Pope Leo XIV Asks Bishops "How do we foster an encounter with Christ, and what does it mean...to initiate others into the Christian life?" FULL TEXT

Pope Leo XIV met with the Italian bishops, on May 28, in the Synod Hall, at the conclusion of the 82nd General Assembly that began last Monday. 
ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE 82ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
OF THE ITALIAN EPISCOPAL CONFERENCE
in the Vatican Synod Hall on Thursday, May 28, 2026
________________________
Dearest brothers in the episcopate, good morning!

Thank you, Your Eminence, for your kind words. Warm greetings to all those elected to serve in the Episcopal Conference, especially the Vice President, and to each of you. Through you, I wish to express my affection to all the Churches in Italy, to the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, families, catechists, educators, young people, the elderly, the poor, the sick, all those who live their faith in the simplicity of daily life, and all those who, perhaps unknowingly, harbor a thirst for God in their hearts.

This is what we are graced to observe in various ways, even in a time like ours, marked by complexity. I experienced it firsthand in my recent visits to Pompeii, Naples, and Acerra. Many signs speak to us of weariness, fragmentation, and loneliness. In our communities, we can sometimes sense the strain of transmitting the faith, the difficulty of engaging the new generations. But the Gospel shakes us up. Jesus, looking at the crowds, does not see a problem to be solved; he sees a harvest, he sees God's field: "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few! Pray therefore the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest!" ( Lk 10:2). A tireless sower, God goes out into the world every day and generously sows in hearts the desire for the infinite, for a full life, for a salvation that liberates. Yes, thanks be to God, the harvest is plentiful. Our first task is this: to make the Lord's gaze our own. Let us not only complain about the hardened ground nor simply dwell on the statistics, but let us be able to see, with the eyes of the Risen One, the harvest that God himself prepares for us.

Dearest brothers, may the Holy Spirit grant us hearts aflame with the fervour of Christ; and may he raise up numerous and holy workers to labor with us.

So, with this perspective, the priority is the Gospel: Saint Francis of Assisi tells us this, eight hundred years after his passing to Heaven; Saint Paul VI 's Evangelii Nuntiandi and Pope Francis ' Evangelii Gaudium remind us of this. For it is from the Gospel that faith is born, as a living encounter with Christ, dead and risen, present in his Church. Today, in the context in which we are called to operate, confronted with other perspectives on life and unprecedented anthropological challenges, bringing the Gospel back to the center is the gift that gives enthusiasm to our lives as Bishops and the urgency that drives us.

We are therefore called to ask ourselves: what face of God do we allow to shine through in preaching, catechesis, liturgy, charity, and the life of our communities? How do we foster an encounter with Christ, and what does it mean today, for us and for our Churches, to initiate others into the Christian life? These are questions that, as pastors, we must always ask ourselves, without ever taking them for granted.

Hence, the renewed attention to Christian initiation, which cannot be thought of merely as a preparation for the Sacraments. It is the "womb" in which a community generates faith and introduces us to the Paschal life, to communion with the Lord, to ecclesial fraternity. It is a matter of rediscovering Baptism as a living and existential reality; and "it is not possible to fully understand Baptism except within Christian Initiation, that is, the journey through which the Lord, through the ministry of the Church and the gift of the Spirit, introduces us to the Paschal faith and inserts us into Trinitarian and ecclesial communion" ( Final Document of the XVI Assembly of the Synod of Bishops , 24). This is a very important emphasis, this one from the most recent Assembly of the Synod of Bishops, because it places the journey that begins with Baptism within a Church that believes, celebrates, accompanies, and generates. A Church that, while rejoicing and amazed at the sight of young and adult catechumens, is then capable of supporting their perseverance after the initial impetus.

Faith is transmitted and grows where there are vibrant and welcoming communities, capable of praying and listening; communities where the Word of God is not marginalized, but illuminates decisions; where the Eucharist is truly the source and summit; where the poor are not external recipients of service, but brothers and sisters through whom the Lord speaks to us; where young people are faces, voices, and stories to engage with; where families are not abandoned, and wounds are not hidden, but humbly brought before the Lord; where faith becomes an effective commitment in society, politics, and culture.

Precisely for this reason, we Bishops are called to a profound listening: to listen to the Word of God, to listen to the People of God, and therefore to listen to the signs of the times, even to what challenges our pastoral practices. Where listening is genuine, the community does not close in on itself, but becomes a place of discernment and mission and, to this end, knows how to renew itself.

This is the meaning of the Synodal Path you have brought to completion and which, as you have emphasized, must now become a permanent style. The Second Vatican Council reminded us that God chose to sanctify and save humankind not separately and without any connection between them, but by constituting them into a people who acknowledge Him in truth and serve Him in holiness (cf. Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium , 9). A synodal Church is one in which each person, according to their own vocation, can offer the gift received from the Spirit for the common edification. Participation, therefore, is not a concession: it is a requirement of communion and mission and, therefore, must become a method, a responsibility, a test, involving the different charisms and ministries and respecting the Bishop's specific role. The Summary Document of the Synodal Path of the Churches in Italy recalls the value of participatory bodies as places where community discernment can take shape. However, it is not enough that these tools exist; we must verify that they truly function.

In this process, the various structures of the CEI are called to continue carrying out their service of communion, coordination, discernment, and support for the Churches in Italy. Precisely because of this role, the organization of the Episcopal Conference must be shaped in light of the needs of the mission and changing historical conditions. It is not a matter of imitating external organizational models, nor of reducing everything to administrative efficiency, but of asking what structure helps Pastors and local Churches today to better proclaim the Gospel, to journey together, and to enable effective, orderly, and fruitful participation. When lived in the Spirit, this examination does not weaken communion but purifies it.

Dear brothers and sisters, the Lord does not ask us to measure the fruitfulness of the Church by the criteria of numbers, visibility, or influence. "When we look with the eyes of God, we discover that He has chosen the path of smallness, to come down among us. […] This logic of smallness is the true strength of the Church. Indeed, she does not reside in her resources and structures, nor do the fruits of her mission derive from numerical consensus, economic power, or social relevance. The Church, on the contrary, lives by the light of the Lamb and, gathered around Him, is carried along the paths of the world by the power of the Holy Spirit" ( Address at the Prayer Meeting , Istanbul, 28 November 2025).

We have the courage to do what is essential! The courage of communities less concerned with preserving everything and more free to proclaim Christ. The courage of a catechesis that is a journey of initiation and ongoing formation in Christian life. The courage of welcoming and missionary parishes, where families meet and are renewed with the lifeblood of the Gospel. The courage of vibrant participatory organizations. The courage to listen to young people without taming their questions. The courage to allow ourselves to be evangelized by the poor. The courage of a national structure increasingly at the service of the missionary communion of the Churches in Italy. A people is born of mothers and fathers in faith, of communities that can say, with their lives even before their words: "We have found the Messiah" ( John 1:41). Italy needs this testimony.

I entrust your journey to the Virgin Mary, Mother of the Church. She welcomed the gift, guarded the Word, walked with the disciples, awaited the Spirit in the Upper Room. May she help you to be "rooted and built upon him, firm in the faith" ( Col 2:7), to guard what is essential, to generate in faith, to walk with the People of God, to recognize the voice of the Lord who still calls, consoles, and sends us forth.

I accompany you with my blessing. Thank you!

Image - Vatican Media - Text added

Translation from Source: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2026/05/28/0448/00882.html