<em>Addressing international lay leaders, Pope Leo XIV laid out a bold vision for governance, urging groups to reject isolation and embrace new mission fields.</em>
Pope Leo XIV received roughly 200 international leaders of Catholic associations and movements at the Vatican on Thursday, May 21. He warned them and their communities against the temptation to keep their focus turned inwards. Sketching out a roadmap, the pope called on them to seek communion with their local bishops and encouraged them to tackle today’s sociocultural challenges.
He hailed the 115 international Vatican-recognized associations of the faithful and organizations as an “inestimable gift to the Church.” The pope received the groups—which include the Neocatechumenal Way, the Emmanuel Community, Teams of Our Lady, and Sant’Egidio—in the Synod Hall. Their representatives are gathered each year by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life for a two-day meeting.
A roadmap for spiritual governance
In his address, the pope essentially laid out a charter that he believes should govern all positions of responsibility within the Catholic Church. Leadership is “never merely technical” but must be directed “towards the spiritual good of the faithful,” he emphasized. He listed the hallmarks of good governance: mutual listening, shared responsibility, transparency, fraternal closeness, and communal discernment.
Speaking to these largely lay leaders, the successor of Peter explained that their authority must be exercised “for the benefit of all” and for the common good. He warned against exploiting leadership for “personal interests or worldly forms of prestige and power.” When it comes to a leader's personal virtues, he called on them to cultivate “meekness, detachment, and selfless love.”
The greater good of communion
Pope Leo XIV, who served as prior general of the Augustinians for 12 years, placed a particular emphasis on fostering communion, which applies “both to life within the association or movement, and to communion with other ecclesial realities and with the Church as a whole.” Leaders must learn to “welcome different opinions, different cultural and spiritual orientations, and different personal temperaments” to preserve “the greater good of communion,” he stressed.
Setting aside his prepared notes, the 267th pope pointed a finger at “groups who close themselves up and think that their specific reality is the only one, or that it is the Church.”
“But the Church is all of us, it's much more!” he insisted, urging them to remain in communion with their local bishop. Drawing laughter from the crowd, he added: “If a group says, ‘No, we aren't in communion with this bishop, we want another one,’ this won't do. We must try to live in communion with all the Church.”
Authority “can never be imposed from above,” Pope Leo XIV also warned, calling for “free elections” when choosing leaders. Finally, he emphasized the need for “openness,” urging the movements to respond “to the new challenges and to the cultural, social and spiritual sensibilities of our time.”
The goal isn't to simply remain within the group or get bogged down in the models of the past. Instead, they must be a Church that “reaches outwards” toward mission areas “that haven't yet been explored.”
