On Tuesday, June 24, 2025, at the Altar of Confession in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Leo XIV led a deeply spiritual meditation for the seminarians gathered for their Jubilee. Accompanied by their formators and from various dioceses around the world, the future priests received words of encouragement, challenge, and tenderness from the Holy Father, who exhorted them to live their priestly vocation with authenticity and joy.

From the outset, the Pope expressed his gratitude for the seminarians’ presence and enthusiasm: “Thank you because with your energy you fuel the flame of hope in the life of the Church,” he said with emotion. He recognized the courage of responding to Christ’s call in difficult times and encouraged them not to be afraid: “Thank you for having courageously accepted the Lord’s invitation… We must be courageous and not be afraid.”

A school of the heart

Leo XIV focused his meditation on the formation of the heart, emphasizing that the seminary must be, above all, a “school of the affections.” In a world marked by conflict and narcissism, he affirmed, it is urgent to learn to love like Jesus. “As Christ loved with a human heart, you are called to love with the Heart of Christ.”

He invited the seminarians not to be afraid to enter into their interior life, even if it hides wounds: “From these wounds will be born the capacity to accompany those who suffer.” The interior life, he recalled, is the place where God speaks: “God speaks to us in our hearts; we must learn to listen to him.”

Discernment and authenticity

The Pope emphasized the need for discernment as an art learned through prayer, silence, and reflection. “When we are young, our hearts are full of desires, dreams, and ambitions… We must learn to put the fragments of life together in the light of prayer,” he explained, referring to the example of the Virgin Mary.

He also addressed the importance of emotional maturity and authenticity, encouraging seminarians not to hide their weaknesses, but to experience them as opportunities for grace. “Crises, limitations, and weaknesses are not meant to be hidden, but can be an Easter experience,” he said.

A heart that allows itself to be anointed by the Spirit

The Holy Father encouraged them to frequently invoke the Holy Spirit, so that He may model in them a docile heart, sensitive to the voice of God, also through the beauty of nature, art, poetry, or the challenges of artificial intelligence and social media. But above all, he urged them to listen to the “silent cry of the little ones, the poor, the oppressed, and so many young people searching for meaning.”

“Be bridges, not obstacles”

In conclusion, the Pope recalled that the heart of the priest must be that of the Good Samaritan: “Make your life a gift of love.” He affirmed that the vocation cannot be lived with mediocrity or passivity, but rather with a passionate and prophetic heart. “Be bridges, not obstacles to the encounter with Christ,” he emphasized.

Finally, he encouraged everyone to renew, with him, the faith of Baptism at the tomb of the Apostle Peter, and concluded his meditation with a prayer that God would complete the work he had begun in them.

“The heart of Christ beats with love for you and for all humanity. Good journey! I accompany you with my blessing,” he concluded.

Full text of the meditation:

Meditation of the Holy Father Leo XIV to the seminarians on the occasion of their Jubilee

St. Peter’s Basilica, Altar of Confession
Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Thank you, thank you all.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Peace be with you!

Eminences, Excellencies, Formators, and especially all of you seminarians, good morning to all!

I am very pleased to meet you, and I thank all of you, seminarians and formators, for your warm presence. Thank you, first of all, for your joy and enthusiasm. Thank you because, with your energy, you fuel the flame of hope in the life of the Church.

Today, you are not only pilgrims, but also witnesses of hope: you bear witness to it for me and for everyone, because you have allowed yourselves to be drawn into the fascinating adventure of the priestly vocation in a difficult time. You have responded to the call to become gentle but firm heralds of the Word that saves; servants of an open Church and a Church on missionary outreach.

And I also say a word in Spanish: thank you for having courageously accepted the Lord’s invitation to follow him, to be disciples, to enter the seminary. We must be courageous and not be afraid.

To Christ, who calls, you are saying “yes” with humility and courage; and that “here I am” you offer to Him germinates within the life of the Church and allows itself to be accompanied along the necessary path of discernment and formation.

Jesus, you know, calls you above all to live an experience of friendship with Him and with your fellow travelers (cf. Mk 3:13); an experience destined to grow permanently, even after Ordination, and which encompasses all aspects of life. Nothing in you should be discarded, but everything should be welcomed and transformed according to the logic of the grain of wheat, so that you may become happy people and priests, “bridges” and not obstacles to the encounter with Christ for all those who approach you. Yes, He must increase and we must decrease, so that we may be shepherds according to His Heart.

Speaking of the Heart of Jesus Christ, how can we fail to recall the Encyclical  Dilexit nos , donated by the beloved Pope Francis? Precisely in this time in which you are living, that is, the time of formation and discernment, it is important to return attention to the center, to the “engine” of your entire journey: the heart. The seminary, in whatever form it is conceived, must be a school of affections. Today, in a social and cultural context marked by conflict and narcissism, we need to learn to love and to do so like Jesus.

