Homily of Pope Leo xiv at the Eucharistic celebration for the beginning of the Petrine Ministry
of the Bishop of Rome Leo xiv
St. Peter’s Square – Sunday, May 18, 2025
“The Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ.
It is never a question of capturing others through oppression, religious propaganda, or the means of power,
but always and only of loving as Jesus did”
Dear Brother Cardinals, brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood, Distinguished Authorities and Members of the Diplomatic Corps!
Greetings to the pilgrims who have come to celebrate the Jubilee of the Confraternities!
Brothers and sisters, I greet you all with a heart full of gratitude at the beginning of the ministry entrusted to me.
St. Augustine wrote: “You have made us for yourself, [Lord], and our hearts are restless until they rest in you” (Confessions, 1:1).
The last few days have been particularly intense.
The death of Pope Francis filled our hearts with sadness, and in those difficult hours, we felt like the crowds who, according to the Gospel, were “like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:36).
On Easter Sunday, we received his final blessing, and, in the light of the Resurrection, we faced this moment with the certainty that the Lord never abandons his people, gathers them when they are scattered, and “watches over them as the shepherd watches over his flock” (Jer 31:10).
It was in this spirit of faith that the College of Cardinals gathered for the Conclave.
Coming from different backgrounds and journeys, we have placed in God’s hands the desire to elect the new Successor of Peter, the Bishop of Rome, a shepherd capable of safeguarding the rich heritage of the Christian faith and, at the same time, of looking far ahead to meet the questions, concerns, and challenges of today.
Accompanied by your prayers, we have felt the action of the Holy Spirit, who has been able to harmonize the different musical instruments and make the strings of our hearts vibrate in a single melody.
I have been chosen without any merit, and with fear and trembling.
I come to you as a brother who wants to be a servant of your faith and of your joy, to walk with you on the path of the love of God, who wants to unite us all as one family.
Love and unity: these are the two dimensions of the mission entrusted to Peter by Jesus.
1. Love
This is told in the Gospel passage, which takes us to the Sea of Tiberias, the same place where Jesus began the mission he had received from the Father: to “fish” for humanity in order to save it from the waters of evil and death.
On the shore of that lake, he called Peter and the other first disciples to be like him, “fishers of men”; and now, after the Resurrection, it is up to them to continue this mission, to cast out their nets again and again, to immerse the hope of the Gospel in the waters of the world, to cross the sea of life so that all may find themselves in God’s embrace.
How can Peter carry out this task?
The Gospel tells us that it is only possible because he has experienced in his own life the infinite and unconditional love of God, even in the hour of failure and denial.
For this reason, when Jesus addresses Peter, the Gospel uses the Greek verb agape, which refers to the love that God has for us, to his giving of himself without reserve and calculation, unlike the verb used for Peter’s response, which instead describes the love of friendship that we exchange among ourselves.
When Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” (Jn 21:16), he is therefore referring to the love of the Father.
It is as if Jesus were saying to him: only when you have known and experienced this love of God, which never fails, will you be able to feed my lambs; only in the love of God the Father will you be able to love your brothers and sisters with a “more,” that is, by offering your life for your brothers and sisters.
Peter, therefore, is entrusted with the task of “loving more” and giving his life for the flock.
Peter’s ministry is marked precisely by this self-sacrificing love, because the Church of Rome presides in charity and its true authority is the charity of Christ.
It is never a question of conquering others through oppression, religious propaganda, or the means of power, but always and only of loving as Jesus did.
The Apostle Peter says “He is the stone which was rejected by you, builders, but which has become the cornerstone” (Acts 4:11).
And if the rock is Christ, Peter must shepherd the flock without ever giving in to the temptation to be a solitary leader or a head placed above others, making himself master of those entrusted to him
(1 Peter 5:3 – not as a lord over those under your charge, but as an example to the flock.).
On the contrary, he is called to serve the faith of his brothers and sisters, walking together with them: for we are all “living stones” (1 Pet 2:5), called by our Baptism to build the edifice of God in fraternal communion, in the harmony of the Spirit, in the coexistence of diversity.
As St. Augustine says: “The Church is made up of all those who live in harmony with their brothers and sisters and who love their neighbor” (Discourse 359, 9).
2. Unity
This, brothers and sisters, is what I want to be our first great desire: a Church that is united, a sign of unity and communion that becomes a leaven for a reconciled world.
In our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest.
And we want to be, within this dough, a small leaven of unity, communion, and fraternity.
We want to say to the world, with humility and joy. Look to Christ! Come closer to him!
Receive his Word, which enlightens and comforts!
Listen to his proposal of love to become his one family: in the one Christ we are one.
And this is the path we must walk together, among ourselves but also with our sister Christian Churches, with those who follow other religious paths, with those who are searching for God, with all women and men of good will, to build a new world where peace reigns.
This is the missionary spirit that must animate us, without closing ourselves off in our small group or feeling superior to the world; we are called to offer God’s love to all, so that unity may be achieved.
It is a unity that does not erase differences but values the personal history of each person and the social and religious culture of each people.
Brothers and sisters, this is the hour of Charity!
The love of God that makes us brothers and sisters is the heart of the Gospel, and with my Predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: “if this criterion were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?” (Encyclical Letter ‘Rerum Novarum’, 21).
With the light and strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God’s love and a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the Word, allows itself to be unsettled by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity.
Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk towards God and love one another.
