Pope Leo XIV when taking possession as Bishop of Rome: Communion is built first and foremost

Pope Leo XIV said that ecclesial communion is built first and foremost “knees” and “in prayer”, after claiming the example of the first Christians who faced the challenge of the pagan world to announce the gospel.

“Communion is built above all on knees, in prayer and in a continuous commitment to conversion,” said the pontiff in the homily he pronounced in the Basilica of San Juan de Letán, where this Sunday he took possession of his chair as Bishop of Rome.

When reflecting on the episode of the Book of Acts of the Apostles that narrates the conflict that emerged in the Christian community of Antioch around the question of whether the pagans turned to Christianity had to fulfill the law of Moses, Pope Leo XIV made it clear that “it was not an easy process” since it required “much patience and listening reciprocally”.

Thus, he cited the so -called council of Jerusalem, the first great council of the primitive Church, in which a dialogue was “entrusted” that led to the appropriate decision: “Recognizing and taking into account the effort of the neophytes, it was convenient not to impose excessive weights, but just ask for the essential.”

In the decisions of life we ​​are not alone

In this sense, the Pontiff made it clear that “in the decisions of life we ​​are not alone.” “The spirit sustains us and indicates the way to follow,” he said.

He added: “We are both able to announce the gospel the more we let ourselves conquer and transform through it, allowing the power of the spirit to purify ourselves in the most intimate, making our words simple and without fold, our honest and clean desires, our generous actions.”

Therefore, he found that, throughout the process, as in the Council of Jerusalem, “the most important listening” is that of the voice of God.

On the other hand, before the cardinals of the Roman curia present, the bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity of the Diocese of Rome, launched a clear message that anticipates the horizon of his pontificate.

“I express the desire and commitment to enter this vast project by putting, as far as possible, to everyone’s listening, to learn, understand and decide together,” he said after referring to the same phrase of St. Augustine that he pronounced when he went out to the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro after being chosen in the conclave, “Christian with you and Bishop for you.”

“I ask you to help me to do it through a common effort of prayer and charity,” he said after remembering the words of Saint León Magno: “That in all the things we do rightly, Christ is the one who performs the work of our ministry. We do not gloria in us, that nothing can be without him, but in the one that is our power.”

He also cited in his homily to Blessed John Paul I, who in September 1978, “with a radiant and serene face that had already earned him the appellation of El Pope of the smile,” he took possession of the chair as Bishop of Rome.

I offer them all how little I have and that I am

“I would like to express all my affection, with the desire to share with you, on the common path, joys and pains, fatigue and hopes,” he said.

As Pope John Paul I, “I offer them all how little I have and that I am and that, I trust the intercession of the saints Pedro and Paul and that of so much other brothers and sisters whose holiness has illuminated the history of this church and the streets of this city.”

In addition, Pope Leo XIV also claimed the legacy of the Church of Rome as “heiress of a great history, consolidated in the testimony of Pedro, Paul and innumerable martyrs.”

The Basilica of San Juan de Letán has the honorary title of All the city and the world’s mother and head (“Mother and head of all the churches of the city of Rome and the entire world”). Taking this as a metaphor, he recalled that his predecessor Pope Francis invited to reflect on the “maternal dimension” of the Church and the characteristics that are its own.

Among them, “tenderness, availability to sacrifice and that ability to listen that not only help, but to often anticipate needs and expectations, even before they are formulated.”

“These are features that we want to grow in the people of God everywhere, also here, in our great Diocesan family: in the faithful, in the shepherds and, before anyone else, in myself,” he said.

On the other hand, he praised the “committed path” that the Diocese of Rome is touring in these years, structured on several levels of listening “towards the world around him – to welcome the challenges – and to the internal of the community – to understand the needs and promote wise and prophetic initiatives of evangelization and charity -“.

Although he acknowledged that it is “a difficult path,” he said he is worthy of the history of this Church, which has often shown that he knows how to think “big”, “giving himself without reservations in brave projects, and risking even in front of new and complex scenarios.”

Specifically, he referred to the great work with which the entire Diocese of Rome for the jubilee, in the reception and care of pilgrims and in so many other initiatives.

“Thanks to many efforts, the city seems to whom it comes – sometimes from far away – as a great open and cozy house, and especially as a home of faith,” he concluded.

During the liturgy, the rite of obedience took place, in which the Holy Father received the loyalty of a representative group of the people of God in Rome. This significant expression of communion was not starring cardinals or members of the curia, but by specific people of the diocese: an auxiliary bishop, a canon, a pastor, a parish vicar, a deacon, religious and religious, a family, an educator, a catechist and two young people.

Among the participants were Cardinal Vicar Baldassare Reina, Mons. Renato Tarantelli as auxiliary bishop, and other members of the clergy and laity, such as the friar Luis Martín Rodríguez, the religious Nazzaro Rebecca, and young people like Mirko Venditti and Teresa Martellotta. Each of them symbolized a vital dimension of the Roman Church that now recognizes the new bishop as its pastor.

After completing the Eucharist, Leo XIV looked out for the central balcony of the Basilica to greet the faithful of Rome and encourage them to live faith, “especially during this year of the jubilee, seeking hope”, being a testimony that offers hope to a world “that suffers so much, so much pain for war, violence, poverty.”

“To us, the Christians, the Lord asks us to always be a living testimony: to live our faith, feel in our heart that Jesus Christ is present and know that he always accompanies us in our way. Thanks to you for walking together: we all walk together, always tell me with me. With you I am a Christian and for you I am a bishop,” he said before the applause of the faithful.

Before arriving at this Basilica – the first major Christian cult that Roma raised after Emperor Constantine allowed religious freedom in the year 313 – the Pope met with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri. Just at the foot of the staircase of Campidoglio, where the main access to the Senatorio Palace, historical headquarters of the City of Rome, the councilor paid tribute as a new bishop of Rome.