Amid vibrant liturgical celebration in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV invited the Church, and especially those serving in synodal teams and participatory bodies, to embrace a new posture of service and welcome. At the heart of his message was this: the Church is not simply an institution of power, but “the visible sign of the union between God and humanity”, where God summons us into one family made up of beloved children.
The Mystery of Communion
According to Vatican News, the Pope asked those gathered to “contemplate and rediscover the mystery of the Church.” He reminded them that the Church is “not merely a religious institution, nor is she simply identified with hierarchies and structures.” Instead, the Church is the sign that God intends “to bring us all together into one family of brothers and sisters … to make us his people.”
In this light, not as a rigid bureaucracy, but as a living communion birthed by the Holy Spirit, synodal teams and participatory bodies reflect more than governance. They reveal the way the Spirit calls us to live: “where relationships do not respond to the logic of power but to that of love.”
Love as the Supreme Rule
If communion is the foundation, then the energy of that communion is love. Pope Leo insisted: “The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve. No one should impose his or her own ideas; we must all listen to one another. No one is excluded; we are all called to participate.”
Such words challenge the traditional temptation to view Church ministry as a status to uphold or a platform to occupy. Instead, service and listening are the measures of true ecclesial life.
Walking Together, Not Apart
Pope Leo turned to the Gospel parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to illustrate how even people in the same place, the same Temple, can fail to walk together and fail to be brothers. “Both take the same path, but they do not walk together. Both pray to the Father, but without being brothers and without having anything in common.”
He went on: the Pharisee’s prayer, “though seemingly addressed to God, is only a mirror in which he looks at, justifies and praises himself.” The warning is clear; the Church risks becoming a stage for self-exaltation or judgment rather than a home of humble encounter.
Instead, the Pope invited us to look to the tax collector whose humility reminds us that “within the Church, we are all in need of God and of one another, which leads us to practice reciprocal love, listen to each other and enjoy walking together.”
Embracing Tension, Living Discernment
One of the boldest threads in Pope Leo’s homily is his treatment of tensions within Church life, between unity and diversity, tradition and novelty, authority and participation. He said that synodal teams and participatory bodies are “an image of this Church that lives in communion.”
But he added: “It is not a question of resolving them by reducing one to the other, but of allowing them to be purified by the Spirit, so that they may be harmonized and oriented toward a common discernment.” Because the path of communion does not mean erasing difference but walking through tension together, in humility and trust in the Spirit.
He stressed that ecclesial discernment “requires interior freedom, humility, prayer, mutual trust, an openness to the new and a surrender to the will of God. It is never just a setting out of one’s own personal or group point of view or a summing up of differing individual opinions.”
A Humble and Welcoming Church
Finally, Pope Leo issued a stirring call: “We must dream of and build a more humble Church; a Church that does not stand upright like the Pharisee, triumphant and inflated with pride, but bends down to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge as the Pharisee does the tax collector, but becomes a welcoming place for all; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains attentive to God so that it can similarly listen to everyone.”
It is a vision of a Church whose identity is shaped not by power or prestige but by service, by listening, by walking together in humility.
Why This Matters for Us
For Catholic communities, parishes, councils, dioceses, the Pope’s words carry real-world implications:
- When we gather in pastoral councils or neighborhood ministries, the posture should not be “what can we command?” but “how can we listen and serve?”
- When divisions or tensions surface, they are not signs of failure but invitations to deeper communion: to walk together, not become mired in conflict.
- When certain voices feel excluded or powerless, the principle is clear: “No one is excluded; we are all called to participate.”
- In our mission to the world, evangelisation, justice, care for creation, outreach to the marginalized, the Church lives its synodal identity when she walks together, reaches out and opens her doors.
A Word for Readers
If you are reading this as a layperson, a parishioner, someone involved in ministry, or simply as a member of the Church: the invitation is personal and communal. Ask yourself: How am I walking together with others in my parish? How often do we listen rather than dictate? Where do we see that our structures might need to become more welcoming?
The Pope’s message is not a new program, but a renewed way of being Church. As he reminded us, “we are all called to serve … we must all listen to one another.”
May we respond with humility, courage, and hope, trusting that the Holy Spirit will guide our steps as we walk together toward God, and toward one another.
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