Servants of the Gospel, Not Lords of Power?Pope Leo XIV Meets with Newly Appointed Bishops

Servants of the Gospel, Not Lords of Power?
Pope Leo XIV Meets with Newly Appointed Bishops

Part I — The Address
On 11 September 2025, Pope Leo XIV received 192 bishops newly appointed to dioceses around the world. The gathering, held in Rome, reflected a centuries-old practice of orienting new shepherds to their mission in the universal Church.

In his discourse, Pope Leo sought to underline that episcopal ministry is not a worldly honour but a call to serve. “The gift you have received is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel,” he declared. The episcopal office, he insisted, is “not called to exercise power, but to be sent out as apostles of the Lord and servants of the faith.”¹

The Pope emphasised humility, poverty of spirit, and interior freedom as the necessary dispositions of bishops. He warned them against clerical self-importance and reminded them that their life should be marked by prayer, simplicity, and closeness to Christ. Only in this way, he said, can they become authentic servants of their flocks.

Pope Leo also urged the bishops to translate their vocation into “an apostolic style” of leadership. They must accompany the faithful, listen to their hopes and fears, and be fathers and brothers to their priests. Above all, he told them to remain vigilant in prayer, walking always in humility.

A notable section of his speech concerned the challenges of evangelisation in a rapidly changing world. He admitted that many people today seek spirituality or belonging outside the visible life of the Church. In response, he exhorted the bishops to find “diverse and creative ways” to present the Gospel, so that it may resonate with new generations and cultural contexts.²

Part II — The Critique
The themes of humility, service, and pastoral closeness are undeniably Catholic. Yet Leo XIV’s discourse also reflects the post-conciliar pattern of emphasising service while downplaying authority. To say that bishops are “not called to exercise power” is to risk misrepresenting the divine constitution of the Church.

For the Catholic tradition teaches clearly that episcopal power is threefold: to teach, to sanctify, and to govern. Lumen Gentium describes bishops as “teachers of doctrine, priests of sacred worship, and ministers of governance.”³ Christus Dominus insists that their authority “is proper, ordinary, and immediate”⁴—not delegated from the Pope, not borrowed from the faithful, but conferred directly by Christ. Authority is not opposed to service; it is the means by which service is rendered effectively.

The contrast could not be sharper when read alongside the Pastoral Rule of St. Gregory the Great. Gregory taught that a bishop must be “humble in heart, yet high in thought,”⁵ uniting meekness with doctrinal vigilance. For him, humility did not mean silence in the face of error, but the courage to govern firmly without pride. Leo XIV’s address, however, risked portraying humility as an alternative to authority, as if episcopal power were a threat rather than a gift.

His appeal to “creativity” is equally problematic. In modern ecclesial parlance, creativity has too often been the Trojan horse for innovation: new liturgies that obscure sacrifice, new catecheses that omit doctrine, new pastoral styles that downplay sin. St. Paul warned Timothy not to invent but to preserve: “Hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Tim 1:13). St. Pius X, in Haerent Animo, charged pastors to “fight valiantly against the errors of the age.”⁶ To elevate creativity without emphasising fidelity risks confirming the very crisis the Church is experiencing.

Moreover, while Pope Leo spoke of bishops as shepherds close to their flocks, he did not speak of their duty to guard against wolves. Yet Acts 20:28–30 makes clear that vigilance means protection: “Take heed to yourselves, and to the whole flock… I know that after my departure, grievous wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” Bishops who substitute empathy for authority leave their sheep defenceless.

Conclusion — A Hollow Vision of the Episcopacy
Leo XIV ended his address by calling bishops to “stay vigilant and walk in humility and prayer.”⁷ But vigilance without doctrinal clarity is empty, humility without authority is abdication, and prayer without obedience to the mandate of Christ is sterile.

The crisis of the episcopacy is not that bishops have been too authoritative, but that they have abandoned authority in the name of service. Where past ages saw shepherds who would shed blood rather than tolerate heresy, today’s Church risks producing managers who facilitate decline.

The Catholic episcopacy is not a democratic office or a therapeutic ministry. It is a divine mandate, rooted in apostolic succession, to guard the deposit of faith and lead souls to salvation. To obscure this truth—as Leo XIV’s address inadvertently did—is to betray the very nature of the episcopal office.

History furnishes striking counterexamples. St. Athanasius of Alexandria defied emperors, councils, and even exile rather than compromise the divinity of Christ. St. John Fisher, alone among the English bishops, resisted Henry VIII’s usurpation of the Church’s authority, and for this fidelity laid down his life. St. Charles Borromeo reformed his diocese with iron resolve, confronting corruption and laxity without fear of opposition. These men were not mere “servants” in the modern sense of facilitators or conciliators; they were fathers, defenders, and martyrs.

A Church that reduces bishops to servants without power will soon find she has pastors without courage, shepherds without staff, and watchmen who cannot sound the trumpet. Against such a hollow vision, the saints cry out still: episcopal authority is not an embarrassment to be hidden, but a gift to be exercised, even unto blood, for the salvation of souls.

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Footnotes

1. Pope Leo XIV, Address to New Bishops, 11 Sept. 2025. Reported by Catholic News Service, USCCB.
2. Ibid.
3. Lumen Gentium, 20–21.
4. Christus Dominus, 8.
5. St. Gregory the Great, Regula Pastoralis, I.2.
6. Pius X, Haerent Animo (1908).
7. Pope Leo XIV, Address to New Bishops, 11 Sept. 2025.