(OSV News) — This is the text of Pope Leo XIV’s homily for the Mass of priestly ordination May 31, 2025, in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
Today is a day of great joy for the Church and for each of you who are being ordained as priests — together with your families, friends and companions in your years of formation. As the Rite of Ordination emphasizes in many places, the relationship between what we celebrate today and the People of God is fundamental. The depth, greatness and even duration of this divine joy that we now share are directly proportional to the bonds that exist and will deepen between you, who are being ordained, and the people from which you come, of which you remain a part and to which you are sent. I will dwell on this aspect, always keeping in mind that the identity of a priest depends on union with Christ, the Eternal High Priest.
We are the People of God. The Second Vatican Council revived this awareness, as it were anticipating the times when the sense of belonging would weaken and the awareness of God would become increasingly blurred. You are a witness to the fact that God has not tired of gathering his children — though so different —
Holy Spirit Strengthens Relationships
The readings we have just heard help us interpret what is also happening among us. First, in the Gospel, Jesus does not seem to be overwhelmed by his approaching death or by the disappointment of broken or unfulfilled relationships. On the contrary, the Holy Spirit strengthens these threatened relationships. In prayer, they become stronger than death. Instead of thinking about his own fate, Jesus places in the hands of the Father the relationships he has built on earth. We are part of them! In fact, it is through these relationships that the Gospel has come to us — relationships that the world can weaken but not destroy.
Dear candidates for ordination, imitate Jesus! Being of God — servants of God, People of God — connects us to the earth: not to the ideal world, but to the real one. Like Jesus, you meet people of flesh and blood whom the Father places on your path. Consecrate yourselves to them — without separating yourselves from them, without isolating yourselves, without making the gift you have received a kind of privilege. Pope Francis has warned us about this many times, because self-sufficiency extinguishes the fire of the missionary spirit.
Church Is Directed Outward
The Church is constitutively directed outward, just as the life, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus are directed outward. In every Eucharist you make his words your own: “for you and for many”. No one has ever seen God. He turned to us, he went out of himself. The Son became his exegesis, his living narrative. And he gave us the power to become children of God. Do not seek, let us not seek, another power!
May the gesture of the laying on of hands, with which Jesus welcomed children and healed the sick, renew in you the liberating power of his messianic ministry. In the Acts of the Apostles, this gesture, which we will repeat shortly, is the communication of the Spirit of the Creator. In this way, the Kingdom of God now introduces into communion your personal freedom, ready to go beyond itself, infusing your minds and your youthful energies into the Jubilee mission that Jesus has entrusted to his Church.
‘Make Room for the Faithful’
In his farewell to the elders of the community in Ephesus — a fragment of which we heard today in the first reading — Paul gives them the secret of every mission: “The Holy Spirit has made you overseers” ( Acts 20:28). Not masters, but overseers. The mission belongs to Jesus. He rose from the dead, so he lives and precedes us. None of us is called to take his place. The day of Ascension teaches us his invisible presence. He trusts us, he makes room for us — he even said: “It is expedient for you that I go away” ( Jn 16:7). We too, bishops, dear candidates for ordination, by including you in the mission today, make room for you. And you, make room for the faithful and for every creature to whom the Risen One is close and in which he loves to visit and surprise us. The People of God are more numerous than we think. Let us not set limits for them.
In the moving farewell speech of the letter of St. Paul, I would like to emphasize one more word. In fact, it precedes all others. He can say: “You know how I was with you all the time” ( Acts 20:18). Let us keep this expression firmly engraved in our hearts and minds! “You know how I was with you” — transparency of life. A life [well] known, legible, credible! We are among the People of God so that we can stand before them with credible testimony.
Rebuilding Credibility of Wounded Church
Together, then, we will rebuild the credibility of a wounded Church, sent to a wounded humanity, in the midst of a wounded creation. We are not yet perfect, but we must be credible.
The Risen Jesus shows us his wounds, which are a sign of human rejection, but despite this he forgives us and sends us. Let us not forget this! He too breathes on us today (cf. Jn 20:22) and makes us ministers of hope. So that no one will ever again look “after the flesh” ( 2 Cor 5:16): everything that in our eyes seems broken and lost now appears in the sign of reconciliation.
“The love of Christ embraces us”, dear brothers and sisters! It is an embrace that liberates and allows us not to possess anyone. To liberate, not to possess. We are God’s — there is no greater wealth to appreciate and share. This is the only wealth that, when shared, increases. Together we want to bring it to the world that God loved so much that he gave his only Son (cf. Jn 3:16).
So the lives of these brothers who will soon be ordained priests have a profound meaning. We thank them and we thank God who has called them to serve the entire priestly people. Together, in fact, we join heaven to earth. In Mary, Mother of the Church, shines forth this common priesthood that lifts the humble, unites generations and makes us blessed (cf. Lk 1:48, 52). May she, the Madonna of Trust and Mother of Hope, intercede for us.
