It’s been a quiet day in the Vatican as everyone is getting ready for all the Christmas liturgical celebrations in the Vatican. Vatican City and Roman Curia employees are off for the holidays from December 24th through the 27th (that includes the doorman from my building). If you add Sunday the 28th, that’s a nice slice of time off to celebrate with family and friends, and to start to relax after what are usually frenetic days of preparation, shopping, cooknig, travelling, etc. December 31st and January 1st, Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, are also holidays.
Pope Leo, as you know, generally spends Monday evenings and all day Tuesday at Castelgandolfo, returning to Rome for the traditional weekly general audience. However, tomorrow, Christmas Eve, there is no Wednesday audience but later at night there is the Christmas vigil Mass in St. Peter’s with Pope Leo, his first Christmas as Holy Father.
There was a lot of news yesterday, so read on to see what Leo XIV said and did….
POPE: A MORE MISSIONARY CURIA MUST BEAR WITNESS TO COMMUNION IN A DIVIDED WORLD
Pope Leo XIV meets his closest collaborators for the exchange of traditional Christmas greetings. The Pope recalls his ‘beloved predecessor’ Francis and his encouragement to be a Church that is ‘welcoming to all,’ urging them consider the ‘major ecclesial, pastoral, and social challenges’ and to become a sign of peace for a world marked by conflict.
Mission and communion were two of the key themes of Pope Leo’s address during the traditional exchange of Christmas greetings of the Roman Curia: mission, so that the work of the Roman Curia may be increasingly directed outward, at the service of the particular Churches, with “institutions, offices, and tasks” designed to face the major ecclesial, pastoral and social challenges, and not merely to ensure ordinary administration;” and communion, by avoiding “rigidity” or “ideology” on issues such as faith, liturgy, and morality, by cultivating authentic relationships, and by becoming a prophetic sign of peace in a world marked by fractures, divisions, and an aggressiveness often fueled by the web and politics. Pope: A more missionary Curia must bear witness to communion in a divided world – Vatican News
POPE: MAY HUMILITY AND SIMPLICITY BECOME THE STYLE OF THE CHURCH
In the traditional Christmas greeting to Vatican employees, Pope Leo invites them to learn simplicity and humility from Jesus’ birth this Christmas, and to ensure that this becomes the style of the Church. Pope Leo called Vatican employees to learn simplicity and humility from Jesus’ birth this Christmas and “to ensure, all together, that this becomes increasingly the style of the Church in all its expressions.” He made the invitation on Monday, December 22, to the employees of the Roman Curia, the Governorate of the Vatican City State, and the Vicariate of Rome, and their families, who had gathered in the Vatican’s Paul VI Audience Hall for the annual audience to exchange Christmas greetings. Pope: may humility and simplicity become the style of the Church – Vatican News
POPE CALLS FOR MORE COLLEGIALITY IN LETTER ON PRIESTLY MINISTRY
Marking the sixtieth anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s decrees on priestly training and on priestly life and ministry, Pope Leo XIV’s new Apostolic Letter aims at a deeper understanding of the ministry and role of priests. Fidelity expressed in humble service to every person, in constant dialogue with God and His People through ongoing formation, in the context of fraternity among priests and with the whole Church, in the missionary and synodal spirit that transcends any temptation to self-celebration: these are some of the priorities that Leo XIV wishes to see intensified in priestly life, contained in the Apostolic Letter Una fedeltà che genera future (“A fidelity that generates the future”) signed on the feast of the Immaculate Conception and released today, 22 December. Pope calls for more collegiality in letter on priestly ministry – Vatican News
Ordinations in St. Peter’s basilica
Joan's Rome 