Pope Leo XIV will order eleven priests for the Diocese of Rome on May 31

Pope Leo XIV will officiate on Saturday, May 31, his first priestly ordinations for the Diocese of Rome since the beginning of his pontificate.

A total of eleven new priests for the Diocese of Rome will be ordered by the Holy Father at the Mass on Saturday, May 31, at 10:00 (local time), in the Basilica of San Pedro del Vaticano.

In addition, on Thursday 29 a prayer vigil will be held in the papal basilica of San Juan de Letán, in which future priests will share their testimonies.

In this celebration, according to the Diocese of Rome in a statement, it will be prayed for priestly vocations and consecrated life and will also have a catechesis in charge of Fr. Maurizio Botta.

First priests ordered by Leo XIV

Of the eleven priests, seven have formed in the Pontifical Roman seminar. Among them are Marco Petrolo, destined for the parish of Santa María Causa Our joy; Enrico Maria Trusiani, who will serve in Santa María Consollatrice or Federico Pelosio, who will go to Santa Teresa de Calcutta.

In this group there is also Giuseppe Terranova, assigned to the community of Los Santos Fabiano and Venancio; Francesco Melone, who will go to Santa Silvia; Andrea Alessi, for the Sacred Family of Divine Love and Hong Hieuyen, who will work in the parish of Our Lady of Visitation

For their part, four have studied at the Redemportoris Mater: Gabriele di Menno di Bucchianico seminar, assigned to the great Mother of God; Cody Gerard Merfalen, to San Raimundo Nonato; Matteo Renzi, Santa María Madre del Redeemer in Tor Bella Monaca and Simone Troilo, destined for San Carlo da Sezze.

On the occasion of this celebration, the Italian bishop Mons. Michele di Tolve, responsible for the area for the care of diaconate, clergy and religious life, said that “every vocation is born from the gift of baptism that these young people received from their families and the Christian community that accompanied them in their growth.”

“They wanted to seriously put the way to discover what the particular vocation that the Lord has given each one. There are those who left a profession, who decided that their life should be totally dedicated to the announcement of the Gospel and the building of the body of Christ, which is the Church. It is a great joy for the entire diocese!” He added.

“An instrument priest in the hands of God”

In the statement released on Tuesday, some of those who will be ordered next Saturday shared the reason why they decided to give Christ to Christ.

Matteo Renzi’s vocation, he says, “was born and matured with writing.” At 16, during a retirement, he read the story of Jeremiah. For the future priest, the dialogue between Jesus and Peter was decisive “to choose the seminar.”

Francesco, meanwhile, participated in activities with the Seminary Youth Group. “They taught us to pray daily with the Gospel.”

Remember that at that time “doing many things”, but stresses that “the novelty of silence in prayer opened another path. At the beginning there were a few minutes, but then became an increasingly deep presence.”

Enrico Maria was a business administrator and entered the seminar at 36 to discern if the desire he felt in his heart.

He states that this yearning “was authentic.” “In the eyes of the world, I lost a lot, but, although I had everything, my heart was restless; I did not love how God had thought of me. I would not go back; beauty is to surrender,” he remarks.

Andrea, military ex official, discovered his vocation for 40 years, during a volunteer period on a beach adapted for people with disabilities, in FOCENE (Italy).

“Between prayer, service and coexistence, I felt a strong and clear call to the priesthood, confirmed by the song ‘Come and follow me,” he recalls.

“I want to be an instrument priest in the hands of God, disappear in Christ, ‘as Pope León said in Mass with the cardinals,” he concludes.