As global diplomacy grows more polarized, Pope Leo XIV is offering a countercultural vision: Diplomacy as a pastoral vocation rooted in the Gospel.
In a letter dated November 21, 2025, but just released on January 17, 2026, the Pope marked the 325th anniversary of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the institution responsible for forming the Holy See’s diplomatic corps.
Founded in 1701 at the request of Pope Clement XI, the Academy has long served the Successor of Peter by preparing priests for international service.
While many Catholics are unaware of the Church's weight in the world of international relations, the diplomats who serve the Pope are key players in global interactions.
The Holy See has full diplomatic relations with nearly every nation in the world, with just a few exceptions such as North Korea and Afghanistan.
Pope Leo XIV situates this legacy within the present moment, noting how recent reforms have clarified the Academy’s role as a center for advanced academic formation and research in diplomatic sciences.
Those reforms, begun under Pope Francis, integrated the Academy more closely with the Secretariat of State and emphasized its mission as a direct instrument of the Holy See’s diplomatic action. Leo XIV praised the Superiors and students for embracing renewal without abandoning their roots, calling the anniversary “an auspicious moment” for recommitting to formation.
At the heart of the Pope’s message is an evangelical redefinition of diplomacy itself. “The diplomatic service is not a profession but a pastoral vocation,” he wrote, describing it as “the evangelical art of encounter.”
Vatican diplomacy, he insisted, is not driven by tactics or winners and losers, but by “thoughtful charity” that seeks reconciliation where walls and mistrust dominate.
Listening
Emphasizing again his proposal to nourish listening, Leo XIV suggested that this vision of diplomacy demands a particular kind of listening — first to God, and then to those on the margins whose voices often go unheard.
Papal diplomats, he said, are called to be bridges: sometimes unseen, sometimes bearing heavy weight, and always oriented toward hope.
The Pope also highlighted the Academy’s holistic approach to formation, which integrates legal, historical, political, economic, and linguistic studies with human and priestly maturity. Such preparation, he argued, equips future diplomats to speak with credibility in a fractured world while remaining grounded in their identity as priests.
Invoking Saint Anthony the Abbot, patron of the Academy, Leo XIV urged students to cultivate deep spirituality. Just as Anthony transformed desert silence into dialogue with God, future diplomats must draw from prayer the strength needed for genuine encounter.
The letter closes with a Marian entrustment, placing the students under the care of Mary, Mother of the Church, and with the Pope’s Apostolic Blessing for all participating in the anniversary.
