Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope and a longtime missionary in Peru, brings a fresh pastoral style to the papacy. There has been a lot of news coverage about his election and his first months as pope. However, his early address to the cardinals of the church hasn’t gotten a lot of attention. In that address, Pope Leo laid out a vision for the future of the church. And what he had to say has implications for catechumenate ministers.

Pope Leo’s vision is not merely for the hierarchy; it’s a blueprint for every member of the baptismal priesthood.  Our ministry of accompanying seekers on the journey of faith and conversion is at the heart of the kind of church Pope Leo expects us to be. 

Let’s look at the six fundamental priorities Pope Leo laid out for the cardinals and how they align with our essential work with catechumens. 

1. The first and most essential task…proclaim Christ

All of Pope Leo’s fundamental priorities are an extension of the priorities laid out by Pope Francis, especially as articulated in Joy of the Gospel. So this first priority will not be a surprise to us. The new pope has not had much time to add to or reemphasize Pope Francis’s insistence that we constantly announce the first proclamation of Christ’s love for us. However, before his election, Pope Leo was the head of the Vatican office responsible for recommending potential new bishops to the pope. In that role, he said:

We are often preoccupied with teaching doctrine, the way of living our faith, but we risk forgetting that our first task is to teach what it means to know Jesus Christ and to bear witness to our closeness to the Lord. This comes first: to communicate the beauty of the faith, the beauty and joy of knowing Jesus. It means that we ourselves are living it and sharing this experience. (Archbishop Prevost talks about choosing bishops for the church | USCCB)

This priority challenges us to ask ourselves if we are helping seekers fall in love with Jesus, or simply learn about him?

2. Missionary conversion of the entire church

In our ministry, we are all about the conversion of the seekers. What Pope Leo envisions is that the entire Christian community would deepen its conversion to Christ and take on a truly missionary spirit. To do that, we are going to have to practice radical hospitality to those who may not fit so easily into our church structures and categories. Again, echoing Pope Francis, he said that we are to be a church “that always seeks to be close, especially those who suffer” (Transcript of Cardinal Robert Prevost’s first speech as Pope Leo XIV : NPR). 

Radical hospitality is easy to preach and hard to live. What do we do when a seeker is mentally challenged, or in a nontraditional or non-canonically recognized relationship, or deeply suspicious of church authority? Do we still see Christ in them?

3. Walking together as a synodal church

I like to say that catechumenate teams were demonstrating synodality before we knew what the word meant. Pope Leo said that synodality is first of all listening to the Holy Spirit. Synodality involves accompaniment, shared discernment, and trusting in the Holy Spirit as a guide and teacher for the catechumens. When we take seriously the seekers’ questions, doubts, and insights, we are being “synodal.” Being a synodal church also means being open to new ways of doing things. While he was still a bishop, Pope Leo said:

One of the risks of that is that we miss the presence of the Holy Spirit. That breeze that may go by that says, “Yeah you always did it that way, and maybe for six centuries it was wonderful, but maybe it’s time to change. Maybe it’s time to look at things differently.” (What Pope Leo XIV Has Already Said About 5 Key Issues| National Catholic Register) 

Synodality invites us to listen before we speak. When a seeker shares a story that challenges our assumptions, how do we respond? Can we trust that the Spirit might be speaking through them?

Pope Leo’s vision is not merely for the hierarchy; it’s a blueprint for every member of the baptismal priesthood.

4. Listening to the People of God

Pope Leo again echoes Pope Francis, who said, 

The people of God is holy thanks to this anointing, which makes it infallible in credendo…. As part of his mysterious love for humanity, God furnishes the totality of the faithful with an instinct of faith – sensus fidei – which helps them to discern what is truly of God” (Joy of the Gospel, 119). 

If Pope Leo follows through on what he told the cardinals, it means that the baptismal priesthood will have a significant voice in the future direction of the church. While many of our seekers are not yet baptized, they have nonetheless been impelled by the Holy Spirit to enter onto the journey of faith. Their experiences and understanding of faith are valuable contributions to the church’s collective wisdom.

5. Loving care for the least and the rejected

This priority, clearly echoing Pope Francis, also recalls Pope Leo XIII, whose 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum launched Catholic social teaching:

God Himself seems to incline rather to those who suffer misfortune; for Jesus Christ calls the poor “blessed,” He lovingly invites those in labor and grief to come to Him for solace; and He displays the tenderest charity toward the lowly and the oppressed (24). 

As catechumenate ministers, we are at the forefront of embracing and caring for those on the margins who suffer from poverty, injustice, or feel rejected by society or even, perhaps, the church. Some carry guilt or shame. Some are barely hanging on. Accompaniment means meeting them there, not demanding they get their lives in order first.

6. Bridging divides in a complex world

Pope Leo told the cardinals that his final priority was to foster “courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities” (Address of the Holy Father to the College of Cardinals (10 May 2025) | LEO XIV). Seekers come to us directly from that contemporary world. They themselves are various and complex. The sixth principle of the catechumenate process says that each person’s faith journey “varies according to the many forms of God’s grace, the free cooperation of individuals, the action of the Church, and the circumstances of time and place” (OCIA 5). 

As accompanists, we have to engage their real-world concerns, their doubts about God or the church, and their cultural context, which may seem foreign to the culture of the church. This requires us to navigate fundamental disagreements without compromising core beliefs or alienating people.

Share your thoughts

Pope Leo XIV’s vision challenges us to rethink the way we evangelize, accompany, and form new Christians. Some teams may already embody this vision. Others may feel overwhelmed. Wherever you are, start there.

Here are a few questions to reflect on:

• Where are you and your team already aligned with Pope Leo’s vision?
• Where do we feel stretched, challenged, or uncomfortable?
• What assumptions about seekers or the church need reexamining?
• What one small change could you and your team make in the next month to better embody these priorities?

 Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.