Pope Leo XIV ordains 10 new Priests at Mass today on World Day of Prayer for Vocations

 

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Pope ordains new priests and calls them to be channels of life

Pope Leo XIV celebrates Mass on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations and ordains ten new priests, inviting them to grow in communion with their parish communities and ensure that the Church remains welcoming to all people.

Vatican News

Pope Leo XIV ordained a group of ten priests at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica on Sunday, as the Church celebrated the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. 

At the Mass on 26 April, the Pope based his homily on the Gospel of John, recalling Jesus’ words: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

He pointed to the generosity of the newly-ordained priests as a sign that this promise is still being lived today.

A ministry of communion

The Pope described priesthood as a "ministry of communion." He stressed that a close relationship with Christ does not distance priests from others, but deepens their connection to all people.

"The deeper your bond with Christ, the more radical your belonging to humanity," he said.

He also reflected on celibacy, comparing it to the love within marriage, which is something that requires care, renewal, and commitment over time.

This form of love, he added, should lead priests to become not only good ministers, but also responsible and constructive members of society.

Pope Leo incenses the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Mass (@Vatican Media)

Facing reality without fear

Referring to the Gospel’s mention of thieves and robbers, the Pope acknowledged the presence of violence and instability in the world.

However, he stressed that Jesus does not withdraw in the face of danger, and neither should priests.

"Reality must not frighten us," he said, calling this a key aspect of priestly life.

He warned that today’s search for security can lead to fear, division, and hostility. Instead, he encouraged the new priests to find their stability in Christ, rather than in their role or status.

Learning from the communities they serve

The Pope went on to highlight that the communities to which priests are sent are not empty or passive, but already marked by the presence of the Risen Christ.

"These communities will also help you to become saints," he said.

He encouraged the ordinands to foster unity, helping people come together and creating spaces where individuals can experience the value of community life.

"I am the gate"

A central theme of the homily was Jesus’ image of Himself as the "gate." The Pope recalled its historical reference in Jerusalem and linked it to Baptism and entry into the life of the Church.

He warned against placing obstacles in the way of those who seek to approach the faith.

"Do not block this gate," he said, urging priests to ensure that the Church remains accessible.

Open Church, open mission

The Pope then insisted that priests should not act as gatekeepers who restrict access, but as "channels, not filters."

In a context where many people feel distant from the Church, he encouraged them to keep doors open and to be ready both to welcome and to go out.

"You belong to everyone and are for everyone," he said.

He also emphasized that the Church should not confine people, but help them engage more fully with life. Quoting the Gospel, he noted that those who are saved "enter, go out, and find pasture."

Going out to meet people

Bringing his homily to a close, the Pope encouraged the new priests to engage with the wider world, including culture and everyday life.

He acknowledged that they may at times feel uncertain, but reminded them that the Good Shepherd guides the way.

Pope Leo concluded by pointing to the witness of trust in God, recalling the words of Psalm 23, and encouraging the new priests to carry that confidence into their ministry.

This Sunday Pope Leo XIV will ordain 8 new Priests

 

FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo to ordain 8 new priests on Sunday April 26  (@Vatican Media)

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• Rome

Pope Leo to ordain 8 priests in St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope will preside over the Mass with the priestly ordinations on Sunday, April 26, which is also the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. Two days earlier, there will be a prayer vigil at St. John Lateran.

Vatican News

Eight men will be ordained to the priesthood on Sunday morning, April 26, in a Mass presided over by Pope Leo XIV in St. Peter’s Basilica.  

Among the future priests is Christian Sguazzino, who grew up attending the parish Church of San Giovanni della Croce (St. John of the Cross), where he also enjoyed playing soccer. “Even then,” he recalls, “I liked being in church, looking at the altar and the tabernacle.” Seeing priests who were happy in their vocation had an important influence on his discernment.

Stories of the future priests

Giovanni Emanuele Nunziante, 32, also felt a desire to be close to God as a child. “I used to think about becoming a friar,” he says.

However, life took other directions for the Rome-born man who also lived in England. While listening to the Gospel of the Good Shepherd back in 2016, he felt called to become "a father, generating others to the new life of faith."

On the other hand, Jos Emmanuel Nleme Sabate was not Catholic. His family, originally from Cameroon, was Protestant. At 11, he was sent to study at the Minor Seminary of his home diocese.

