Pope Leo XIV pointed out this Sunday, October 26, what is “the first lesson for every Bishop,” when presiding over the episcopal ordination of Bishop Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski, designated as the new Apostolic Nuncio in Iraq.
In the ceremony, held on Sunday afternoon, the Holy Father reflected on today’s Gospel – taken from chapter 18, verses 9 to 14, of the Gospel of Saint Luke – and noted that this passage “shows us two men who pray in the temple: a Pharisee and a publican. The first introduces himself with confidence, listing his works; the second stays in the background, not daring to raise his gaze, and entrusts everything to one single invocation: ‘O God, have mercy on me, for I am a sinner.'”
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“Jesus says that, in reality, it is he, the publican, who receives grace and salvation from God, because ‘he who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted,’” the Pope continued, highlighting that “the prayer of the poor pierces the clouds, Ecclesiasticus reminds us: God hears the supplication of those who entrust themselves totally to Him.”
Leo
The Pope highlighted later in his homily that “the Bishop is called to sow with patience, to cultivate with respect, to wait with hope. He is a custodian, not an owner; a man of prayer, not of possession. The Lord entrusts you with a mission so that you can take care of it with the same dedication with which the farmer takes care of the field: every day, with perseverance, with faith.”
Iraq: an apostolic continuity that recent violence “has not been able to extinguish”
In Iraq, the land to which Bishop Mirosław Stanisław Wachowski has been assigned, the Holy Father recalled that “there, the Catholic Church, in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, lives in diverse traditions: the Chaldean Church, with its Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans and the Aramaic language of the liturgy; the Syro-Catholic Churches, Armenian-Catholic, Greek-Catholic and Latin”.
“It is a mosaic of rituals and cultures, of history and faith, that asks to be welcomed and guarded in charity,” he said.
“The Christian presence in Mesopotamia is very ancient: according to tradition, it was Saint Thomas the Apostle, after the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem, who brought the Gospel to that land; and it was his disciples Addai and Mari who founded the first communities. In that region they pray in the language that Jesus spoke: Aramaic,” he continued.
The Pope stressed that “this apostolic root is a sign of a continuity that violence, manifested with ferocity in recent decades, has not been able to extinguish. What’s more, the voice of those in those lands who have been brutally deprived of their lives does not decline.”
“Today they pray for you, for Iraq, for the peace of the world,” he told the nuncio who received episcopal ordination.
He also recalled that Pope Francis, in March 2021, was the first Pontiff to visit Iraq, and highlighted that his predecessor “arrived there as a pilgrim of fraternity.”
“Being a father, pastor and witness of hope”
León highlighted the Polish origin of Bishop Wachowski: “you come from a land of lakes and forests. In those landscapes, where silence is the master, you learned to contemplate; between the snow and the sun, you learned sobriety and strength; in a peasant family, fidelity to the land and to work. The morning that begins early taught you the discipline of the heart, and the love for nature made you discover the beauty of the Creator.”
In addition, he had words of gratitude for the diplomatic work that the new prelate carried out “with discretion and competence” in previous years, both in Senegal, Poland and Austria, as well as in the Vatican Secretariat of State.
“Now the Lord asks that this gift become pastoral fatherhood: to be a father, pastor and witness of hope in a land marked by pain and the desire for rebirth. You are called to fight the good fight of faith, not against others, but against the temptation to get tired, to close yourself off, to measure the results, counting on the fidelity that is your distinctive feature: the fidelity of one who does not seek himself, but “He serves with professionalism, with respect, with a competence that illuminates and does not show off,” the Pope said.
The Holy Father encouraged the new nuncio “to guard the buds of hope, to encourage peaceful coexistence, to show that the diplomacy of the Holy See is born from the Gospel and is nourished by prayer.”
“Always be a man of communion and silence, of listening and dialogue. Carry in your word the meekness that builds and in your eyes the peace that comforts. In Iraq, the people will recognize you not by what you say, but by how you will love,” he assured.
David Ramos
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. With more than 12 years of experience in Catholic journalism working at ACI Prensa, I have been based in Mexico since 2018. I have covered Pope Francis’ trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Panama.