Pope to Rome's priests: 'You are all precious in the eyes of God'

Vatican City, 12 June 2025: Welcoming all the priests of Rome in the Vatican, Pope Leo XIV applauds them for their faith and service, urges them to love the Church and be exemplary, and insists, "You are all precious in the eyes of God and in the realization of His plan."

"I thank you for your lives given in service to the Kingdom, for your daily labors, for so much generosity in the exercise of the ministry, for all that you live in silence, and that at times is accompanied by suffering or misunderstanding."

Pope Leo XIV gave this reminder when receiving all priests of the Diocese of Rome in the Vatican this morning, along with deacons and seminarians of the Diocese.

Before addressing those before him, Pope Leo said, "I would like to ask for a strong round of applause for all of you, those of you who are here and all the priests and deacons of Rome!"

'Precious in the eyes of God'

The Holy Father emphasized that he greets them all with affection and friendship, and saying he wished to have this encounter in order to get to know them more closely and begin walking together.

While recognizing they carry out different services, he stressed, "you are all precious in the eyes of God and in the realization of His plan."

Must protect our spiritual lives

The Holy Father remembered their Diocese is "truly particular," because many priests come from different parts of the world, and therefore, due to this universality, he wished to discuss three points. The first, he said, is particularly close to his heart, and is unity and communion.

Pope Leo stressed that "the Lord knows well that when priests are only united to Him," and that, "united among ourselves, they can bear fruit and give the world a credible witness." The presbyter, he insisted, is called to be a man of communion, but, he lamented, "we know that this communion is today hindered by a cultural climate that promotes isolation or self-reference."

None of us, he observed, is exempt from these snares that threaten the solidity of our spiritual life.

With this in mind, he reassured, "I would like to help you, to walk with you, so that each one may regain serenity in his ministry; but precisely for this, I ask you for a renewed effort in priestly fraternity, which is rooted in a solid spiritual life, in the encounter with the Lord and in listening to His Word."

Communion, he noted, must also be translated into commitment within this Diocese, saying that walking together "is always a guarantee of faithfulness to the Gospel."

Must be exemplary and credible

He next turned to the second point of 'being exemplary.'

The Pope recalled that when he had ordained priests on 31 May, he had underscored how important is having transparent lives, based on the words of Saint Paul who said to the elders of Ephesus: “You know how I lived”

Thus, Pope Leo urged, "I ask you this with the heart of a father and a pastor, let us all commit to being credible and exemplary priests!"

The Holy Father said "we are aware of the limits of our nature" and "the Lord knows us deeply"; "but we have received an extraordinary grace, a precious treasure has been entrusted to us of which we are ministers, servants. And the servant is required to be faithful."

Be drawn once more by the call of the Master

"Let yourselves be drawn once more by the call of the Master," the Pope encouraged, "to feel and live the love of the first hour, the one that led you to make strong choices and courageous renunciations."

"If together we strive to be exemplary in a humble life," he said, "then we will be able to express the renewing power of the Gospel for every man and woman."

Let's not run away from challenges

Finally, the third point Pope Leo offered the priests was to look at the challenges of our time "in a prophetic key."

"We are concerned and pained," he recognized, "by all that happens every day in the world: the violence that generates death wounds us, inequalities challenge us, as do poverty, so many forms of social marginalization, the widespread suffering that now spares no one,' realities which, he noted, do not happen "only elsewhere," but also concern our city of Rome.

Pope Leo told them that the Lord wanted them precisely in this time full of challenges, and that even if "sometimes they seem greater than one's strength," the priests are "called to embrace them, to interpret them evangelically, to live them as opportunities for witness." The Pope said, "let us not run away from them!"

The Holy Father told the priests that pastoral commitment, like that of study, must become 'a school' for everyone in which all "learn how to build the Kingdom of God in the today of a complex and stimulating history."

'My willingness to walk with you'

The Pope recalled that in recent history we have seen the example of "saintly priests" who knew how to unite a passion for history with the proclamation of the Gospel, and encouraged, "Let us draw strength from these examples to continue sowing seeds of holiness in our city."

"Dearest ones," Pope Leo XIV reiterated, "I assure you of my closeness, my affection, and my willingness to walk with you."

WIth this sentiment, the Holy Father concluded praying the priests may be accompanied by the following appeal of Saint Augustine, who said, "Love this Church, remain in this Church, be this Church. Love the Good Shepherd, the beautiful Bridegroom, who deceives no one and does not want anyone to perish. Also pray for the scattered sheep: that they too may come, that they too may recognize, that they too may love, so that there may be one fold and one Shepherd.”

By Deborah Castellano Lubov, Vatican News