FULL TEXT: Homily of Pope Leo XIV in the Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and the participation bodies

Read here the full text of the homily that Pope Leo XIV delivered this Sunday in St. Peter’s Basilica on the occasion of the Jubilee of the Synodal Teams and the participation bodies:

Brothers and sisters:

As we celebrate the Jubilee of the synodal teams and participatory bodies, we are invited to contemplate and rediscover the mystery of the Church, which is not a simple religious institution nor is it identified with hierarchies or its structures. The Church, on the other hand, as the Second Vatican Council has reminded us, is the visible sign of the union between God and men, of his project to reunite us all in a single family of brothers and sisters and to make us his people, a people of beloved children, all united in the single embrace of his love.

Looking at the mystery of ecclesial communion, generated and guarded by the Holy Spirit, we can also understand the meaning of synodal teams and participation bodies. These structures express what happens in the Church, where relationships do not respond to the logic of power but to those of love. The former—to recall a constant admonition of Pope Francis—are “worldly” logic, while in the Christian community the primacy concerns the spiritual life, which makes us discover that we are all children of God, brothers among ourselves, called to serve one another.

The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to command, everyone is called to serve; Nobody should impose their own ideas, everyone should listen to each other; Without excluding anyone, we are all called to participate; No one possesses the entire truth, we must all seek it with humility, and together.

Precisely the word “together” expresses the call to communion in the Church. Pope Francis also reminded us of this in his last Lenten Message: «The vocation of the Church is to walk together, to be synodal. Christians are called to travel together, never as solitary travelers. The Holy Spirit encourages us to leave ourselves to go towards God and our brothers, and never to close ourselves in. Walking together means being artisans of unity, starting from the common dignity of children of God (Lent Message, February 25, 2025).

Walk together. Apparently this is what the two characters in the parable that we have just heard in the Gospel do. The Pharisee and the publican both go up to the temple to pray, we could say that they “go up together” or in any case they are together in the sacred place; and yet they are divided and there is no communication between them. They both walk the same path, but their walk is not a walk together; Both are found in the temple, but one occupies the first place and the other last; Both pray to the Father, but without being brothers and without sharing anything.

This depends above all on the attitude of the Pharisee. His prayer, apparently addressed to God, is only a mirror in which he looks at himself, justifies and praises himself. He “went up to pray, but he did not want to pray to God, but rather to praise himself” (St. AUGUSTINE, Sermon 115,2), feeling better than the other, judging him with contempt and looking at him with disdain. He is obsessed with his ego and thus ends up revolving around himself without having a relationship with either God or others.

Brothers and sisters, this can also happen in the Christian community. It happens when the I prevails over the we, generating personalisms that prevent authentic and fraternal relationships; when the claim to be better than others, as the Pharisee does with the publican, creates division and transforms the community into a critical and exclusive place; when he takes advantage of his own position to exercise power and occupy spaces.

It is to the publican, however, that we must look. With the same humility, also in the Church we must all recognize ourselves as in need of God and in need of one another, exercising ourselves in mutual love, in mutual listening, in the joy of walking together, knowing that “Christ is with those who are humble in heart and not with those who exalt themselves above the flock” (St. CLEMENTE OF ROME, Letter to the Corinthians, c. XVI).

The synodal teams and participation organizations are the image of that Church that lives in communion. And today I would like to invite you, in listening to the Spirit, in dialogue, in fraternity and in parrhesia, to help us understand that, in the Church, before any difference of sex or roles, we are called to walk together in search of God, stripping ourselves of clericalism and vainglory, to clothe ourselves in the feelings of Christ; Help us to expand the ecclesiastical space so that it is collegial and welcoming.

This will help us to face with confidence and with a renewed spirit the tensions that run through the life of the Church – between unity and diversity, tradition and novelty, authority and participation -, allowing the Spirit to transform them, so that they do not become ideological oppositions and harmful polarizations. It is not about resolving them by reducing one another, but rather allowing them to be fertilized by the Spirit, so that they are harmonized and oriented towards a common discernment.

As synodal teams and members of participatory organizations they certainly know that ecclesial discernment requires “inner freedom, humility, prayer, mutual trust, openness to newness and abandonment to the will of God. It is never the affirmation of a personal or group point of view, nor is it resolved in the simple sum of individual opinions” (Final document, October 26, 2024, n. 82). Being a synodal Church means recognizing that the truth is not possessed, but rather sought together, allowing ourselves to be guided by a restless heart in love with Love.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must dream and build a humble Church. A Church that does not stand tall like the Pharisee, triumphant and full of itself, but lowers itself to wash the feet of humanity; a Church that does not judge as the Pharisee does with the publican, but rather becomes a welcoming place for each and every one; a Church that does not close in on itself, but remains listening to God in order to be able, at the same time, to listen to everyone.

Let us commit to building a Church that is totally synodal, totally ministerial, totally attracted to Christ and therefore dedicated to the service of the world. On you, on all of us, on the Church spread throughout the world, I invoke the intercession of the Virgin Mary with the words of the servant of God Don Tonino Bello: «Holy Mary, affable woman, nourish in our Churches the longing for communion. (…) Help her overcome internal divisions. He intervenes when the demon of discord meanders within him. Turn off the faction spotlights. Reconcile mutual disputes. Tone down their rivalries. Stop them when they decide to act on their own, neglecting convergence in common projects” (Maria, Donna dei nostri giorni, Cinisello Balsamo 1993, 99).

May the Lord grant us the grace to remain rooted in the love of God to live in communion with each other. To be, as a Church, witnesses of unity and love.