“We need an ever more missionary Roman Curia,” Pope Leo XIV said in a challenging first Christmas address to the Vatican’s cardinals and senior officials. He called on them to relate to one another as “brothers and sisters in Christ.” He urged them to avoid “the forces of division” and “the risk of falling into rigidity or ideology,” but to build unity and communion within the Vatican offices and serve as a prophetic sign to a fragmented world.

Mindful that Pope Francis had often used the traditional pre-Christmas address to the Roman Curia to deliver some hard messages, Vatican officials had waited in expectation to see what Pope Leo would say. He followed his predecessor’s lead and stated clearly what he expected of the Curia and those working in it.

Unlike Francis, Leo worked in the Curia for two years before becoming pope and is perhaps more aware of the internal dynamics of this body and what needs to change. This was evident from the speech, which he delivered in the Vatican’s Hall of Benedictions today, Dec.2

Pope Leo said the task of building communion “is urgent both ad intra, and ad extra,” meaning both within the church and in the world.

In a significant passage, the American missionary pope emphasized that there is an “urgent” need for this within the church “because communion in the church always remains a challenge that calls us to conversion. At times, beneath an apparent calm, forces of division may be at play.”

“We can fall into the temptation of swinging between two opposite extremes: uniformity that fails to value differences, or the exacerbation of differences and viewpoints instead of seeking communion. Thus, in interpersonal relationships, in internal office dynamics, or in addressing questions of faith, liturgy, morality and more besides, there is a risk of falling into rigidity or ideology, with their consequent conflicts. “

And yet, he said, in “the church of Christ…. We are brothers and sisters in him. And in Christ, though many and diverse, we are one: In Illo uno unum.” The Latin phrase is his papal motto.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the dean of the College of Cardinals, who will be 92 in January, welcomed the pope on behalf of the Curia and recalled the widespread joy at his election and Leo’s striking appeal for peace. Surprisingly, the cardinal did not mention Pope Francis nor did he mention him in his homily at the pre-conclave Mass. But Pope Leo paid tribute to Francis in his speech and confirmed that he intends to continue on the reform trajectory begun by the first Latin American pope.

“God has become flesh, has become our brother and remains forever God-with-us,” he said, reminding the assembly of the central message of the Christmas season.

He told them: “I wish first of all to remember my beloved predecessor, Pope Francis, who this year concluded his earthly life.”

Indeed, he said, “His prophetic voice, pastoral style and rich magisterium have marked the church’s journey in recent years, encouraging us above all to place God’s mercy at the center, to give renewed impetus to evangelization, and to be a joyful church, welcoming to all and attentive to the poorest.”

Then, taking his inspiration from Pope Francis’ programmatic document “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”), published in November 2013, the Augustinian pope said he wished to reflect on “two fundamental aspects of the Church’s life: mission and communion.”

He recalled that “by her very nature, the church is outward-looking, turned toward the world, missionary. She has received from Christ the gift of the Spirit in order to bring to all people the good news of God’s love. As a living sign of this divine love for humanity, the church exists to invite and gather all people to the festive banquet that the Lord prepares for us. In this gathering, every person can discover their identity as a beloved child, a brother or sister to their neighbor, and a new creation in Christ. Transformed by this discovery, they become witnesses to truth, justice and peace.”

Pope Leo said, “‘Evangelii Gaudium’ encourages us to make progress in the missionary transformation of the church.” He recalled that this missionary character “flows from the fact that God himself first set out toward us and, in Christ, came in search of us.”

In fact, he said, “The first great ‘exodus,’ then, is God’s own—his going forth from himself to meet us. The mystery of Christmas proclaims precisely this: the Son’s mission consists in his coming into the world.”

“In this way,” Leo said, “the mission of Jesus on earth, which continues in the Holy Spirit through the church, becomes a criterion for discernment in our lives, in our journey of faith, in ecclesial practices, and also in the service we carry out in the Roman Curia.”

He emphasized that “structures must not weigh down or slow the progress of the Gospel or hinder the dynamism of evangelization; instead, we must ‘make them more mission-oriented.’”

He reminded the cardinals and officials of the Curia that “in the spirit of our baptismal co-responsibility, therefore, we are all called to cooperate in Christ’s mission.” In this context, he emphasized that “the work of the Curia, too, must be animated by this spirit and foster pastoral solicitude in service to the particular Churches and their pastors.”