As Christ loved with a human heart, you are called to love with the Heart of Christ! To love with the heart of Jesus. But to learn this art, we must work on our own interiority, where God makes his voice heard and from where the deepest decisions emerge; but it is also a place of tension and struggle (cf. Mk 7:14-23), which must be transformed so that our whole humanity may redolent of the Gospel. The first work, therefore, is done in our interiority. Remember well Saint Augustine’s invitation to “return to the heart,” because there we find the traces of God. Descending into the heart sometimes frightens us, because there too there are wounds. Do not be afraid to attend to them; allow yourselves to be helped, because there will be born the capacity to accompany those who suffer. Without the interior life, spiritual life is not possible, because God speaks to us precisely there, in the heart. God speaks to us in the heart; we must learn to listen to him. This interior work also includes training in learning to recognize the movements of the heart: not only the rapid and immediate emotions that characterize the spirit of young people, but above all their feelings, which help them discover the direction of their lives. If they learn to know their hearts, they will become increasingly authentic and will no longer need to wear masks. And the privileged path that leads us inward is prayer: in an age of hyperconnectedness, it becomes increasingly difficult to experience silence and solitude. Without an encounter with Him, we cannot even truly know ourselves.

I invite you to frequently invoke the Holy Spirit, so that he may mold your hearts, making them docile and capable of grasping the presence of God, also by listening to the voices of nature and art, of poetry, literature, and music, as well as of the human sciences. In the rigorous commitment of theological study, may you also know how to listen with an open mind and heart to the voices of culture, such as the recent challenges of artificial intelligence and those of social media. Above all, as Jesus did, may you know how to listen to the often silent cry of the little ones, of the poor and the oppressed, and of so many, especially young people, who are searching for meaning in their lives.

If you take care of your heart, with daily moments of silence, meditation, and prayer, you will be able to learn the art of discernment. This too is important work: learning to discern. When we are young, we carry within us many desires, many dreams, and ambitions. The heart is often crowded and can make us feel confused. Instead, in the style of the Virgin Mary, our interiority must become capable of guarding and meditating. Capable of  synballein  —as the Evangelist Luke writes (2:19, 51): putting the fragments together. Beware of superficiality, and gather the fragments of life together in prayer and meditation, asking yourselves: What is what I am experiencing teaching me? What is it saying to my path? Where is the Lord leading me?

Dearly beloved, have a meek and humble heart like that of Jesus (cf. Mt 11:29). Following the example of the Apostle Paul (cf. Phil 2:5ff), may you embrace the sentiments of Christ, to advance in human maturity, especially emotional and relational. It is important, indeed necessary, from the time of the Seminary, to strongly commit to human maturation, rejecting all disguises and hypocrisy. With our gaze fixed on Jesus, we must also learn to name and express sadness, fear, anguish, and indignation, bringing all of this into our relationship with God. Crises, limitations, and weaknesses should not be hidden, but are opportunities for grace and paschal experience.

In a world often dominated by ingratitude and a thirst for power, where the logic of waste sometimes seems to reign, you are called to bear witness to the gratitude and gratuitousness of Christ, the exaltation and joy, the tenderness and mercy of His Heart. To practice a style of welcome and closeness, of generous and selfless service, allowing the Holy Spirit to “anoint” your humanity even before ordination.

The Heart of Christ is animated by immense compassion: He is the Good Samaritan of humanity and tells us: “Go and do likewise” (Lk 10:37). This compassion impels Him to share with the multitudes the bread of the Word and communion (cf. Mk 6:30-44), announcing the gesture of the Upper Room and the Cross, when He offered Himself as food, and tells us: “Give yourselves something to eat” (Mk 6:37); that is, make your lives a gift of love.

Dear seminarians, the wisdom of Mother Church, assisted by the Holy Spirit, has always sought over time the most appropriate ways for the formation of ordained ministers, in accordance with the needs of each place. In this endeavor, what is your task? It is never to conform, never to be content, never to be passive recipients, but to be passionate about priestly life, living in the present and looking to the future with a prophetic heart. I hope that this meeting will help each of you to deepen your personal dialogue with the Lord, in which you may ask Him to integrate ever more the sentiments of Christ, the sentiments of His Heart. That Heart that beats with love for you and for all humanity. Good journey! I accompany you with my blessing.

Dear seminarians,

I am pleased to be able to accompany you this morning, on the occasion of your Jubilee, together with the priests who guide you on your formative journey. You come from various Churches around the world and have very diverse life experiences, but in the Lord we all form one body. Indeed, there is only one hope to which you have been called, that of your vocation (cf. Eph 4:4). Today, at the tomb of the Apostle Peter and together with me, your Successor, you solemnly renew the faith of your Baptism. May this Creed be the root from which springs the “here I am” that you will joyfully pronounce on the day of your priestly ordination. May God, who began his work in you, bring it to completion.

[Recital of the Creed in Latin]

Let us pray. Father, in this Jubilee Year, open the path of salvation to your Church, accept our resolutions for good, and grant us the desire to convert our lives to you so that we may become authentic witnesses of the Gospel. With the grace of the Holy Spirit, guide our steps toward the blessed hope of meeting your face in the heavenly Jerusalem, where your Kingdom will reach its full and perfect fulfillment, and all will be realized in Christ your Son. He lives and reigns with you and with the Holy Spirit forever and ever.

[Blessing]

Best wishes to all of you and a happy pilgrimage of hope!