Holy Mass with Episcopal Ordinations

Author: Pope Leo XIV

On Saturday, May 2, 2026, in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, Pope Leo celebrated Holy Mass with Episcopal Ordinations. In his homily the Pope spoke of the Church's universality, in view of the ordination the four new auxiliary bishops "to help me to be a reflection of the Good Shepherd for the Roman people and to preside over the charity of all the holy people of God scattered throughout the earth."

Dear brothers and sisters,

By uniting ourselves to Christ, we become a solid and welcoming home: this is the joy we experience above all in the Easter season, and especially today as we celebrate the ordination of four new auxiliary bishops of the Diocese of Rome.

This Church has a unique vocation to universality and charity thanks to its special bond with Christ, risen and living, the foundation of the spiritual edifice of living stones that is the holy people of God. Drawing near to Christ is, therefore, drawing near to one another and growing together in unity: this is the Mystery that engages us and transforms the city from within. In service to this dynamism, brought to Rome by the apostles Peter and Paul, our brothers Andrea, Stefano, Marco, and Alessandro will be ordained to the episcopate. It is a celebration for the people, because they come from this people and from the presbyterate that lovingly cares for them.

Our diocesan community gathers today in invocation of the Holy Spirit, who will anoint the new bishops so that they may dedicate themselves fully to the service of the Gospel of Christ. He is the rejected stone that, “chosen by God,” has “become the cornerstone” ( 1 Pet 2:4, 7; cf. Ps 119:22).

To the first Christians, this metaphor, so familiar from its presence in a psalm, must have seemed particularly revealing. The Messiah Jesus had been rejected not only because he had not been recognized as the Son of God, but even earlier, because he had assumed the condition of a creature, understood as unworthy of God. Faithful to this path of merciful love, he went out in search of the rejected sheep, sat at the table with them, and disarmed the hands and hearts that wanted to stone them. In this way, as the Gospel proclaimed in this liturgy says, the Son showed the face of the Father: in him his works are fulfilled. “Philip, have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?” ( John 14:8-9).

The Church that lives in Rome, the rejected stone is the heart of the messianic proclamation, in the face of those whom society rejected and continues to reject. It is the heart of our proclamation, of our mission. We have seen the Holy One touch the impure, the Just One forgive sinners, Life heal the sick, the Master wash the dirty and weary feet of his disciples.

In this city, the capital of the Great Empire, the rejected stone became the standard of a new hope, that of the Kingdom of God, as proclaimed in the Beatitudes and sung in the Magnificat . By reversing the logic of domination, that of those who pursue the senseless ambition of determining the architecture of the Earth, it is in Christ that the marginalized recover their dignity and feel chosen for the Kingdom of God. “If it were not so,” Jesus says to his disciples, “would I have told you, ‘I am going there to prepare a place for you’? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” ( John 14:2-3).

Dear sisters and brothers, this is why, even today, we become stones rejected by human beings and chosen by God: when, through our lives and words, we oppose projects that crush the weak, disrespect the dignity of each person, and use conflict to select the strongest, while neglecting those left behind, those who fail to get ahead, and considering those who succumb as the dregs of history. Jesus walked among us as an unarmed and disarming prophet, and when he was rejected, he did not change his ways.

And now I address you, dear brothers who from today will be Auxiliary Bishops of this Church, whose care I have received as a gift; to you who, together with the cardinal vicar, will be able to help me to be a reflection of the Good Shepherd for the Roman people and to preside over the charity of all the holy people of God scattered throughout the earth.

I encourage you to find the discarded stones of this city and to proclaim to you that, in Christ, our cornerstone, no one is excluded from becoming an active part of the holy edifice that is the Church and of fraternity among human beings. This image echoes the call of Pope Francis 's Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium : to be a Church that is a "field hospital," to be shepherds of the streets, to hold in your hearts the material and existential peripheries. As priests, you have embraced this invitation, together with the parish communities you have accompanied. Now comes a new call, an additional vocation, which always has the same heart: no one, absolutely no one, should consider themselves discarded by God, and you will be heralds of this Good News that lies at the heart of the Gospel.

Let the Spirit of prophecy work within you: do not become complacent in the privileges your position might offer, do not follow the worldly logic of seeking the top, be witnesses of Christ, who came not to be served, but to serve (cf. Mk 10:45). You will be prophets in your ministry if you are men of peace and unity, weaving together, with threads of grace and mercy, the vast and populated spaces of this Diocese, harmonizing differences, welcoming, listening, and forgiving.

Don't make yourselves sought out, make yourselves found. And ensure that priests, deacons, religious sisters and brothers, and lay men and women committed to the apostolate never feel alone. Help them rekindle hope in their various ministries and feel part of the same mission. Always, tirelessly, inspire individuals and communities, simply reminding them of the beauty of the Gospel.

May the poor of Rome, the pilgrims, and the visitors who come here from all over the world find in the inhabitants of this city, in its institutions, and in its pastors that maternal love which is the true face of the Church. May the Salus Populi Romani , Mother of our trust, always guide and protect us on our journey