In a November 20 address to the 81st general assembly of the Italian episcopal conference, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the bishops to “start afresh from the act of faith that makes us recognize Christ as the Savior and which is expressed in all areas of daily life.”
The Italian bishops are meeting this week at Assisi, and the Pontiff stopped to pray at the tomb of St. Francis before the meeting. He urged the Italian bishops to imitate St. Francis in keep their focus on the face of Jesus Christ.
The Pope asked the bishops to adopt a synodal approach to issues such as diocesan mergers, the “serious discernment of the requests that come from the People of God,” the promotion of integral humanism “to spread a culture of legality and solidarity,” and to “the challenge posed to us by the digital universe.”