Pope encourages Augustinian confrères to listen, be humble, and seek unity

September 03, 2025

Pope Leo XIV celebrated the opening Mass (video) of the 188th general chapter of the Order of Saint Augustine and offered three “suggestions” to his confrères in the religious life: “listening, humility, and unity.”

“The Holy Spirit speaks, today as in the past,” Pope Leo preached at the Mass, celebrated on the evening of September 1 at the Basilica of St. Augustine in Campo Marzio in Rome. “He does so in the penetralia cordis [innermost places of the heart] and through the brothers and the circumstances of life. This is why it is important for the atmosphere of the Chapter, in harmony with the centuries-long tradition of the Church, to be an atmosphere of listening: of listening to God, listening to others.”

Reflecting on humility, Pope Leo said that “St. Augustine, commenting on the variety of ways in which the Holy Spirit has poured himself out onto the world throughout the centuries, reads this multiplicity as an invitation to us to make ourselves small in the face of the freedom and inscrutability of God’s action. Let no one think they have all the answers. May each person openly share what they have.”

Citing St. Paul and St. Augustine, the Pontiff added, “Let unity be an indispensable goal of your efforts, but not only that: may it also be the criterion for evaluating your actions and your work together, because what unites is from him, but what divides cannot be.”

As he greeted the Pope, Father Alejandro Moral, OSA, the order’s prior general, said that the order has strived “to be faithful and available in the service of the Church and the Pope.”

“Before you, Holy Father, today we reaffirm this fidelity with conviction, certain that only in communion with Peter can we fully live our evangelical vocation,” he added.

The Vatican newspaper reported that 48 years to the day earlier, the future Pontiff had become a novice of the order in Chicago. The Pontiff greeted each member of the general chapter individually and prayed at the chapels of St. Monica and St. Nicholas of Tolentino.

The order has 2,395 members in 395 houses; approximately 100 members are attending the general chapter.

 

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Further information:

• Holy Mass (Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 9/1/25)
• Ascoltare umilmente Dio e gli altri e lavorare per l’unità (L'Osservatore Romano, 9/2/25)
• Momento di grazia per l’Ordine e per la Chiesa (L'Osservatore Romano, 9/2/25)