Vatican City – As part of the Jubilee for seminarians and priests, the international meeting “Joyful Priests” will take place on Thursday, June 26, 2025, from 3:00 to 6:00 PM, at the Auditorium Conciliazione (Via della Conciliazione 4, Rome). Pope Leo XIV will also participate in this moment of reflection, sharing, and prayer.
Promoted by the Dicastery for the Clergy, the event is especially aimed at those involved in vocational ministry and seminary formation. It is conceived as a synodal and jubilee moment to reflect — together — on what it means today to be joyful, passionate priests, rooted in the People of God.
Program of the Meeting
After access to the auditorium at 1:30 PM, the afternoon will begin at 2:45 PM with a moment of prayer. At 3:00 PM, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, will offer a welcome address. Immediately after, a session will highlight best practices in vocational ministry, with contributions from various ecclesial contexts:
Mexico – Rev. José Alberto Estrada García
Italy – Rev. Michele Gianola
Argentina – Maria Lía Zervino
Ireland – Maura Murphy
Spain – Rev. Florentino Pérez Vaquer
At 4:15 PM, Pope Leo XIV is expected to arrive. He will join participants for the central moment of the afternoon: “In Dialogue with His Holiness”, a unique opportunity for open and direct conversation about the meaning of the priestly ministry today.
Starting at 5:10 PM, a second round of testimonies will focus on best practices in initial formation, with contributions from the United States, Africa, the Philippines, Colombia, and Brazil. At 6:00 PM, participants will move toward St. Peter’s Basilica for the Vocational Vigil.
Leo XIV with Priests, Among Priests
Pope Leo XIV has repeatedly affirmed the value of the priesthood as a living relationship with the People of God — never detached or self-referential. In his homily for priestly ordinations, the Pontiff emphasized that “a priest’s identity depends on union with Christ, the eternal and supreme High Priest”, and that this union takes shape in relationships with the community — relationships that the world may wear down, but cannot destroy.
Addressing new priests, he declared with conviction: “Model yourselves after Jesus! Belonging to God binds us to the earth — not to an ideal world, but to the real one [...] Consecrate yourselves to them, without separating yourselves, without isolating yourselves, without turning the gift you’ve received into a kind of privilege.”
He also reminded them of their responsibility to be “guardians”, not “owners”, of the mission they have received: “The People of God is larger than what we see. Let us not set its boundaries [...] A transparent life is the key to the Church’s credibility. Lives that are readable are lives that are credible.” In this light, the “Joyful Priests” meeting stands as both a meaningful step in the Jubilee journey and a tangible sign of the Pope’s care for the human, spiritual, emotional, and pastoral formation of his priests.
Participation is free, with online registration open until June 25, 2025.
A valuable opportunity — as the meeting’s motto, taken from the Gospel of John, reminds us — to reflect that “I have called you friends” (John 15:15) is not just something Christ once said, but a living mandate, to be safeguarded in priestly fraternity and shared responsibility with the People of God.
d.R.D.
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