It was there that he encountered Catholicism, and he was baptized at the age of 12. “During that rite, which I wasn’t familiar with,” he recalls, “I believe my choice to become a priest grew.” This call grew through his experience at Casa Betania, a family home, where his attention to disability deepened—a “vocation within a vocation.” Today, Sabate is studying sign language.

For Yordan Camilo Medina from Colombia, his priest uncle was a role model. Since childhood, he saw the joy in others as they received the Eucharist, and he chose this path of happiness.

In the Neocatechumenal Way, 27-year-old Antonino Ordine’s vocation flourished. In his hometown of Praia a Mare in Calabria, he had been studying medicine when this question came to mind: “Do I really want this?”

“I can say,” he admits, “that the Lord has made my life much more beautiful than I ever imagined. Whether here in the Diocese of Rome, in many parishes, or during some missions in Latin America, the Middle East, and India, I have understood that it is beautiful to serve the Church.”

Daniele Riscica was once considered “a new promise of international piano.” Yet, after attending the Conservatory in Frosinone, Italy and completing his classical music studies, at 24, he felt the Lord was calling him to something else. He had performed in Brazil, China, and Mozambique, but left it all behind to enter the seminary.

Giorgio Larosa, 30, from Italy, was inspired in his vocation through the example of “lay people and priests.” Through their witness, he saw “the power of the Gospel.” Guglielmo Lapenna, 35, from Pescara, had a job in a liquor factory. “During World Youth Day in Krakow in 2016, I decided to leave what I was doing and enter the seminary.” A decision that changed and enriched his life.

A prayer vigil for vocations

On Friday evening, April 24, the eight men will gather at St. John Lateran Basilica for a prayer vigil for vocations, themed “The Inner Discovery of God’s Gift.” This theme echoes Pope Leo’s message, which carries the same title, published in March for the 53rd World Prayer Day for Vocations, which falls on April 26, the fourth Sunday of Easter.

Although the Pope will not be present at the Vigil, a communication from the Congregation for the Clergy shared his “fatherly closeness” to the initiative, which he spiritually accompanies, seeing it as “a living sign of communion and ecclesial synergy in service of vocations.”

The Congregation for Clergy, together with the Diocese of Rome, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, and the National Office for Vocational Pastoral Care of the Italian Episcopal Conference organized this prayer vigil.

Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung Sik, Prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, and Cardinal Baldo Reina, the Pope’s Vicar General for the Diocese of Rome, are expected to attend. The liturgy will be led by the Roman Major Seminary and accompanied by the Diocesan Choir, conducted by Monsignor Marco Frisina. The vigil will feature moments of listening to the Word of God, testimonies, liturgical signs, and a special involvement of young people.

Pope Leo XIV releases message for Vocation's Day coming up in April

 

Pope Leo XIV  (ANSA)

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Pope's Vocations Day Message: 'The Interior Discovery of God's Gift'

Pope Leo XIV releases his message for the upcoming World Day of Prayer for Vocations, observed this year on Sunday, April 26, and reiterates that "every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy."

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Leo XIV has released his message for the 63rd World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which falls this year on April 26, the fourth Sunday of Easter, also called "Good Shepherd Sunday."

The Pope called the day "an occasion of grace in which we share some reflections on the interior dimension of vocation, understood as the discovery of God’s free gift that blossoms in the depths of our hearts." He also called it an opportunity to "explore together the truly beautiful path of life along which the Shepherd guides us."

His beauty makes us beautiful

Recalling that in the Gospel of John, Jesus describes Himself as the “Good Shepherd,” ready to give His life for His sheep, thus revealing God’s love, Pope Leo emphasized, "He is the Shepherd who draws us to Himself, whose gaze reveals that life is truly beautiful when one follows Him."

The Pope noted that contemplation and interiority are required to recognize this beauty, observing that only the one who pauses, listens, prays, and welcomes the Shepherd’s gaze can say with confidence, “I trust Him; life with Him can truly be beautiful." 

"What is most extraordinary," Pope Leo observed, "is that, in becoming His disciple, one truly becomes 'beautiful'; His beauty transforms us." 

He recalled that St. Augustine had this experience of life, faith, and meaning. Acknowledging the sins and errors of his youth, Augustine discovered the beauty of the divine light that guides him in the darkness.

