Pope Leo XIV delivered a moving meditation to seminarians gathered in Rome for the Jubilee of Seminarians, urging them to root their vocations in interiority, compassion, and authentic friendship with Christ. Speaking to thousands of future priests and their formators, the Holy Father thanked them for their courage in responding to God’s call during what he called “a difficult time.”
“You are not only pilgrims,” the Pope said, “but witnesses of hope.” He praised the seminarians’ energy and joy, which he described as fueling the flame of hope within the Church, and called on them to be “bridges, not obstacles” to an encounter with Christ.
In a wide-ranging address, Pope Leo emphasized the importance of inner formation. “The seminary must be a school of affections,” he said, especially in a culture marked by conflict and narcissism. Quoting Saint Augustine, he invited the seminarians to “return to the heart,” encouraging them not to fear its wounds, but to allow those very wounds to prepare them for compassionate ministry.
He highlighted prayer as the gateway to self-knowledge and discernment. “Without the inner life, even the spiritual life is not possible,” he said, reminding them that God speaks in the silence of the heart. The Pope encouraged daily meditation and silence, the invocation of the Holy Spirit, and openness to the beauty of nature, art, and culture—including challenges like artificial intelligence and social media.
“Crises, limits, and fragilities are not to be hidden,” Pope Leo affirmed, “but embraced as occasions of grace.” He urged seminarians to reject hypocrisy and masks, and to grow in emotional maturity and sincere relationships, always modeling their hearts after that of Christ.
Reflecting on Christ’s compassion, the Pope said, “The Heart of Jesus is the Good Samaritan of humanity,” calling the seminarians to “make your life a gift of love.” He reminded them that their formation is not a passive experience but an invitation to live the present passionately and look to the future with a prophetic spirit.
Pope Leo concluded with a heartfelt hope that the seminarians would deepen their personal dialogue with Christ and allow their lives to be shaped by the sentiments of his Sacred Heart. “That Heart beats with love for you,” he said, “and for all humanity.”
He imparted his blessing and sent them forward with a message that resonated throughout the square: “Have a great journey!”
MEDITATION OF THE HOLY FATHER LEO XIV ON THE OCCASION OF THE JUBILEE OF SEMINARIANS
“Thank you, thank you all!
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you!
Eminences, excellence, formators and especially to all of you seminarians, good morning to all!
I am very happy to meet you and I thank everyone, seminarians and formators, for your warm presence. Thank you first for your joy and your enthusiasm. Thank you because with your energy you feed 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 it to me and to everyone, because you have allowed yourselves to be involved in the fascinating adventure of the priestly vocation in a difficult time. You have accepted the call to become the mythical and strong heralds of the Word that saves, servants of an open Church and a Church out of missionary exit.
Y digo a palabra también en espa?ol, gracias porba ha aceptado with valent?a the invigiotion of the Seor to follow, in ser disc?pulo, to enter en el seminary. Hay que ser valientes y no tengan miedo.
[And I say a word also in Spanish: thank you for having accepted with courage the Lord’s invitation to follow him, to be disciples, to enter the Seminary. You have to be brave and don’t be afraid!]
To Christ who calls you are saying “yes”, with humility and courage; and this “here I am” yours, which you turn to Him, sprouts within the life of the Church and allows herself to be accompanied by the necessary path of discernment and formation.
Jesus, you know, calls you first of all to live an experience of friendship with Him and with your fellow wards (cf. Mk 3:13); an experience destined to grow permanently even after Ordination and which involves all aspects of life. There is nothing of you, in fact, that must be discarded, but everything will have to 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 who approach you. Yes, He must grow and we diminish, so that we may be shepherds according to His Heart.
About the Heart of Jesus Christ, how can we not remember the Encyclical Dilexit nos given to us by the beloved Pope Francis? [2] Precisely in this time that you are living, that is, the time of formation and discernment, it is important to turn attention to the center, on the “engine” of your whole journey: the heart! The seminar, in whatever way is meant, should be a school of affections. Today in a particular way, in a social and cultural context marked by conflict and narcissism, we need to learn to love and to do so as Jesus.
