Pope Leo outlines his vision of the priests that the Church needs today
February 10, 2026
In a letter to the priests of the Archdiocese of Madrid. Pope Leo XIV outlined his vision of the “type of priests that Madrid—and the entire Church—needs at this time.”
Such priests, he wrote, are godly, men who are in the world but not of it, and characterized by fraternal charity. They are faithful to the living Tradition of the Church guarded by the Magisterium, celebrate the sacraments with faith and dignity, and go to Confession themselves. They appreciate the diversity of charisms and spiritualities within the Church. Above all, they are men of prayer centered on the Eucharist, on the altar and in the tabernacle.
The Pontiff offered his outline after he analyzed a secularized, polarized culture in which many people, especially the young, are searching for deeper meaning.
The Pope’s overview of secularized culture
“In many environments we see advanced processes of secularization, a growing polarization in public discourse and the tendency to reduce the complexity of the human person, interpreting it from partial and insufficient ideologies or categories,” Pope Leo wrote in his letter to the priests, as they gathered for an archdiocesan assembly of priests. “In this context, faith runs the risk of being instrumentalized, trivialized or relegated to the realm of the irrelevant, while forms of coexistence that dispense with any transcendent reference are strengthened.”
“Added to this is a profound cultural change that cannot be ignored: the progressive disappearance of common references,” the Pope continued. “For a long time, the Christian seed found a soil that was largely prepared, because moral language, the great questions about the meaning of life, and certain fundamental notions were, at least in part, shared. Today that common substrate has been significantly weakened ... The Gospel is not only encountered with indifference, but with a different cultural horizon, in which words no longer mean the same thing and where the first proclamation cannot be taken for granted.”
Signs of hope
At the same time, said the Pope, “this description does not exhaust what is really happening.”
“I am convinced—and I know that many of you perceive this in the daily exercise of your ministry—that in the hearts of many people, especially young people, a new restlessness is opening up today,” Pope Leo wrote. “The absolutization of well-being has not brought the expected happiness; a freedom detached from the truth has not generated the promised fullness; and material progress, by itself, has not succeeded in fulfilling the deep desire of the human heart.”
The Pope continued
Precisely for this reason, we note that many people are beginning to open themselves to a more honest and authentic search, a search that, accompanied by patience and respect, is leading them back to the encounter with Christ. This reminds us that for the priest it is not a time of withdrawal or resignation, but of faithful presence and generous availability. All this is born of the recognition that the initiative is always the Lord’s, who is already at work and precedes us with his grace.
The priests the Church needs
Describing “he type of priests that Madrid—and the entire Church—needs at this time,” Pope Leo wrote they such priest are “certainly not men defined by the multiplication of tasks or by the pressure of results, but men configured to Christ, capable of sustaining their ministry from a living relationship with Him, nourished by the Eucharist and expressed in a pastoral charity marked by the sincere gift of self.”
“It is not a question of inventing new models or of redefining the identity we have received, but of reproposing, with renewed intensity, the priesthood in its most authentic nucleus—being alter Christus [another Christ]—allowing him to shape our lives, unify our hearts and shape a ministry lived in intimacy with God. faithful dedication to the Church and concrete service to the people entrusted to us.”
The Pope said that priests should be characterized by
- godliness: “The priest is never an end in himself. His whole life is called to refer to God and to accompany the passage towards the Mystery, without usurping his place.”
- “being in the world, but not of the world”: Priestly life is marked by “celibacy, poverty and obedience; not as the denial of life, but as the concrete form that allows the priest to belong entirely to God without ceasing to walk among men.”
- brotherhood: “knowing that we are at home, responsible for one another, attentive to the life of our brothers and sisters and ready to support each other ... resist together the individualism that impoverishes the heart and weakens the mission!”
- fidelity to Catholic teaching: “priestly life sustain itself” in “the apostolic witness received and transmitted in the living Tradition of the Church, and guarded by the Magisterium (cf. 1 Cor 11:2; 2 Tim 1:13-14). When the priest remains anchored in this foundation, he avoids building on the sand of partial interpretations” and “leans on the solid rock that precedes and surpasses him”
- sacramental focus: “In the sacraments, grace is revealed as the most real and effective force of the priestly ministry. Therefore, dear son, celebrate the sacraments with dignity and faith, being aware that what is produced in them is the true power that builds up the Church and that they are the ultimate goal to which our entire ministry is ordered. But do not forget that you are not the fountain, but the channel, and that you also need to drink of that water. Therefore, do not cease from going to Confession, to always return to the mercy you proclaim.”
- appreciation for the Church’s “different charisms and spiritualities,” through which “the Lord enriches and sustains your vocation. Each one receives a particular way of expressing faith and nurturing interiority, but all remain oriented towards the same center.”
- the centrality of the Eucharist: “Let us look at the center of everything, my son: here is revealed what gives meaning to what you do every day and from which your ministry springs. On the altar, through your hands, Christ’s sacrifice is actualized in the highest action entrusted to human hands; in the tabernacle, he whom you have offered, entrusted once again to your care. Be worshippers, men of deep prayer, and teach your people to do the same.”
The Pontiff’s letter, dated January 28, was released by the Vatican in Spanish and Italian on February 9.
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