Pope Leo XIV addresses Jubilee of seminarians: June 24, 2025

Pope Leo XIV addresses seminarians as part of the Jubilee of seminarians on Tuesday, June 24, 2025 at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Pope Leo XIV addresses Jubilee of seminarians

Thank you, thank you all!

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

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, formators, and above all, seminarians, good morning to all!

I am very happy to meet you and I thank you all, seminarians and formators, for your warm presence. Thank you above all for your joy and enthusiasm. Thank you, because with your energy, you fuel the flame of hope in the life of the Church!

Today, you are not only pilgrims, but also witnesses of hope: you bear witness to this to me and to everyone, because you have allowed yourselves to be drawn into the fascinating adventure of the priestly vocation at a time that is not easy. You have accepted the call to become gentle and strong proclaimers of the Word that saves, servants of an open Church and a Church that goes forth on mission.

Y digo una palabra también en español, gracias por haber aceptado con valentía la invitación del Señor a seguir, a ser discípulo, a entrar en el seminario. Hay que ser valientes y no tengan miedo.

[And I also say a few words in Spanish: thank you for courageously accepting the Lord’s invitation to follow him, to become his disciples, to enter the seminary. You must be courageous and not be afraid!]

To Christ who calls you, you say “yes” with humility and courage; and this “here I am” that you address to him germinates in the life of the Church and is accompanied by the necessary path of discernment and formation.

Jesus, as you know, calls you above all to live an experience of friendship with Him and with your companions on the journey (cf. Mk 3:13); an experience that is called to grow permanently, even after ordination, and which touches all aspects of life. Nothing in you should be discarded; indeed, everything must be taken up and transfigured in the logic of the grain of wheat, in order to become happy people and priests, “bridges” and not obstacles to the encounter with Christ for all those around you. Yes, He must grow and we must diminish, in order to become shepherds after His own heart [1].

Speaking of the Heart of Jesus Christ, how can we not recall the Encyclical Dilexit nos, given to us by our beloved Pope Francis? [2] Precisely at this time in your lives, that is, the time of formation and discernment, it is important to focus your attention on the center, on the “engine” of your entire journey: the heart! The seminary, however one views it, should be a school of affections. Today more than ever, in a social and cultural context marked by conflict and narcissism, we need to learn to love and to do so as Jesus did [3].

Just as Christ loved with a human heart [4], you are called to love with the Heart of Christ! Amar con el corazón de Jesús. But to learn this art, you must work on your interiority, where God makes his voice heard and from where the most profound decisions originate; it is also a place of tensions and struggles (cf. Mk 7:14-23), which must be converted so that your whole humanity breathes the Gospel. The first work must therefore be done on interiority. Remember well St. Augustine’s invitation to return to the heart, for it is there that we find traces of God. Descending into one’s heart can sometimes be frightening, for there we also find wounds. Do not be afraid to heal them; let yourself be helped, for it is from these wounds that your capacity to be close to those who suffer will be born. Without an inner life, spiritual life is not possible, for it is in the heart that God speaks to us. Dios nos habla en el corazón, tenemos que saber escucharlo. This inner work also includes learning to recognize the movements of the heart: not only the quick and immediate emotions characteristic of the soul of young people, but above all your deep feelings, which help you discover the direction of your life. If you learn to know your heart, you will become more and more authentic and you will not need to wear masks. And the privileged path that leads us to interiority is prayer: in an age of hyper-connection, it is becoming increasingly difficult to experience silence and solitude. Without encountering Him, we cannot truly know ourselves either.

I invite you to invoke the Holy Spirit frequently, so that he may shape in you a docile heart, capable of perceiving God’s presence, also by listening to the voices of nature, art, poetry, literature [5], music, but also the humanities [6]. In the rigorous work of theological studies, learn also to listen with an open mind and heart to the voices of culture, such as the recent challenges of artificial intelligence and social media [7]. Above all, following the example of Jesus, learn to hear the often silent cry of the little ones, the poor and the oppressed, and of so many people, especially young people, who are searching for meaning in their lives.

If you take care of your heart, with daily moments of silence, meditation, and prayer, you will learn the art of discernment. This too is important work: learning to discern. When we are young, we carry within ourselves many desires, dreams, and ambitions. The heart is often cluttered and we can feel confused. On the contrary, like the Virgin Mary, our interiority must become capable of preserving and meditating. Capable of synballein — as the evangelist Luke writes (2:19, 51): gathering the fragments [8]. Flee superficiality, and gather the pieces of your life together in prayer and meditation, asking yourselves: what does what I am experiencing teach me? What does it say about my journey? Where is the Lord leading me?

Dear friends, have a gentle and humble heart like that of Jesus (cf. Mt 11:29). Following the example of the Apostle Paul (cf. Phil 2:5ff), may you have the sentiments of Christ, so that you may grow in human maturity, especially in your affections and relationships. It is important, even necessary, from the time of seminary, to focus greatly on human maturation, rejecting all pretense and hypocrisy. Keeping your gaze fixed on Jesus, you must learn to name and express sadness, fear, anxiety, and indignation, bringing everything into your relationship with God. Crises, limitations, and weaknesses should not be hidden: on the contrary, they are opportunities for grace and paschal experience.

In a world often marked by ingratitude and thirst for power, where the logic of rejection sometimes seems to prevail, you are called to bear witness to Christ’s gratitude and gratuitousness, to the exultation and joy, tenderness and mercy of his Heart. Practice a style of welcome and closeness, of generous and selfless service, allowing the Holy Spirit to “anoint” your humanity before ordination.

The Heart of Christ is animated by immense compassion: He is the Good Samaritan of humanity, and He tells us: “Go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37). This compassion prompts him to break the bread of the Word and of sharing for the crowds (cf. Mk 6:30-44), foreshadowing the gesture of the Upper Room and the Cross, when he will give himself as food, and he tells us: “Give them something to eat yourselves” (Mk 6:37), that is, make your life a gift of love.

Dear seminarians, the wisdom of Mother Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, seeks over time the most appropriate ways to form ordained ministers, according to the needs of the place. What is your task in this effort? It is to never settle for less, to not be content, to not be mere passive recipients, but to be passionate about the priestly life, living in the present and looking to the future with a prophetic heart. I hope that our meeting will help each of you to deepen your personal dialogue with the Lord, in which you ask him to assimilate ever more fully the sentiments of Christ, the sentiments of his Heart. That Heart which beats with love for you and for all humanity.

Have a good journey! I accompany you with my blessing.

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[1] Cf. St. John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Pastores dabo vobis (March 25, 1992), n. 43.

[2] Encyclical Letter Dilexit nos, on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ (October 24, 2024).

[3] Cf. ibid., 17.

[4] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, n. 22.

[5] Cf. Francis, Letter on the role of literature in formation, July 17, 2024.

[6] Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes, n. 62.

[7] Congregation for the Clergy, Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, The Gift of the Priestly Vocation (December 8, 2016), n. 97.

[8] Cf. Francis, Encyclical Letter Dilexit nos, on the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ (October 24, 2024), n. 19.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

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