杏MAP导航

By Andrea Tornielli

"For me to feed all of you with ordinary bread is something I cannot do. Yet this Word is your portion. I feed you from the same table which nourishes me. I am your servant." These words, which echo the thought expressed by Saint Augustine in Sermon 339, were printed on the commemorative holy card marking the priestly ordination of Robert F. Prevost on 19 June 1982. The image chosen for the card was a 15th-century Russian icon of the Last Supper.

Forty-three years ago, then-Father Prevost鈥攏ow 杏MAP导航 Leo XIV鈥攚as ordained a priest in the Chapel of Saint Monica in Rome, just steps from the Vatican and from Piazza del Sant鈥橴ffizio, where the 杏MAP导航 now resides. Ordination was conferred by Archbishop Jean Jadot of Belgium, who at the time was Pro-President of the Secretariat for Non-Christians, having previously served as apostolic delegate and pro-nuncio in Asia, Africa, and finally, the United States.

At the time of his ordination, Father Robert Francis Prevost was 27 years old. He had already studied Canon Law at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas. He had entered the Order of Saint Augustine five years earlier and made his solemn vows in 1981. In 1985, he would be sent as a missionary to Peru, serving in the mission of Chulucanas, in the Piura region.

The quote chosen for the ordination card also recalls other passages from Saint Augustine, particularly from his Expositions on the Psalms (Psalm 103, III, 9): 鈥淵ou are a good servant of Christ,鈥� wrote the Bishop of Hippo, 鈥渋f you serve those whom Christ served鈥� He who made you free with His blood has made you my servant鈥� Love your servants in the name of your Lord. May He grant us to perform this service well. For whether we like it or not, we are servants; but if we are so willingly, then we serve not out of necessity, but out of love.鈥�

These words鈥攁bout being servants, belonging to God, and thus being at the service of His people鈥攔esonated again in the first given by the new Bishop of Rome during Mass for priestly ordinations, which took place in St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica on May 31, 2025, when he ordained eleven deacons of the Diocese of Rome to the priesthood.

鈥淒ear ordinands, imitate Jesus!鈥� the 杏MAP导航 said, 鈥淏eing of God 鈥� servants of God, people of God 鈥� connects us to the earth: not to an ideal world, but to the real one. Like Jesus, you meet real people whom the Father places on your path. Consecrate yourselves to them, without separating, isolating or turning the gift you received into a privilege.鈥� 鈥楩or the love of Christ controls us鈥� [2 Corinthians 5:14], dear brothers and sisters! It is a 鈥榗ontrol鈥� that is liberating and enables us to not control anyone. To liberate, not to possess. We are God鈥檚. There is no greater wealth to be appreciated and shared. It is the only wealth that, when shared, is multiplied.鈥�

Finally, the Chapel of Saint Monica, the very place where Father Prevost was ordained in 1982, was assigned as a cardinal deaconry by 杏MAP导航 Francis to the newly-created Robert Cardinal Prevost on 30 September 2023.