As Christ loved with a human heart, you are called to love with the Heart of Christ! Amar with el Corazon de Jesus. But to learn this art, it is necessary to work on one’s own interiority, where God makes his voice heard and where the deepest decisions start; but which is also a place of tensions and struggles (cf. Mk 7:14-23), to be converted because all your humanity perfumes with the Gospel. The first work must be done on interiority. Remember well the invitation of St. Augustine to return to the heart, because there we find the traces of God. Going down into the heart can sometimes scare us, because in it there are also wounds. Do not be afraid to take care of it, let yourselves be helped, because precisely from those wounds will arise the ability to stand next to those who suffer. Without the inner life, even the spiritual life is not possible, because God speaks to us right there, in the heart. Dios nos habla en el coraz?n, tenemos que saber escucharlo. [God speaks in our hearts, we must know how to listen to him]. This inner work also includes training to learn to recognize the movements of the heart: not only the rapid and immediate emotions that characterize the soul of young people, but above all your feelings, which help you to discover the direction of your life. If you learn to know your heart, you will be more and more authentic and you will not need to wear masks. And the privileged path that leads us into interiority is prayer: in an age in which we are hyperconnected, it becomes increasingly difficult to experience silence and solitude. Without the encounter with Him, we cannot even truly know ourselves.
I invite you to frequently invoke the Holy Spirit, so that it shapes in you a docile heart, capable of grasping the presence of God, also listening to the voices of nature and art, poetry, literature and music, as well as of the human sciences[6]. In the rigorous commitment of the theological study, also know how to listen with an open mind and heart to the voices of culture, such as the recent challenges of artificial intelligence and those of social media [7]. Above all, as Jesus did, you know how to listen to the often silent cry of the little ones, the poor and the oppressed and of the many, especially young people, who seek a meaning for 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 is also an important job: learning to discern. When we are young, we bring in so many desires, many dreams and ambitions. The heart is often crowded and you feel confused. Instead, on the model of the Virgin Mary, our interiority must become capable of guarding and meditating. Able to synballein – as the evangelist Luke writes (2:19.51): put together the fragments [8]. Beware of superficiality, and put together the fragments of life in prayer and meditation, asking yourself: what I am experiencing what does it teach me? What are you saying on my way? Where is the Lord guiding me?
Beloved, have a meek and humble heart like that of Jesus (cf. Mt 11:29). Following the example of the Apostle Paul (cf. Phil 2:5ff), may you assume the sentiments of Christ, in order to progress in human maturity, especially affective and relational. It is important, indeed necessary, since the time of the Seminary, to focus a lot on human maturation, rejecting every masking and hypocrisy. By looking at Jesus, we must learn to give name and voice also to sadness, to fear, to anguish, to indignation, bringing everything in the relationship with God. Crises, limits, fragilities are not to be concealed, they are occasions of grace and paschal experience.
In a world where there is often ingratitude and thirst for power, where sometimes the logic of the throwaway seems to prevail, you are called to witness to the gratitude and gratuitousness of Christ, the exultation and joy, tenderness and mercy of his Heart. To practice the style of welcome and closeness, of generous and disinterested service, leaving the Holy Spirit to “anough” your humanity even before ordination.
The Heart of Christ is animated by immense compassion: it is the Good Samaritan of humanity and says to us: “Go and do so” (Lk 10:37). This compassion pushes him to break the bread of the Word and of sharing for the crowds (cf. Mk 6:30-44), letting us glimpse the gesture of the Upper Room and the Cross, when he would give himself food, and he tells us: “You yourselves give them to eat” (Mk 6:37), that is, make your life a gift of love.
Dear seminarians, the wisdom of Mother Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, over time always seeks the most suitable ways for the formation of ordained ministers, according to the needs of places. In this commitment, what is your task? It is to never play downwards, not to please you, not to be passive receivers, but to be passionate about priestly life, living the present and looking to the future with a prophetic heart. I hope that this meeting of ours will help each of you to deepen your personal dialogue with the Lord, in which to ask him to assimilate more and more the sentiments of Christ, the sentiments of his Heart. That Heart that beats with love for you and for all humanity.Have a great way! I accompany you with my blessing.
’’E’
[1] Cff S. John Paul II, Exhortation. Ap. Pastores dabo vobis (March 25, 1992), 43.
[2] Lett. Enc. Dilexit nos, on the divine human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ (October 24, 2024).
[4] Conc. Ecum. Vat. II, Cost. past. Gaudium et Spes, 22.
[5] Cf. Francis, Letter on the Role of Literature in Formation, 17 July 2024.
[6] Conc. Ecum. Vat. II, Cost. past. Gaudium et spes, 62.
Congregation [7]for the Clergy, Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, The Gift of the Presbyteral Vocation (8 December 2016), 97.
[8] Cf. Francis, Letter Enc. Dilexit nos, on the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ (October 24, 2024), 19.”