by Laura Gómez Ruiz
Lima – From July 13 to 17, the National Meeting of Priests “In persona Christi Capitis” is being held in Peru. This initiative brings together priests from the country’s 46 ecclesiastical circumscriptions under the theme “Identity, spirituality, and mission of the priest as the sacramental presence of Christ the Bridegroom, Head, and Shepherd.”
The meeting aims to strengthen priestly fraternity and deepen the understanding of the ordained ministry in a context marked by an emergency faced by many Churches in Latin America: the decline in vocations and the need to prepare pastors capable of responding to new pastoral realities.
The Peruvian initiative reflects a concern shared by several Churches on the continent: how to accompany the lives of priests and promote integral formation that enables them to adequately address current social and ecclesial changes.
The challenge is not limited to the number of available ministers, but rather to the formation of priests with solid human, spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral maturity, capable of listening, discerning, and walking alongside the people of God.
This same concern has recently been expressed by the Church in Colombia. During the 121st Plenary Assembly of the Episcopal Conference, the bishops reflected on priestly formation in a context of declining vocations, emphasizing the need to prepare priests with a profound spiritual life and a renewed capacity for pastoral accompaniment . During the Assembly’s closing Eucharist, Bishop Germán Medina Acosta, Secretary General of the Colombian Episcopal Conference, emphasized the need to “form priests with a shepherd’s heart, men of prayer and discernment, prudent, simple, and free, capable of walking with the people of God and proclaiming the Gospel with joy and hope.” The Bishop added that “only a Church that allows itself to be converted can form ministers capable of accompanying the conversion of the people of God” and reminded those present that “we cannot renew the seminaries if we do not first renew our way of being pastors.”
The Church in Paraguay is also reflecting on this same need. During their 248th Ordinary General Assembly, the bishops analyzed the ecclesial reality of the country and defined lines of action for the coming years.
Although from different realities, the Latin American Churches agree on the need to strengthen priestly identity and prepare pastors to accompany communities in the current context. The “In Persona Christi Capitis” meeting in Peru is part of this process, a shared journey to nurture priestly vocations and strengthen their mission in service to the people of God.
In a letter sent on November 4, 2025, to the “San Carlos y San Marcelo” Major Seminary in Trujillo, Peru, on the occasion of its 400th anniversary—an institution where he himself served as a professor and director of studies—Pope Leo XIV recalled that the priesthood “is not an escape from what one does not want to face, nor a refuge from emotional, family, or social difficulties; nor is it a promotion or a protection, but rather a total gift of one’s existence.” The Pontiff further emphasized that priestly formation is above all a path of conformity to Christ, in which “rectitude of intention means being able to say each day, with simplicity and truth: ‘Lord, I want to be your priest, not for myself, but for your people.'”
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