VATICAN - Pope Leo to the new Bishops: You are the servants of the people's faith

by Gianni Valente

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – "We have two hundred bishops, only one Pope, and not a whole lot of time, so we’ll take the best advantage of it," said Pope Leo XIV himself, with a touch of humor, as he outlined the "improvised" agenda for his meeting with the recently appointed bishops, who had participated in the formation courses organized for them in Rome over the past few days, from September 3 to 10, by the Dicastery for Bishops and the Dicastery for Evangelization (Section for First Evangelization and the New Particular Churches).

This morning, Thursday, September 11, the eagerly awaited "culmination and conclusion" of the courses took place in the Synod Hall of the Vatican Apostolic Palace: the meeting of the new Successors of the Apostles with the Successor of Peter, who dedicated the entire morning to this meeting.

After singing "Veni Creator" together and after Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Missionary Dicastery, greeted him on behalf of everyone, Pope Leo XIV himself outlined in English the "program" for the next few hours, which they would spend together: first, the "prepared remarks," and then "we will have time for dialogue. I would be very happy," he added, "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 will have a break around eleven o’clock or work towards finishing around eleven, 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. So that will be the course of the morning..."

As planned, after the address, there was an opportunity for a shared Q&A and the announced "coffee break." Until the end of the morning, each of those present could speak individually or in small groups with the Bishop of Rome, ask questions, share something of their own, and request a photo together… A shared time that also made it clear that Pope Leo was visibly pleased by the concrete communion with the 192 new bishops from all over the world.

“Apostles of the Lord, Servants of the Faith”

The gift of being ordained bishops is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel," Pope Leo stated in his address. Every passage of the papal address was full of terms and expressions belonging to the semantic field of “episcopal servitude.”

For bishops are "have been chosen and called to be sent, as apostles of the Lord and as servants of the faith." And every bishop "is a servant," " called to serve the faith of the people."

Service, the Pope emphasized, "is neither an external characteristic, nor a way of exercising a role." For "those whom Jesus calls as disciples and proclaimers of the Gospel, in particular the Twelve, are required to have inner freedom, poverty of spirit and readiness to serve, which are born of love, to embody the same choice made by Jesus, who made himself poor in order to enrich us."

In this context, the Bishop of Rome also referred to Saint Augustine, who recalled that "first of all, the man who presides over the people ought first of all to understand that he is the servant of many masters," while even among the Apostles, "a certain appetite for superiority " had crept in, in the presence of which Jesus "had to intervene like a physician to heal them." The Pope recalled the words of Jesus himself "when he sees the group of the Twelve arguing about who was the greatest: “Whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all”."

The Pope also urged the newly ordained bishops to "always keep watch" and to walk "in humility and prayer, to make yourselves servants of the people to whom the Lord sends you."

Being a "servant of the people's faith" must be translated "into the style of the apostolate, into the various forms of pastoral care and governance, into the yearning to proclaim the Gospel in ways that are as diverse and creative as the real situations you will encounter."

Pope Leo added that "the crisis of faith and its transmission, together with the hardships related to ecclesial belonging and practice, invite us to rediscover the passion and courage for a new proclamation of the Gospel," while "various people who seem to be distant from the faith often return to knock on the doors of the Church, or open themselves to a new search for spirituality, which at time does not find adequate language and forms in the usual pastoral offerings."

The Pope called on everyone to “keep in mind the other challenges, of a more cultural and social nature, which concern all of us and which affect some territories in a special way: the drama of war and violence, the sufferings of the poor, the aspiration of many to a more fraternal and solidarity-based world, the ethical challenges that question us on the value of life and freedom." (GV) (Agenzia Fides, 11/9/2025)

Share:

papa leone xiv

---

---

bishops

---

---

service

---

---

local churches

---

---