By Deborah Castellano Lubov
“A renewed impulse is required to proclaim and transmit the faith. This means placing Jesus Christ at the center.”
Pope Leo XIV gave this reminder when addressing the Italian Bishops’ Conference, or the CEI, in the Vatican’s Hall of Blessings on Tuesday morning.
In his remarks, the Pope called for collegiality, witness, and, most of all, “helping people live a personal relationship with the Lord,” following the path indicated by the late Pope Francis’ Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, “so they may discover the joy of the Gospel.”
Returning to foundations of our faith
Saying we live in a time of great fragmentation, the Holy Father called for returning “to the foundations of our faith, to the kerygma.”
This, he said, is the first great commitment that motivates all the others, namely “bringing Christ ‘into the veins’ of humanity, by renewing and sharing the apostolic mission.”
Pope Leo invited the Italian Bishops to discern ways to bring the Good News to everyone, “with pastoral actions capable of reaching those who are furthest away,” and “with suitable tools for renewing catechesis and the language of proclamation.”
‘Let us be drawn to Him’
Pope Leo invited them to join him in walking together, “with joy in our hearts and a song on our lips,” for God, he noted, “is greater than our mediocrity.”
“Let us be drawn to Him! Let us place our trust in His providence,” he said.
The Pope told the Italian Bishops to foster a Church that embodies the Gospel and is a sign of the Kingdom of God, by proclaiming the Gospel, peace, human dignity, and dialogue.
The relationship with Christ, the Holy Father underscored, calls us to develop pastoral attention to the theme of peace.
“The Lord sends us into the world to bring His very gift: ‘Peace be with you!’—and to become its artisans in the places of daily life,” the Pope said, noting he thinks of parishes, neighborhoods, inner areas of the country, and urban and existential peripheries.
“Where human and social relationships become difficult and conflict arises, even subtly,” he urged, “there must be a visible Church of reconciliation.”
The Pope also urged them to promote collegiality among themselves and with the Successor of Peter and to reflect the principle of communion through cooperation with civil authorities. “The CEI is, in fact,” he observed, “a place of dialogue and synthesis of the Bishops’ thought regarding the most important issues for the common good.”
Challenges on the ground
The Pope recalled when his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, in 2006, described the Church in Italy as “a very vibrant reality which maintains a widespread presence among people of all ages and conditions” and where “Christian traditions are still often deeply rooted and continue to bear fruit.”
Nevertheless, Pope Leo lamented, the Christian community in the country has long been facing new challenges “tied to secularism, a certain disaffection with the faith, and the demographic crisis.”
Yet, the Holy Father echoed the late Pope Francis’ frequent reminder “to not be disturbed” and to work toward peace.
Saying every community should become a “house of peace,” Pope Leo stressed that peace “is not a spiritual utopia,” but rather a humble path, made of daily actions.
The Pope also named challenges “that call into question the respect for the dignity of the human person,” such as artificial intelligence, biotechnologies, the data economy, and social media, which, he observed, profoundly transform our perception and experience of life.
“In this context,” he warned, “the dignity of the human being risks being flattened or forgotten, replaced by functions, automatisms, simulations,” especially since “the person is not a system of algorithms: he or she is a creature, a relationship, a mystery.”
We are sent to proclaim the Gospel
Pope Leo expressed his hope that the journey of the Church in Italy may include, “in coherent symbiosis with the centrality of Jesus, an anthropological vision as an essential instrument of pastoral discernment.”
“Without a living reflection on the human being—in his or her corporeality, vulnerability, thirst for the infinite, and capacity for relationship,” the Pope warned, “ethics is reduced to a code, and faith risks becoming disembodied.”
Going forward in unity
Before concluding, the Holy Father exhorted the Bishops to advance in unity, urging them to look with serenity toward tomorrow and not be afraid of courageous choices.
“No one can prevent you from being close to the people, from sharing life, from walking with the least, from serving the poor,” he said.
And “no one,” Pope Leo underscored, “can stop you from proclaiming the Gospel—and it is the Gospel that we are sent to bring, because this is what everyone—ourselves first of all—needs in order to live well and to be happy.”
Welcoming lay faithful as ‘protagonists’
The Pope also urged the Bishops of Italy to be attentive that the lay faithful, nourished by the Word of God and formed in the Social Doctrine of the Church, “may be the protagonists” of evangelization in their workplaces, in schools, in hospitals, in social and cultural settings, in the economy, and in politics.
Before imparting his Apostolic Blessing, Pope Leo XIV concluded by entrusting the Italian Bishops to the protection of the Blessed Mother, Our Lady of Loreto, of Pompeii, and of the countless shrines that are scattered throughout Italy. – Vatican News
