Pope to bishops: Church's fruitfulness should not be based on numbers

In an audience with members of the Italian Episcopal Conference at the conclusion of their 82nd General Assembly, Pope Leo urges a “focus on the essential” and keeping the priority on the Gospel, which “awakens us” in today’s world “marked by complexity.”

Pope Leo met with members of the Italian Bishops9; Conference this morning (@Vatican Media)

Meeting with participants in the 82nd General Assembly of the Italian Bishops9; Conference in the Vatican today, Pope Leo XIV expressed his affection to “all the Churches throughout Italy, to the priests, deacons, consecrated persons, families…and also to those who, perhaps without realizing it, carry in their hearts a thirst for God.”

This gift, he continued, is something he has had the grace to witness “even in a time like ours, marked by complexity.” The Pope explained he saw it firsthand on his trips to Pompeii, Naples, and Acerra.

Pope Leo added that there are many signs that reveal tiredness, fragmentation, and loneliness in people9;s lives. Sometimes, in communities, people can feel the challenge of passing on the faith and engaging younger generations. Yet, the Pope stressed, “the Gospel awakens us.”

The harvest is abundant

Continuing his greeting, Pope Leo reflected on a verse from Luke9;s Gospel - “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”

As a tireless sower, God enters the world day after day and “scatters” on people’s hearts the desire for the infinite, “for a life fulfilled, for a salvation that sets free.” Pope Leo noted that it is thanks to God the harvest is abundant. Our task, he said, is to take the Lord’s gaze and make it our own.

We are not meant to merely “complain about hardened soil or dwell only on statistics.” Rather, the Pope stressed, we are called to “know how to see, with the eyes of the Risen Christ,” the harvest God is preparing for us.

Speaking directly to the Italian bishops, Pope Leo prayed that the Holy Spirit will bestow upon them hearts that are on fire with “the zeal of Christ”, and that many workers will work “alongside us.”

The priority is the Gospel

Keeping this in mind, “the priority is the Gospel”, the Pope explained. This is a thread that has run throughout the entire history of the Church—from St. Francis of Assisi to St. Paul VI to Pope Francis. Faith is born from the Gospel, “as a living encounter with Christ, dead and risen, present in His Church.”

In today’s world, Pope Leo noted that bringing the Gospel back to the center “is both the gift that gives enthusiasm to our lives as Bishops and the urgency that drives us onward.”

As a result, the bishops must ask themselves these two questions:

1. What face of God do we allow to shine through in our preaching, catechesis, liturgy, charity, and in the life of our communities?

2. How do we foster an encounter with Christ, and what does it mean today, for us and for our Churches, to initiate others into the Christian life?

Pastors, the Pope urged, should always themselves these questions, “never taking the answers for granted.”

Handing on the faith

This is where a renewed attention to the Christian tradition is important, but one which is more than just preparation for the Sacraments. The Sacraments are the “womb” in which a community “gives birth to faith and introduces people into the Paschal life, into communion with the Lord, into ecclesial fraternity.”

It is in living and welcoming communities that the faith can be handed on and grow. It is in the communities that listen and pray, that keep the Eucharist as “the source and summit”, that see the poor as brothers and sisters, and where families are not left behind.

For this purpose, bishops are called to be deep listeners to the Word of God, the People of God, and the signs of the times. When genuine listening is present, the community does not turn inward. Rather, it grows into a place of mission and discernment and therefore, knows how to renew itself.

This is what the Synodal Journey means. “A synodal Church is one in which each person, according to his or her vocation, can offer the gift received from the Spirit for the common building up,” Pope Leo highlighted.

That means participation is not optional. Rather, it is a “requirement of communion and mission and must therefore become method, responsibility, and accountability.”

Not based on numbers

The Pope stressed that God does not ask us to measure the fruitfulness of the Church according to numbers, visibility, or influence.

Instead, he urged the bishops to “have the courage to focus on what is essential.” The focus should be on an ongoing initiation and formation in Christian life, welcoming and missionary parishes where families can gather, and listening to young people without limiting their questions, among others.

Closing, Pope Leo entrusted the Italian bishops’ journey to Mary, the Mother of the Church. “May she help you to be ‘rooted and built up in Him, steadfast in the faith’ (Col 2:7), to safeguard what is essential, to generate faith, to walk with the People of God, and to recognize the voice of the Lord who still calls, consoles, and sends forth.”

Vatican News
Source: vaticannews.va/en