Pope Leo XIV: Papal diplomats are indispensable

Vatican City - The Pope has 188 diplomatic missions worldwide. The new head of the Church, Leo XIV, has now received all of his apostolic nuncios for the first time. And he had a clear message for them.

Published on 10.06.2025 at 13:16 –

Pope Leo XIV described the task of Vatican diplomats around the world as an "irreplaceable service". As representatives of the Pope, they should serve his calling to build bridges, the Pope said on Tuesday in the Vatican. He made his remarks during an audience for the Vatican diplomats, who are active in around 180 countries around the world.

At the same time, Leo XIV emphasised that supporting the Pope in the selection of new bishops for the respective local churches was a particularly important task of the Apostolic Nuncios. Before his election as Pope, Leo had already worked with many Vatican diplomats as Prefect of the Vatican Bishops' Dicastery on such ecclesiastical leadership recruitments.

High praise for the nunciatures

The Pope praised the quality and unity of the Vatican ambassadors in detail. "No other country in the world has such a global diplomatic corps," said Leo XIV, referring to the many different countries of origin of the Vatican diplomats. At the same time, the nuncios were more united than the ambassadors of other countries. Their unity was not merely functional, but idealistic: "We are united in Christ and united in the Church," emphasised the Pope.

The Pope praised the analyses compiled by the papal nunciatures on the situation in the respective countries as particularly valuable. The network of papal representations is always active and effective, which he considers indispensable.

"On the side of the weak"

He is counting on the Vatican ambassadors around the world to stand on the side of the poor and the weak and to defend the "inviolable right of faith in God and the belief that life is not at the mercy of the powerful of this world". The Pope went on to say: "You serve peoples who are victims of wars, violence and injustice - or victims of that false prosperity that deceives and disappoints."

He emphatically called on the ambassadors to "obedience and true communion with the Pope". "Feel yourselves to be missionaries who, on behalf of the Pope, are instruments of communion, unity and service to human dignity, building serious and constructive relationships everywhere." (KNA)