In a warm and heartfelt encounter with employees of the Roman Curia, the Governorate of Vatican City, and the Vicariate of Rome, Pope Leo XIV emphasized the vital roles of memory, mission, and unity in the service of the Church. Addressing the gathering on a sunny Saturday morning, the Pope expressed gratitude and humor, drawing smiles with a playful warning: “When the applause lasts longer than the address, I will have to make a longer address!”
This marked the Pope’s first formal meeting with the Vatican’s working communities since his election earlier this year, and he took the opportunity to thank staff across all departments — from senior dicastery heads to administrative employees — as well as their families.
“Popes pass, the Curia remains,” Pope Leo remarked, noting the enduring role of the Curia in preserving and transmitting the Church’s memory. Comparing the Church to a living organism, he underscored the importance of memory not as nostalgia, but as a living force that nourishes the present and directs the future.
He called on Vatican employees to see their work as a contribution to the living memory of the Apostolic See. “To work in the Roman Curia means to contribute to keeping the memory of the Apostolic See alive,” he said, encouraging his audience to think of their service not merely in administrative terms but as a sacred task supporting the papal ministry.
Turning from memory to mission, Pope Leo drew on his own experience as an Augustinian missionary in Peru — a time he described as foundational to his pastoral identity. “The experience of mission forms part of my life,” he said. “I will never be able to thank the Lord enough for this gift.” He reiterated his vision of a “missionary Church,” echoing Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium and the Curial reforms under Praedicate Evangelium.
“Together, we must look for ways to be a missionary Church,” he said. “A Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue… with open arms, all those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue and our love.”
Pope Leo also offered practical spiritual advice for the daily life of Vatican workers, encouraging patience, humility, and even a good sense of humor in dealing with workplace challenges. “Each person can be a builder of unity,” he said, “overcoming inevitable misunderstandings with patience… avoiding prejudices… and also with a good dose of humor, as Pope Francis taught us.”
Concluding with a Marian blessing during the month traditionally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Pope led the employees in prayer and asked for special blessings on their families, especially children, the elderly, and the suffering.
In a moment that combined both humility and humanity, Pope Leo XIV showed that while the papacy carries a global mission, its heart beats within the halls and offices of those quietly serving behind the scenes.
MEETING OF THE HOLY FATHER WITH EMPLOYEES OF THE HOLY SEE AND THE VATICAN CITY STATE
“Thank you! When the applause lasts longer than the address, I will have to make a longer address! So… be careful! Thank you! Thank you!
In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, peace be with you.
Dear brothers and sisters!
I am glad to be able to greet all of you who form the working communities of the Roman Curia, the Governorate and the Vicariate of Rome.
I greet the Heads of the Dicasteries and the other Superiors, the Office Heads and all the officials, as well as the authorities of Vatican City, the managers and the employees. And I am very happy that many family members are also present, taking advantage of the Saturday.
This first meeting of ours is certainly not the moment to make keynote speeches, but rather it is an opportunity for me to thank you for the service you carry out, and this service that I have, so to speak, “inherited” from my predecessors. Thank you indeed. Yes, as you know, I arrived only two years ago, when our beloved Pope Francis appointed me as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops. Then I left the diocese of Chiclayo, in Peru, and came to work here. What a change! And now, then… What can I say? Only what Simon Peter said to Jesus on Lake Tiberias: “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you” (Jn 21:17).
Popes pass, the Curia remains. This applies to every particular Church, for the episcopal Curias. And it also applies to the Curia of the Bishop of Rome. The Curia is the institution that preserves and transmits the historical memory of a Church, of the ministry of its bishops. This is very important. Memory is an essential element in a living organism. It is not only directed to the past, but nourishes the present and guides the future. Without memory, the path is lost, it loses its sense of direction.
Here, dear friends, is the first thought I would like to share with you: to work in the Roman Curia means to contribute to keeping the memory of the Apostolic See alive, in the vital sense I have just mentioned, so that the Pope’s ministry may be implemented in the best way. And, by analogy, this can also be said of the services of Vatican City State.
Then, there is another aspect I would like to recall, complementary to that of memory, that is the missionary dimension of the Church and of every institution linked to the Petrine ministry. This was insisted upon a great deal by Pope Francis who, consistently with the project laid out in the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium, reformed the Roman Curia from the perspective of evangelization, with the Apostolic Constitution Praedicate Evangelium. And he did this by following in the footsteps of his predecessors, especially Saint Paul VI and Saint John Paul II.
As I think you know, the experience of mission forms part of my life, and not only as a baptized person, as for all us Christians, but because as an Augustinian religious I was a missionary in Peru, and in the midst of the Peruvian people my pastoral vocation matured. I will never be able to thank the Lord enough for this gift! Then, the call to serve the Church here in the Roman Curia was a new mission, which I shared with you during these last two years. And still I continue it and will continue it, as long as God wills, in this service that has been entrusted to me.
Therefore, I repeat to you what I said in my first greeting, in the evening of 8 May: “Together, we must look for ways to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges and encourages dialogue, a Church ever open to welcoming… with open arms, all those who are in need of our charity, our presence, our readiness to dialogue and our love”. These words were addressed to the Church of Rome. And now I repeat them, thinking of the mission of this Church towards all the Churches and the entire world, of serving communion, unity, in charity and in truth. The Lord gave this task to Peter and his successors, and you all collaborate in different ways in this great task. Each one of you gives your contribution, carrying out your daily work with commitment and also with faith, because faith and prayer are like salt for food; they impart flavour.
If, then, we must all cooperate in the great cause of unity and love, let us seek to do so first of all with our behaviour in everyday situations, starting also from the work environment. Each person can be a builder of unity with his attitudes towards colleagues, overcoming inevitable misunderstandings with patience, with humility, putting himself in the in the shoes of others, avoiding prejudices, and also with a good dose of humour, as Pope Francis taught us.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank you again from the bottom of my heart! We are in the month of May: let us invoke the Virgin Mary together, so that she may bless the Roman Curia and Vatican City, and also your families, especially children, the elderly and the sick and suffering.
Thank you!
So, let us say together: “Hail Mary…”
[Blessing]
Thank you once again, best wishes!”