“We need,” he said, “an ever more missionary Roman Curia, in which institutions, offices and tasks are conceived in light of today’s major ecclesial, pastoral and social challenges, and not merely to ensure ordinary administration.”

His words are a strong reaffirmation of the central reform of the Curia introduced by Pope Francis with the Constitution “Predicate Evangelium” (“Preach the Gospel”) on March 19, 2022. The Jesuit pope then made evangelization the Curia’s main priority and established the Dicastery for Evangelization as its number one dicastery. For centuries the congregation/dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith had been supreme.

Pope Leo underlined that “in the life of the church, mission is closely linked to communion.”

He recalled that Christmas “celebrates the mission of the Son of God among us” and “it also contemplates its purpose, namely that God has reconciled the world to himself through Christ and in him made us his children.”

He said, “Christmas reminds us that Jesus came to reveal the true face of God as Father, so that we might all become his children and therefore brothers and sisters to one another.” Indeed, “the Father’s love…revealed by Jesus in his liberating actions and preaching, enables us, in the Holy Spirit, to be a sign of a new humanity—no longer founded on selfishness and individualism, but on mutual love and solidarity.”

He insisted that “this communion is built not so much through words and documents as through concrete gestures and attitudes that ought to appear in our daily lives, including in our work.” He recalled “what St. Augustine wrote in his Letter to Proba: ‘In all human affairs, nothing is truly cherished without a friend.’ Yet he [Augustine] asked, with a note of bitterness: ‘But how seldom in this life is such a person found whose spirit and conduct may be trusted with full confidence?’”

He remarked: “At times this bitterness finds its way among us as well, when, after many years of service in the Curia, we observe with disappointment that certain dynamics—linked to the exercise of power, the desire to prevail, or the pursuit of personal interests—are slow to change. We then ask ourselves: Is it possible to be friends in the Roman Curia? To have relationships of genuine fraternal friendship?”

He said, “Amid daily toil, it is a grace to find trustworthy friends, where masks fall away, no one is used or sidelined, genuine support is offered, and each person’s worth and competence are respected, preventing resentment and dissatisfaction. Such relationships call for a personal conversion, so that Christ’s love, which makes us brothers and sisters, may shine through.”

Pope Leo explained that when this communion becomes a reality in the Roman Curia, it then “becomes a sign also ad extra, in a world wounded by discord, violence and conflict, where we also witness a growth in aggression and anger, often exploited by both the digital sphere and politics.”

He told the Curia officials, “The Lord’s birth brings the gift of peace and invites us to become its prophetic sign in a human and cultural context that is too fragmented.”

“The work of the Curia and of the church as a whole must be conceived within this broader horizon,” he said. “We are not mere gardeners tending our own plot, but disciples and witnesses of the Kingdom of God, called in Christ to be leaven of universal fraternity among different peoples, religions and cultures.”

He told them, “This happens if we ourselves live as brothers and sisters and allow the light of communion to shine in the world.”

He concluded this focus on the Roman Curia by calling its members “dear brothers and sisters” and telling them that “mission and communion are possible if we place Christ at the center.” He said, “This year’s Jubilee reminded us that he alone is the hope that does not disappoint.”

He then recalled two significant anniversaries that were commemorated this year: the Council of Nicaea—“which brings us back to the roots of our faith,” and the Second Vatican Council—“which, by fixing its gaze on Christ, strengthened the church and sent her forth to engage the modern world, remaining attentive to the joys, hopes, griefs and anxieties of the people of our time”

He recalled too that this year also marks the 50th anniversary of Pope Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation “Evangelii Nuntiandi,” that emphasized two essential realities: first, “it is the whole church that receives the mission to evangelize, and the work of each individual member is important for the whole” and second that “the first means of evangelization is the witness of an authentically Christian life, given over to God in a communion that nothing should destroy and at the same time given to one’s neighbor with limitless zeal.”

He urged those working in the Roman Curia to remember this also in their Curial service: “The work of each is important for the whole, and the witness of a Christian life, expressed in communion, is the first and greatest service we can offer.”

Pope Leo concluded his Christmas address with a surprise: he quoted a reflection from Dietrich Bonhoeffer—the famous German Lutheran pastor executed by the Nazis on April 9, 1945—on the mystery of Christmas: “God is not ashamed of the lowliness of human beings. God marches right in…. God is near to lowliness; he loves the lost, the neglected, the unseemly, the excluded, the weak and broken.”

He wished everyone a holy Christmas and prayed, “May the Lord bring us his light and grant peace to the world.”