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Pope Leo’s address to the Diocesan Assembly of Rome
St. John’s Basilica Lateran – Friday, September 18, 2026
Gospel Reading: John 20:11-15
Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”
She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?”
Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
Jesus said to her, “Mary.”
She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
Jesus said to her, “Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord”; and she told them that he had said these things to her.
“I would like to propose the development of a third dimension: pastoral verification”
Pope Leo’s address
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I would like to return with you to Easter morning: to the garden and to the empty tomb.
Mary Magdalene arrived there at dawn, when it was still dark.
The darkness encountered was not only the darkness of the end of the night.
It was the darkness of someone who had lost a loved one, who searched but could not find, who bent down and wept.
However, the Gospel did not leave her in this state of weeping.
The man whom Mary mistook for the gardener approaches her and asked two questions: “Why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?”.
Dear friends,
I would like the two questions to inspire the Diocese of Rome to continue its journey.
In fact, I think that today we can hear them addressed to our Church and to the whole city: “Why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”
These questions touch on the anxious search for hope that you see in parishes,
in meetings and the various settings of life, when you listen to one another and to the other voices.
Mary Magdalene woke up before dawn and had already ran to the tomb because she had hope!
Similarly, many people in Rome start anew every morning.
Many parish communities, associations, movements, groups and other ecclesial environments that are also generously committed to evangelization, works of charity and the ministry of liturgical prayer.
Of course, alongside this richness, you have noticed some difficulties.
One is the loss of those who can no longer find a place where they can encounter the Lord.
We share this experience with many brothers and sisters, but sometimes it becomes our experience as well.
Sometimes, proposals, actions and meetings multiply to the point that the center – the evangelical meaning of what we do – is lost.
And here in the Gospel one word causes Mary Magdalene to turn away.
It is her name, “Mary!”
This is how an encounter with Jesus Christ takes place: when a person hears the Lord address him by name in the many ways this can be done.
Every pastoral action must start anew from this point.
Rather than asking “what” to do, we should ask “whom” and “how” to meet.
In our communities, people can remain anonymous, invisible, and misunderstood,
or they can be seen, known, and called by name.
Those who encounter Christ, like Mary Magdalene, feel their hearts fill up.
They can no longer stand still; they run to preach.
“I have seen the Lord!” The woman, Mary Magdalene tells the disciples.
This is not a memory or a personal experience, but rather a profound joy that fosters community.
Brothers and sisters,
That is why I am not presenting a new pastoral program to you today.
We are not starting from scratch, and none of our past experiences should be overlooked.
Working on “spiritual illnesses” has taught us to recognize what needs to be healed, corrected, or converted in our ecclesial life.
The Synodal Way has taught us how to listen and discern together with a shared sense of responsibility for a single mission.
Instead, I would like to propose the development of a third dimension: ‘pastoral verification’.
To verify in the light of the Holy Spirit means
– to stop,
– to re-read what has happened,
– to recognize what has borne fruit,
– to understand what has failed.
It also means looking together for the causes.
In short, it means standing in the truth.
I encourage you to carry out this verification with the participation of the entire community, as much as possible.
Listen to the voices of those who don’t belong to the community and who look at it from the outside.
To help you in your pastoral verification, I would like to point out a few points that, together, form a single dynamic.
The first important point: to encounter Christ and to lead others to encounter him.
The Church does not exist for herself, but rather to guide each person to an encounter with the Lord.
Therefore, it is not enough to ask whether an action is well organized, shared by many, or carried out for many years.
Rather, we must ask if it truly leads to Christ and if it brings the Gospel into the lives of people.
The second point: to give birth to community.
From Christ’s Passover come new communities that are free and reconciled.
Let us have the courage to prioritize what is most important in order to foster authentic relationships where people feel welcomed, cared for, valued and co-responsible.
Let us devote time to listening to young people, both within and outside the initiatives undertaken.
The third point: to live in the city and to serve it.
Rome is not an indifferent background for our communities.
It is the place of our mission.
The community born of the Risen One cannot remain closed in on itself, but shares with people their expectations, weaknesses and questions.
It also learns to recognize in what is happening in the various environments of the city questions to which the Gospel can be answered if it is re-embraced.
In addition to the three areas of verification there is a fourth that permeates them all:
the formation of the People of God.
Do our actions help us to grow in faith?
Do they foster missionary disciples?
Do they help them mature in their responsibility to the Church?
Do they foster a mature faith, capable of manifesting itself in concrete life choices and service?
However, at the heart of the method I propose is a simple question: “Why?”
We must stop and ask ourselves, in the face of everything we do, “Why do we do this?”
What evangelical intention guides us, and to what real need are we responding?
How does this choice correspond to the Church’s mission?
The second step is to ask why we achieve these results and not others.
Why do some initiatives begin down a certain path while others remain isolated?
Why do some people get involved while others remain on the margins?
By juxtaposing the reasons behind our choices with the causes of their effects, we can make authentic discernments and recognize what should be preserved, valued, corrected, abandoned, or started.
So that all this does not remain merely a good intention, this path will have its own “rhythm”.
I thank the Cardinal Vicar and the other collaborators for preparing the next stages, which will be presented to you.
Therefore, I ask you to give yourselves time to walk together — not just for one year, but for the duration of the journey — so that true discernment can take place and this initiative will not be added to the others.
