In Rome, “ad limina” visits have resumed: What are they?

Here’s a look back at the meaning of this tradition, which is resuming after a year's hiatus: in 2025, these meetings were put on hold to make way for the events of the jubilee.

A visit “ad limina Sancti Petri” literally means a visit “to the threshold of St. Peter.” This expression has been in use since the Middle Ages to refer to pilgrimages of the faithful to Rome, where the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul are located. In ecclesiastical language, it now refers specifically to the quinquennial visit of bishops to Rome and the Vatican.

These ad limina visits are regulated by a “directory” dating from 1988, which describes their usefulness for the mission of the pope. The pontiff “needs authentic and reliable information on the concrete situations of the various Churches, on their problems, on their initiatives and their difficulties.”

To prepare for his visit, each bishop must first draw up a report on the state of his territory, including its financial situation, which is sent to the Dicastery for Bishops six months in advance. The Dicastery then presents a summary to the pope.

Keep in mind that Pope Leo was the prefect of this very dicastery before his election as pope.

The resumption of ad limina visits after a year's hiatus began with 10 bishops from Slovenia, who were received by Pope Leo XIV on January 16. This was the first group to be welcomed in this context since the election of the new Holy Father.

Vatican Media reports that the delegation stayed in the Eternal City for a week, during which time it held some 20 meetings with the various dicasteries of the Roman Curia.

These meetings are an opportunity for diocesan leaders to discuss aspects of their communities (religious life, vocations, pastoral care of the laity, etc.). Pope Francis' new apostolic constitution, Praedicate Evangelium (2022), calls for “open and cordial dialogue” and an exchange of “suggestions and indications” between the Holy See and the bishops.

Although the bishops of the same ecclesiastical province or pastoral region are usually given a common date and travel to Rome during the same period, “the nature of the visit remains eminently personal,” the directory specifies.

Depending on the groups, the pope may decide to receive “each bishop one by one, or small delegations of two or three people” during their audience at the Apostolic Palace, a Vatican source told I.MEDIA.

Benedict XVI used to give a speech to each of the episcopal conferences that came to meet him. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis followed this practice, but then chose to set aside the reading of the text and engage in a closed-door dialogue with his guests. Leo XIV’s approach during his first ad limina visits is not yet publicly established.

One of the first groups of bishops to come to Rome to meet with Leo is from his own second homeland, Peru. That group, so intimately known by the Pontiff, undoubtedly had an encounter that can't be repeated.

“He may be taking the time to develop his approach,” the same source said. No speech from his first meetings has been made public at this time.

For this encounter with the pope, the directory states that bishops must wear a cassock with a sash (or “fascia”) — the appropriate attire seen in all the photos. During the pilgrimage to the tombs of the “princes of the apostles” at St. Peter's Basilica and St. Paul's Basilica Outside the Walls, a ritual liturgical celebration is held.

This ad limina visit serves in particular as a targeted source for the annual report of the Vatican Commission for the Protection of Minors. The bishops of each country on the agenda are asked to complete a questionnaire, the answers to which will be included in the document that assesses the state of the fight against abuse within the Catholic Church worldwide.

The format of these regular visits to Rome may change in the future. One of the working groups of the Synod on Synodality — a project launched by Pope Francis to make the Church more participatory — is currently tasked with studying “certain aspects of the figure of the bishop,” such as “the nature and conduct of ad limina Apostolorum visits from a synodal missionary perspective.”