Such a relationship based on prayer and silence, Pope Leo said, when cultivated, opens us to receive and actively respond to the gift of vocation. 

An adventure of love and happiness

The Pope said it is never "an imposition or a one-size-fits-all model to which one merely conforms" but "an adventure of love and happiness." 

"Thus, on the basis of caring for the interior life," he said, "we must urgently recommence our vocational ministry and renew our commitment to evangelization."

In light of this, the Pope invited everyone, "families, parishes, and religious communities, as well as bishops, priests, deacons, catechists, educators, and all the faithful," to commit themselves more fully to creating conditions that allow this gift to be embraced, nourished, protected, and accompanied so that it may bear abundant fruit.  

"Only when our surroundings are illumined by living faith, sustained by constant prayer and enriched by fraternal accompaniment," he said, "can God’s call blossom and mature."

His loving gaze enlightens our hearts

The Lord, Pope Leo said, knows us and enlightens our hearts with His loving gaze. In fact, he highlighted, every vocation begins with the awareness and experience of a God who is love.  

"The Lord knows us profoundly, has counted the hairs of our head, and has envisaged for each person a unique path of holiness and service," the Holy Father said.

Yet this awareness, he underscored, must always be reciprocal, for "we are invited to know God through prayer, listening to the Word, the Sacraments, the life of the Church and works of charity for our brothers and sisters." 

'Every vocation is an immeasurable gift for the Church'

The Pope called on young people to listen to the voice of the Lord, who invites them "to a full and fruitful life," calling on them to put their talents to use and to unite their limitations and weaknesses with the glorious Cross of Christ. 

For young people to come to know the Lord, he urged them to make time for Eucharistic adoration; to meditate faithfully on the Word of God, so that they may put it into practice each day; and to participate actively and fully in the sacramental and ecclesial life of the Church.

Through the intimacy of friendship with Jesus, the Pope said, they will discover how to give of themselves, whether through marriage, the priesthood, the permanent diaconate, or consecrated life. 

"Every vocation," he said, "is an immeasurable gift for the Church and for those who receive it with joy." 

St. Joseph trusted even when all seemed shrouded in uncertainty

Pope Leo noted that to know the Lord means above all learning to entrust oneself to Him and to His providence, and observed that life reveals itself as a continual act of trusting in the Lord and abandoning ourselves to Him, "even when His plans unsettle our own."

In a special way, he cited St. Joseph, who, despite the mysterious and unexpected pregnancy of the Virgin, trusted the divine message revealed in a dream and welcomed Mary and her child with an obedient heart.

"Joseph of Nazareth," he said, "is an example of complete trust in God’s designs. He trusted even when everything around him seemed shrouded in darkness and uncertainty, when events appeared to diverge from his own plans. He trusted and abandoned himself to God."

Pope Leo recalled that the Lord does not abandon us in our darkest hours, but comes to dispel every shadow with His light.

"Through the light and strength of his Spirit, even amid trials and crises," Pope Leo said, "we can see our vocation grow and mature, reflecting ever more fully the beauty of the One who has called us—a beauty shaped by fidelity and trust, despite our wounds and failures."

We are to be with Jesus in every circumstance of life

The Pope said that a vocation is not a fixed point, but a dynamic process of maturation sustained by intimacy with our Lord. We are to be with Jesus, the Pope said, allowing the Holy Spirit to act in our hearts and in the circumstances of life, and reinterpreting everything in light of this gift.

"Like the vine and the branches," the Pope said, "our whole lives must be rooted in a strong and vital bond with the Lord, so that we may more wholeheartedly respond to his call through our trials and necessary 'pruning.'”  

Nourished by a daily relationship with Him

A vocation, therefore, he explained, is not "an immediate possession—something 'given' once and for all," but rather a path that unfolds much like life itself. "The gift we have received must not only be protected but also nourished by a daily relationship with God in order to grow and bear fruit." 

Thus, the Pope called for everyone to cultivate their personal relationship with God through daily prayer and meditation on the Word.

"Pause, listen, and entrust yourselves," he said. "In this way, the gift of your vocation will mature, bringing you happiness and yielding abundant fruit for the Church and the world."

Finally, Pope Leo implored the Virgin Mary, model of the interior acceptance of divine gifts and expert in prayerful listening, to "always accompany you on this journey!"