The bishop is not asking you to plan new activities, but rather to use a common method of listening, discerning, verifying, and converting.
Your communities are responsible for the content and priorities in five areas::
1. catechesis and Christian initiation,
2. young people,
3. the family,
4. charitable work and
5. vocations.
The goal is to share a common pastoral style, not to standardize experiences.
During this process, Prefectures are encouraged to become places where people can meet, engage in dialogue, and develop pastoral activities together.
Dear brothers and sisters,
It is true that the method itself hasn’t converted anyone yet.
Therefore, to make what I have proposed to you more concrete, I would also like to mention a specific example.
I was pleased to approve the decision to launch a diocesan investigation into the life, virtues, and holiness of Fr. Luigi Di Liegro, a priest of this church who died on October 12, 1997.
The gift he brings to our journey is not primarily in the works he did.
Before building anything, Fr. Luigi wanted to “see” first.
In 1969, he commissioned a study on the religiosity of Romans because he learned that it is impossible to put the message into practice without listening to reality.
In his final speech, a few weeks before his death, Fr. Luigi told his colleagues: “Discernment is precisely this question: Lord, where are you?”
Dear friends,
This brings to mind Mary Magdalene’s questioning at the tomb of Jesus.
It is with this question that we begin anew today.
What signs of the Kingdom and what calls of the Holy Spirit emerge from the life of Rome today?
What kind of Church should we become to recognize and serve them?
Asking ourselves these questions will help us become a church that shares the fate of this city, remaining close to its wounds, its expectations and its transformations.
Now, I would like to say a few words about the ministry that comes with being ordained in Rome.
First, I would like to say “thank you”, and this is not just a formality.
I thank the Cardinal Vicar, the Auxiliary Bishops, the Prefects and all those who serve in the Vicariate’s offices.
I thank the parish priests and vicars; the elderly and the sick; the chaplains of hospitals, prisons, schools and universities and the priests who have come from other churches and countries to serve this city as if it were their own.
I thank the permanent deacons and their families.
I thank the religious and religious sisters; those who silently support Rome with their intercession; as well as those who meet its inhabitants every day in schools, hospitals, nursing homes and on the city’s outskirts.
I thank the catechists, educators and those involved in the charitable service.
We know this: Good does not make noise.
You know it, and today I too want to acknowledge it. Thank you!
I also know that the pastoral ministry today is more difficult than it was in the past.
I encourage you not to bear its burdens alone.
And I want to make it clear that the art of pastoral verification does not require you to do more.
In fact, it allows you to do less, but better.
If pastoral verification were to become another burden on your shoulders, we would be betraying its essence.
Therefore, I would like to share some reflections with you on what kind of priests Rome needs.
The priest must be someone who listens before responding and discerns before making a decision.
He must stand before the Lord because he cannot lead others to an encounter that he himself does not experience.
The question “why?” is, first and foremost, a question that he should ask himself:
– why am I a priest?
– Does the way I live each day still correspond to the Lords calling?
The priest does not take on all responsibility himself.
He recognizes charisms, shapes the moral convictions of others, and fosters an environment in which the laity can take on co-responsibility.
He does this not because he lacks strength, but because he is faithful to the nature of the Church.
A community in which everything depends on the parish priest is fragile. Presiding does not mean doing everything.
It means generating communion, developing the strengths of others, uniting people and environments, and safeguarding unity.
Ultimately, the priest joins the community and wants to belong to it—to a community that can read the reality of its neighborhood, share its wounds and hopes, and take responsibility for everyone’s lives, including those who never set foot in the church.
This is how love manifests itself in pastoral leadership, protecting the parish from becoming self-absorbed and focusing solely on its own survival.
No one is called to experience all of this alone.
The presbytery is more than just priests who meet for organizational reasons; it is a fraternity. The first place to verify if our actions generate communion is within the presbytery.
I hope that, before being instruments of coordination, the Prefectures become true places of priestly fraternity where one can speak openly about one’s weariness.
The deacons remind the entire Church that its purpose is to serve, and the religious and religious sisters remind Rome that no efficacy can save man and that God is supreme.
Our thoughts go out to our seminarians.
Dear young people,
You are preparing for the priesthood in this diocese.
I invite you to embark on this journey of discernment now, and during your years of formation, learn to develop your own approach.
Be open to being formed by the necessary books and by the people you encounter: the poor, the sick, and the people of our parishes.
I express my gratitude and trust to you and your formators.
Young people do not entrust their lives to a role; they follow men and women who are joyful in their authenticity.
I know this verification process will require patience, as well as the courage to let go of what we hold dear.
Mary Magdalene needed the same courage when she had to give up her desire to keep the Lord with her and instead run and proclaim him.
I hope that this pastoral discernment will lead to sharing renewed experiences and then to charting the path together that together will prepare us for the Jubilee of Redemption in 2033.
Dear brothers and sisters of Rome,
Do not be afraid to allow yourselves to be called anew by name!
The living Lord allows himself to be encountered by those who, like Mary at the dawn of Easter, still have the courage to seek him, even in tears, even in the midst of darkness. May you be accompanied by Our Lady, Salus Populi Romani, who was the first to believe and give birth to Christ for the world.
I extend my blessing to all of you, to your communities and to this city.
