The Pontiff delivered a robust address centered on the core identity of bishops as a servant, urging them to embody humility and pastoral closeness.
Newsroom (11/09/2025, Gaudium Press )Pope Leo XIV addressed a gathering of bishops ordained over the past year on Thursday, concluding a week-long formation course in Rome. In a solemn audience, the Pontiff delivered a robust address centered on the core identity of a bishop as a servant, urging them to embody humility and pastoral closeness.
The Pope began by reminding the prelates of their fundamental calling. “I wish to recall something as simple as it is not to be taken for granted: the gift you have received is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel,” he said.
He elaborated that this mission of service is intrinsic to their episcopal identity, not merely an external function. True service, he stated, is a call to “inner freedom, poverty of spirit, and a readiness for service that is born of love,” mirroring the choice of Jesus “who became poor to make us rich.”
Citing St. Augustine, Pope Leo underscored that bishops must see themselves as the “servant of many,” a direct counter to any pursuit of personal greatness. “I therefore ask you always to keep watch and to walk in humility and prayer,” he urged, “so as to make yourselves servants of the people to whom the Lord sends you.”
The Pontiff invoked the pastoral model of his predecessor, Pope Francis, emphasizing the need for bishops to draw near to their flocks as an expression of God’s care. He called for a ministry that reflects Christ’s service in its very method—through pastoral care, proclamation, and governance.
Addressing contemporary challenges, Pope Leo pointed to the “crisis of faith and of its transmission” as an urgent reason to rediscover “the passion and courage for a new proclamation of the Gospel.” He instructed the bishops to be welcoming to all while also confronting broader societal ills, including war, violence, poverty, and ethical dilemmas, and to champion a world built on “fraternity and solidarity.”
The Church, he said, requires “caring, attentive shepherds who know how to share the journey, the questions, the anxieties, and the hopes of the people; shepherds who desire to be guides, fathers, and brothers.”
Concluding his address, Pope Leo XIV prayed that the new bishops would never lack “the wind of the Spirit,” and that the joy of their ordination would spread “like a sweet fragrance” over those they are sent to serve.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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