Leo XIV to priests: “Be adorers, men of deep prayer”

Vatican City - “Certainly not men defined by an ever growing list of tasks or by the pressure of results, but men configured to Christ.” With these words, Pope Leo XIV has chosen to accompany the Presbyterate of the Archdiocese of Madrid on the eve of the presbyteral assembly “Convivium” (9-10 February 2026), opting for the most direct, fatherly, least bureaucratic form: a letter to the priests. It comes at a moment in the Church marked by fatigue, by urgencies that devour any long view, and by a culture that often makes it harder even to understand one another on the essential words. Leo XIV does not paint an idyllic picture of the priesthood, nor does he pretend not to see its critical points. The letter sets out clearly his vision of the presbyter, and even more, the way that ministry has shaped him and continues to guide his gaze: not theory, but lived experience. That is why those words, those prompts, those attentions matter today, also as a key for reading with greater …