Pope Leo XIV to Servite friars: In a fractured world, be bearers of friendship, peace & fraternity. Return to Gospel roots, serve the poor & stay close to Mary at the Cross.
Newsroom (24/11/2025 Gaudium Press ) Pope Leo XIV urged the Servants of Mary (Servites) to become authentic witnesses of reconciliation and fraternity during a special audience in the Vatican on Monday, as the order gathers in Rome for its 215th General Chapter.
Addressing the friars in the Consistory Hall, the Holy Father praised their 800-year history while challenging them to return to the spiritual sources that have always defined their charism: the Gospel, the Rule of St Augustine, their Constitutions, and an attentive ear to “the cry of the poor.”
“You are called to be bearers of friendship and peace,” the Pope told them, recalling that the Servite Order was not founded by a single individual but by seven merchants of Florence bound together by a profound friendship in Christ. In an era marked by conflict, inequality, and cultural division, he said, this communal origin gives the Servites a particular mission: “to live and bring fraternity, especially where people are divided because of conflicts, wealth, cultural differences, race, or religion.”
Echoing the example of the “Seven Holy Founders,” who worked for reconciliation in 13th-century cities torn by violence, Pope Leo XIV insisted that Gospel living is “passion for God and for the human person,” a love that embraces both heaven and earth with equal intensity. Only from this union, he said, are born the choices that place religious at the side of the most wounded.
The Holy Father highlighted three pillars of Servite identity—fraternity, service, and Marian spirituality—as indispensable means for renewing their consecration. He encouraged continued care for the poor, migrants, prisoners, and the sick, and renewed commitment to “an integral ecology” that protects both creation and the human persons who inhabit it.
Turning to the order’s deep devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, Pope Leo XIV invoked Mary’s steadfast presence at the foot of the Cross. “May she teach you to remain beside the innumerable crosses where Christ still suffers today in his brothers and sisters,” he prayed, “so that you may bring them comfort, communion, help, and the precious bread of affection.”
Before imparting his Apostolic Blessing, the Pope expressed gratitude for the Servites’ centuries of service and urged them to allow the Holy Spirit to guide their Chapter deliberations toward a future of renewed fidelity and missionary boldness.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from Vatican News
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