who oversaw the preparation and organization of this course.

I would like to recall, first of all, something as simple as it is not obvious: the gift you have received is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel. You have been chosen and called to be sent out, as apostles of the Lord and as servants of the faith. And it is precisely on this that I would like to reflect briefly, before engaging in a fraternal dialogue with you: the Bishop is a servant , the Bishop is called to serve the faith of the people .

This has to do with our identity. Later, I'll talk a little about some of the elements and characteristics of this identity. Perhaps some of you are still asking: why was I chosen? At least I'm wondering. Service is not an external characteristic or a way of exercising a role. On the contrary, those whom Jesus calls as disciples and heralds of the Gospel, particularly the Twelve, are required to have interior freedom, poverty of spirit, and a willingness to serve born of love, to embody the same choice of Jesus, who became poor to enrich us (see 2 Cor 8:9). He has shown us God's way, which is revealed not to us in power, but in the love of a Father who calls us to communion with Him.

Regarding the ordination of the Bishop, Augustine states: "First of all, he who presides over the people must understand that he is the servant of many" ( Discourse 340/A, 1). At the same time, he recalls that "a certain mania for grandeur" had crept into the Apostles ( ibid. ), which Jesus had to intervene like a doctor to heal. We recall, in fact, the Lord's warning when he sees the group of the Twelve arguing about who was the greatest: "Whoever wishes to be great among you will be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you will be slave of all" ( Mk 10:43-44). Pope Francis has said several times: the only authority we have is service, and a humble service! It is truly important that we meditate on and try to live those words.

I therefore ask you to always be vigilant and to walk in humility and prayer, to become servants of the people to whom the Lord sends you. This service— Pope Francis recalled on an occasion like this—is expressed in being a sign of God's closeness: "Closeness to the people entrusted to us is not an opportunistic strategy, but our essential condition. Jesus loves to draw close to his brothers and sisters through us, through our open hands that caress and console; through our words, spoken to anoint the world with the Gospel and not through ourselves; through our hearts, when they are burdened with the anxieties and joys of our brothers and sisters" ( Address to the Bishops Participating in the Training Course , 12 September 2019).

At the same time, today we must ask ourselves what it means to be servants of the people's faith. As important and necessary as it is, simply knowing that our ministry is rooted in a spirit of service, in the image of Christ, is not enough. It must also translate into the style of the apostolate, the various forms of pastoral care and governance, and the yearning for proclamation, in ways as diverse and creative as the specific situations you face.

The crisis of faith and its transmission, along with the challenges of ecclesial belonging and practice, invite us to rediscover the passion and courage for a new proclamation of the Gospel. At the same time, many people who seem distant from the faith often return to the Church's doors or open themselves to a new search for spirituality, which sometimes finds inadequate language and form in traditional pastoral programs. Nor must we forget the other, more cultural and social challenges that affect us all and especially affect certain regions: the tragedy of war and violence, the suffering of the poor, the aspirations of so many for a more fraternal and supportive world, the ethical challenges that challenge us about the value of life and freedom—and the list could certainly be longer.

In this context, the Church sends you as caring, attentive pastors, who know how to share the journey, the questions, the anxieties and the hopes of the people; pastors who wish to be guides, fathers and brothers for the priests and for the sisters and brothers in the faith.

Dearest ones, I pray for you, that the wind of the Spirit may never be lacking in you, and that the joy of your ordination, like a sweet-smelling fragrance, may also spread to those you will serve. Thank you!

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