Pope Leo XIV to the Conventual Franciscans and Trinitarians: June 20, 2025

This morning, in Clementine Hall, Pope Leo XIV addressed the General Chapters of the Conventual Franciscans and the the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives (Trinitarians).

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Pope Leo XIV to the Conventual Franciscans and Trinitarian

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

Welcome, dear brothers and sisters! I greet in particular the Superiors General—both of whom have been confirmed—the Councilors and Capitulars of the Order of Friars Minor Conventual and those of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and the Slaves, as well as the delegates of the Third Orders and lay groups.

Being able to welcome Franciscans and Trinitarians together reminded me of a painting in the apse of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, which depicts an audience that could be a beautiful evocation of this one. In fact, the image shows Pope Innocent III receiving St. Francis and St. John of Matha together, to honor their great contribution to the reform of religious life.

It is interesting to note that St. Francis is depicted kneeling with a huge open book, almost as if he were about to say to the Pontiff: “Your Holiness, I only ask you to live the rule of the Holy Gospel sine glossa” (cf. Test 14-15). St. John of Matha, on the other hand, is standing and holding the Rule that he drafted together with the Pope. If St. Francis shows his docility to the Church, presenting his project not as his own but as a divine gift, St. John of Matha shows the approved text, after study and discernment, as the culmination of a work that was absolutely necessary to fulfill the purpose that God inspired. Far from being in contrast with each other, these two attitudes would illuminate each other and serve as a guideline for the service that the Holy See has carried out since then in favor of all charisms.

God inspired these two saints not only with a spiritual path of service, but also with the desire to discuss with the Successor of Peter the gift received from the Spirit in order to make it available to the Church. St. Francis explained to the Pope the need to follow Jesus without reservation, without other ends, without ambiguity or artifice. St. John of Matha expressed this truth with words that would later prove fundamental and that St. Francis would make his own. A beautiful example would be to live “without anything of one’s own,” without anything “hidden in one’s pocket or heart,” as Pope Francis emphasized (cf. Address to the Canonesses of the Order of the Holy Spirit, December 5, 2024). Another of these terms expresses the need for such dedication to be transformed into service, for the superior to be perceived as a minister, that is, one who makes himself smaller in order to be the servant of all. It is interesting to note how the verse from St. Matthew (cf. 20:27) has influenced the vocabulary of religious life as a whole, because calling someone prior, master, magister, or minister shapes the entire conception of authority as service.

To actualize this gift, you Trinitarians have wanted to focus on the purpose of your Institute: to bring consolation to those who cannot live their faith in freedom. During these months, you have prayed for this desire, following the words of St. Paul: “Persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor 4:9), which inspire the motto of your chapter. I join in this prayer and also ask God the Trinity that this may be one of the fruits of your assembly, that you may not fail to remember in your prayer and in your daily efforts those who are persecuted for their faith. That part, the third—referring to the persecuted—according to the teaching of St. Augustine, is the part of God and the one that marks the vocation of the liberator of his people (cf. Questions on the Heptateuch, book II, 15). Furthermore, this focus on the members of the Church who suffer most will attract the attention of vocations, the faithful, and people of good will to this reality and will keep you available for the frontier services you carry out in the Arabian Peninsula, the Middle East, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent.

Another essential element of the purpose of you Friars Minor Conventual in this Chapter has been to discern the regulations of the General and Provincial Chapters, because in them “we speak of the things of God.” It is not our personal interest that must move us, but that of Christ; it is his Spirit that we must listen to first and foremost, in order to “write the future in the present” – as the motto of your Chapter says. Listen to him in the voice of your brother, in the discernment of the community, in attention to the signs of the times, in the appeals of the Magisterium. Dear sons of St. Francis of Assisi, in the eighth centenary of the composition of the Canticle of the Creatures or of Brother Sun, I urge you to be, each personally and in each of your fraternities, a living reminder of the primacy of the praise of God in Christian life. And I do not want to forget that you Conventuals are celebrating the anniversary of your renewed presence in the Far East.

Dear friends, I would like to conclude this meeting with the Praises of God Most High, the Trisagion written by St. Francis: “You are holy, Lord, the only God, who works wonders. You are strong, You are great, You are most high, You are the almighty king, You, holy Father, king of heaven and earth” (Franciscan Sources, 261).

Thank you all, and may God bless you!

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

Pope Leo XIV — Image by Valter Cirillo from Pixabay

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