Pope Leo XIV – the Servant of our Faith and Joy

My fellow Vincentians across all of Ontario, please allow me to share with you a few excerpts of the Homily delivered by Pope Leo XIV at the Mass of Initiation of the Petrine Ministry delivered at St. Peter’s Square on Sunday, May 18th with his many invitations:

• His Humility, his desire to be our servant: this was powerful as he shared with all of us, “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family”.


• Intercession of the Holy Spirit: He referenced the conclave, “Accompanied by your prayers, we could feel the working of the Holy Spirit, who was able to bring us into harmony, like musical instruments, so that our heartstrings could vibrate in a single melody”.


• Be the catalyst to grow unity, communion and fraternity: “In this our time, we still see too much discord, too many wounds caused by hatred, violence, prejudice, the fear of difference, and an economic paradigm that exploits the Earth’s resources and marginalizes the poorest. For our part, we want to be a small leaven of unity , communion, and fraternity within the world. We want to say to the world, with humility and joy: Look to Christ! Come closer to him! Welcome his word that enlightens and consoles! Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: in the one Christ, we are one. This is the path to follow together”.


• The hour for love, let us love one another: “Brothers and sisters, this is the hour for love! The heart of the Gospel is the love of God that makes us brothers and sisters. With my predecessor Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: If this “were to prevail in the world, would not every conflict cease and peace return?”. Together, as one people, as brothers and sisters, let us walk toward God and love one another”.

Pope Leo XIV is showing us by his humility that he relates to the poor and marginalized. He “desires to be our servant” and lead us to God’s love. My Conference in Hamilton is twinned with a Conference in Lima, Peru. The Conference members there tell us that they have firsthand experience of Pope Leo XIV when he was a Bishop working with the poor in Peru for over twenty years. He invites us to call on the Holy Spirit by inviting Him to “sit” among us as we do when we meet and say our SSVP Opening Prayer at meetings. He also invites each of us to be the “catalyst” in working within our Conferences and Councils to shun hatred, prejudice and the fear of difference and instead embrace that new Commandment which Jesus gave us before his ascension, “I give you a new commandment: Love one another, you must love one another just as I have loved you”…this is taken from the Gospel of Sunday 18th which we just celebrated. Jesus then went on to say, “It is by your love for one another, that everyone will recognize you as my disciples”. Pope Leo XIV’s opening words as the new Vicar of Christ were, “Peace be with all of you”. As Vincentians, let us all aspire to adhere to his words and also accept his invitations to despise “hate” in all its forms and embrace “love” in all its forms when dealing with our neighbours and especially with our fellow Vincentians.

Feel free to contact me at any time by email, president@ssvp.onrc.ca Yours in Vincent and Ozanam,
Guido Kelly, ONRC President