Bishop Barron meets Pope Leo XIV at Vatican, ordains 18 deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica
Bishop Robert E. Barron met Pope Leo XIV privately at the Vatican, describing their first extended one-on-one conversation as relaxed and wide-ranging. Barron said Pope Leo’s American background and presence may help encourage renewed religious interest in the United States, especially among young people. Barron ordained 18 American seminarians from the Pontifical North American College to the diaconate during Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. In his homily, Barron urged the new deacons to preach by allowing Jesus to speak through them, rather than simply sharing personal opinions.
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Bishop Robert E. Barron met Pope Leo XIV privately at the Vatican and ordained 18 seminarians from the Pontifical North American College as deacons in St. Peter’s Basilica on Oct. 1. During his Rome visit, Barron also spoke about the pope’s influence in the United States, religious renewal, and the relationship between Catholicism and American civic ideals.
Barron described the audience as a relaxed, wide-ranging conversation and recalled the Chicago-born pope opening with a hometown greeting: “Well, two guys from Chicago.” Barron said it was his first extended one-on-one conversation with a pope.
In an interview the previous day, Barron said he believed Leo’s American identity and public presence could positively affect young people and contribute to renewed religious interest in the country. He also said a future papal visit to the United States would be welcome and could help revive American Catholics’ hearts and minds.
Barron, bishop of Winona-Rochester, Minnesota, ordained the 18 American seminarians during an evening Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. In his homily, he urged them to follow Blessed Fulton Sheen’s example in preaching the Gospel.
He described authentic preaching not as sharing personal opinions or merely speaking about religious subjects, but as allowing Jesus to speak through the preacher.
Barron said he was moved by a prayer vigil during Pope Leo’s recent visit to France, which drew 80,000 young people and celebrated the country’s Catholic heritage. He characterized the gathering as a forceful affirmation of that heritage amid what he called efforts by aggressive secularism to push religion out of public life.
At a U.S. Embassy to the Holy See event marking the 250th anniversary of American independence, Barron cited Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. as figures whose public outlook was shaped by biblical principles. He argued that American political ideals and Catholic teaching have important points of contact, particularly on freedom and rights, while saying they are not perfectly aligned. Ambassador Brian Burch also described a deep compatibility between Catholic understandings of democracy, freedom, rights, and equality and the American founding.
The deacon’s vocation as a servant of the Word and the Church’s mission of evangelization
The deacon’s vocation joins proclamation and service: he is ordained to serve the Church’s mission through the Word, the liturgy, and charity. These are not separate jobs but interwoven expressions of one diakonia—service patterned on Christ, who came “not to be served, but to serve.”
At ordination, the bishop entrusts the Book of the Gospels to the deacon and charges him to become its herald. The deacon proclaims the Gospel at liturgy and, when authorized under Church law, preaches. His ministry of the Word also includes catechesis, sacramental preparation, evangelization, and helping people encounter the Gospel in the circumstances of everyday life.
This ministry requires more than speaking well. The deacon is called to believe what he proclaims, teach what he believes, and live what he teaches. Scripture, study, and prayer should form his preaching and conduct; his credibility as a herald depends in part on whether his life bears witness to the Word.
Evangelization is the Church’s work of announcing Christ and inviting people to faith and conversion. The deacon has a particular role in this mission, serving both in the sanctuary and in the wider world. His presence in family, work, school, and community settings can bring the Church into closer contact with people’s ordinary concerns, while helping connect Catholic teaching with the practical questions they face.
The deacon’s service also strengthens the mission of the whole community. Through preaching and teaching, he can help the faithful recognize the needs and hopes of those around them and encourage them to serve others in the world. His ministry should therefore foster—not replace—the apostolate of the laity.
The deacon’s vocation is not exhausted by preaching. His ordained ministry also includes service at the altar and works of charity; the Church describes his ministry of Word and charity as inseparably connected. Service gives tangible form to the Gospel, while proclamation reveals the meaning and source of Christian service.
In this way, the deacon’s vocation is both a ministry within the Church and a missionary presence among people. He proclaims Christ not from personal authority or private opinion, but as a minister of the Church, in communion with the bishop and priests; and he makes that proclamation credible by a life of humble, generous service.