Rome – This year, 147 newly appointed Bishops from the five continents will take part in formation courses in Rome from today, Wednesday 2 September, to Thursday 10 September. The courses are organized for them by the Dicastery for Evangelization and the Dicastery for Bishops.
Forty-nine of them are enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization through its Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches. The others will take part in a similar formation program offered by the Dicastery for Bishops.
The Bishops enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization come from Algeria, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Colombia, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, the Philippines, Ghana, Honduras, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Myanmar, Namibia, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Central African Republic, Senegal, Seychelles, the Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan and Thailand.
Also this year, in accordance with the new structure of the courses introduced in 2024, the working sessions on Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September will be held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University. They will bring together the Bishops enrolled in the course organized by the Dicastery for Evangelization – Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches – and those taking part in the corresponding formation course organized by the Dicastery for Bishops.
The format, introduced in 2024, is intended to express and foster communion among newly appointed pastors from particular Churches throughout the world, offering them an opportunity for encounter, exchange and fraternity, despite the diversity of the ecclesial, cultural and social contexts in which they are called to exercise their ministry.
The missionary course
The formation course for the 49 Bishops belonging to ecclesiastical jurisdictions entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization will be held at the Pontifical Missionary College “Saint Peter the Apostle” under the theme: “Servants of Communion in the Church.” The gathering will begin on the evening of Wednesday 2 September with the welcome and presentation of the participants.
The first day of the course, Thursday 3 September, will focus on the Dicastery for Evangelization and its service to particular Churches in mission territories. Holy Mass, followed by Lauds, will be presided over by Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization. Cardinal Tagle will then present the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for First Evangelization and New Particular Churches.
Archbishop Fortunatus Nwachukwu, Secretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will give a presentation entitled: “Servants of Communion in the Church: Tribalism, Casteism, Racism and Exclusive Regionalism in the Contemporary Church.”
In the afternoon, Father Joseph Koonamparampil, C.M.F., a collaborator and consultor of the Dicastery, will speak on “Special faculties and the practice of the Dicastery for Evangelization: discipline of the clergy, consecrated life and the administration of assets.”
Monsignor Erwin Balagapo, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will address the associations of the faithful.
Father Anton Paul Padinjarathala, S.D.B., an official of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will focus on practical questions concerning consecrated life in the missionary Church.
Friday 4 September, dedicated to the theme “Faith and Inculturation,” will begin with Holy Mass presided over by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Secretary of State of the Holy See. Cardinal George Jacob Koovakad, Prefect of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue, will speak on “Interreligious Dialogue in the Present Context.”
Archbishop Aurelio García Macías, Undersecretary of the Dicastery for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, will give a presentation on “Continuity and Newness in the Liturgy in the Context of First Evangelization.” Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, will conclude the day with a presentation on “The Phenomenon of Sects and New Religious Movements: A Pastoral Challenge.”
Saturday 5 September will focus on juridical competence in episcopal governance. Holy Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Claudio Gugerotti, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Eastern Churches.
Archbishop Anthony Randazzo, Prefect of the Dicastery for Legislative Texts, will speak about diocesan structures of communion and collaboration and about tribunals, with particular reference to the motu proprio Mitis Iudex Dominus Iesus and Vos Estis Lux Mundi.
Archbishop John Joseph Kennedy, Secretary for the Disciplinary Section of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, will address the handling of cases concerning delicta graviora. In the afternoon, Archbishop Dario Gervasi, Secretary of the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, and Dr Gabriella Gambino, Undersecretary of the same Dicastery, will offer a reflection on “Laity, Family and Life: Accompaniment and Formation in the Pastoral Care of the People of God.”
The joint sessions
On Monday 7 and Tuesday 8 September, the joint sessions at the Pontifical Urbaniana University will bring together the 98 Bishops taking part in the two courses. Monday’s Holy Mass will be presided over by Cardinal Ángel Fernández Artime, S.D.B., Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Cardinal Michael Czerny, S.J., Prefect Emeritus of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, will present Pope Leo XIV’s Encyclical Magnifica Humanitas. In the afternoon, Cardinal Mario Grech, Secretary General of the Synod of Bishops, and Cardinal Roberto Repole, Archbishop of Turin, will speak on the theme: “Towards a Synodal Ecclesiology: Communion, Participation, Mission.”
On Tuesday 8 September, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Holy Mass at the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major will be presided over by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar General of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome. Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy, and Cardinal Luis Antonio G. Tagle, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, will address the theme of priestly formation in today’s context.
The afternoon session on the missionary bond with the Holy See – Peter’s Pence, Canon 1271 and the Pontifical Mission Societies – will feature Archbishop Filippo Iannone, Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops; Archbishop Samuele Sangalli, Adjunct Secretary for Administration of the Dicastery for Evangelization; and Father Tadeusz Nowak, O.M.I., Secretary General of the Pontifical Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
On Wednesday 9 September, Archbishop Samuele Sangalli will preside over Holy Mass with the prayer of Lauds. Monsignor Peter Beer, professor at the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will give a presentation on “The Bishop and Crisis Management, Especially with Regard to the Clergy.”
Father Hans Zollner, S.J., Dean of the Institute of Anthropology of the Pontifical Gregorian University, will address “The Responsibility of Particular Churches for the Safeguarding of Minors and Vulnerable Adults.” The Institute of Anthropology will also lead the workshop scheduled for the afternoon, organized into language groups.
The meeting with the Pope
The program will conclude on Thursday 10 September with Holy Mass and the veneration of the relics of the Apostle at the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican, presided over by Cardinal Mauro Gambetti, O.F.M. Conv., Archpriest of the Papal Basilica of Saint Peter in the Vatican. The 98 newly appointed Bishops will then be received together by Pope Leo XIV.
The meeting with the Successor of Peter will constitute the culmination of these days of formation, prayer and fraternity in Rome.
Addressing Bishops ordained during the previous year on 11 September 2025, Pope Leo XIV recalled that “the gift you have received is not for yourselves, but to serve the cause of the Gospel.” The Bishops, he added, are “chosen and called to be sent, as apostles of the Lord and as servants of the faith.” The Pope stressed that service is not merely an external dimension of the exercise of the ministry, but concerns the very identity of the Bishop: “The Bishop is a servant; the Bishop is called to serve the faith of the people.” For this reason, he invited the new pastors to “walk in humility and prayer,” becoming “servants of the people” to whom the Lord sends them.
Referring to Saint Augustine, Leo XIV recalled that “those who preside over the people must understand that they are servants of many.”
In his address, the Pope also linked episcopal service to concrete closeness to individuals, communities and priests. The Church, he stressed, needs “caring and attentive pastors who know how to share in the journey, questions, anxieties and hopes of the people”; pastors who desire to be “guides, fathers and brothers to priests and to their sisters and brothers in the faith.”
Pope Leo XIV also drew attention to the urgent challenges facing local Churches today: the crisis of faith and its transmission; the difficulties surrounding ecclesial belonging and participation; the spiritual search of those who appear distant from the faith; the tragedy of war and violence; the suffering of the poor; the aspiration for a more fraternal and supportive world; as well as ethical questions concerning the value of life and freedom. In this context, he noted, there is a need to rediscover “the passion and courage for a new proclamation of the Gospel.”
The formation courses for newly appointed Bishops serving in ecclesiastical jurisdictions entrusted to the Dicastery for Evangelization are intended to provide a time for prayer, reflection, fraternity and exchange on the pastoral, canonical and missionary responsibilities inherent in episcopal ministry. The 2026 programme explicitly places this journey under the sign of service to communion in the Church.
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