ACI MENA, Jun 25, 2025 / 11:54 am (CNA).

In a decision carrying both spiritual and humanitarian significance, Pope Leo XIV on June 24 approved the election of Father Francesco Ielpo, a member of the Order of Friars Minor, as the new custos of the Holy Land and guardian of Mount Zion, succeeding Father Francesco Patton, who concluded nine years of service in this sensitive role.

The appointment followed an election conducted by the minister general of the Franciscan order and his council, in line with a long-standing tradition that reflects the historical continuity of the Franciscans’ mission in the land where Jesus Christ walked.

Born in Lauria, Italy, in 1970, Ielpo made his solemn profession in 1998 and was ordained to the priesthood in 2000. His service has spanned education, administration, and pastoral care. He taught religion, served as the head of the “Franciscanum Luzzago” Institute in Brescia, and held ecclesial responsibilities as the commissary for the Holy Land in Lombardy and later in northern Italy. Since 2022, he has been president of the Holy Land Foundation in addition to holding other organizational roles across Italian Franciscan provinces.

Ielpo assumes his new role at an extremely complex moment, both regionally and spiritually. The Holy Land is enduring growing political and military tensions, a sharp decline in pilgrimage, a shrinking local Christian population, and a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank.

In this context, the responsibility of the new custos goes far beyond protecting sacred sites; it encompasses pastoral presence, humanitarian support, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and the safeguarding of Christianity’s roots in its birthplace. The late Pope Francis had once stressed that “serving the Holy Land is a mission of peace amid conflict, a space for humility and spiritual courage.”

Ielpo succeeds Patton, who served from 2016 to 2025. During his tenure, Patton faced significant challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the near-total halt of pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Despite these trials, he sustained major restoration projects, took part in humanitarian efforts such as support for children in Gaza, and documented his experience in a spiritual memoir titled “Like a Pilgrimage: My Days in the Holy Land.”

The Franciscan Custody, which began more than 800 years ago with St. Francis of Assisi’s arrival in the Holy Land, is not merely a religious duty. It is a living witness to the Catholic Church’s enduring commitment to the holy sites, to the people who dwell around them, and to the pilgrims who yearn to visit.

This story was first published by ACI MENA, CNA’s Arabic-language news partner, and has been translated for and adapted by CNA.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A bishop is a man of deep faith who is filled with hope and stays close to his people, Pope Leo XIV said.

He is "not offering easy solutions," but rather, he is helping his flock be a community that strives "to live the Gospel in simplicity and solidarity," he said in a reflection with bishops celebrating the Jubilee of Bishops June 25.

The heart of a bishop "is open and welcoming, and so is his home," he said. But he "must be firm and decisive in dealing with situations that can cause scandal and with every case of abuse, especially involving minors, and fully respect the legislation currently in force." 

More than 400 bishops from 38 countries gathered for the pope's reflection at the Altar of the Chair in St. Peter's Basilica after taking part in a pilgrimage through the Holy Door and concelebrating Mass presided over by Cardinal Marc Ouellet, retired prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery of Bishops. Before he was elected pope May 8, U.S. Cardinal Robert F. Prevost had succeeded Cardinal Ouellet as head of the dicastery -- a post which is still vacant.

Going through the Holy Door -- the symbol of Christ the savior -- is important, Pope Leo said, because "each of you, like myself, before being a shepherd, is a sheep, a member of the Lord's flock."

"If we are to lead the churches entrusted to our care, we must let ourselves be profoundly renewed by Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in order to conform ourselves fully to his heart and to the mystery of his love," he said.

The Holy Year dedicated to a hope that "does not disappoint," he said, is a reminder that "we, as bishops, are the primary heirs of that prophetic legacy, which we must preserve and transmit to the people of God by our words and the way we live our lives."

At times, preaching that message "means swimming against the tide, even in certain painful situations that appear to be hopeless," he said. Yet, "if we are truly close to those who suffer, the Holy Spirit can revive in their hearts even a flame that has all but died out." 

"Dear friends, a bishop is a witness to hope by his example of a life firmly grounded in God and completely devoted to the service of the church," Pope Leo said. "This will be the case only insofar as he is conformed to Christ in his personal life and in his apostolic ministry."

The pope then detailed several characteristics of "the theological core of the life of a bishop," whose way of thinking, feelings and actions are formed by the Holy Spirit.

"The bishop is a man of hope," he said, "especially at moments of difficulty in people's lives."

"The bishop, by this theological virtue, helps them not to despair: not simply by his words but by his closeness," he said.

"When families are greatly burdened and public institutions fail to provide adequate support; when young people are disillusioned and fed up with empty promises; when the elderly and those with grave disabilities feel abandoned, the bishop is close to them, not offering easy solutions, but rather the experience of communities that strive to live the Gospel in simplicity and solidarity," the pope said. 

The bishop is a man of faith, much like Moses, "who, by the grace of God, sees ahead, glimpses the goal and perseveres in times of trial," interceding for his people before God, he said.

"Faith and hope then come together in him as a man of pastoral charity," he said, so that whether he is "preaching, visiting communities, listening to priests and deacons, or making administrative decisions, all that he does is inspired and motivated by the charity of Christ the shepherd."

Through God's grace, prayer and the daily celebration of the Eucharist, the bishop can be an example of "fraternal love" that is open to everyone, especially those experiencing moments of difficulty or illness, he said.

Pope Leo then told bishops their life and ministry needed to be marked by some other essential virtues: pastoral prudence, poverty, perfect continence in celibacy and human virtues.

"To bear witness to the Lord Jesus, the bishop lives a life of evangelical poverty," marked by "a simple, sober and generous lifestyle, dignified and at the same time suited to the conditions of the majority of his people," he said. "The poor must find in him a father and a brother, and never feel uncomfortable in meeting him or entering his home."

"In his personal life, he must be detached from the pursuit of wealth and from forms of favoritism based on money or power," he said, because, like Jesus, the bishop has been anointed and sent "to bring good news to the poor."

"Together with material poverty, the life of the bishop is also marked by that specific form of poverty which is celibacy and virginity for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven," Pope Leo said. 

It is not just a question of living a celibate life, he said, "but of practicing chastity of heart and conduct," which presents "the authentic image of the church" to everyone.

Pastoral prudence, the pope said, "is the practical wisdom that guides the bishop in his decisions, in his governance, in his relations with the faithful and with their associations."

"A clear sign of prudence is his exercise of dialogue as a style and method, both in his relationships with others and in his presiding over participatory bodies: in other words, in his overseeing of synodality in his particular church," he added.

Finally, he said, "the bishop is called to cultivate those human virtues which the Council Fathers also chose," which include "fairness, sincerity, magnanimity, openness of mind and heart, the ability to rejoice with those who rejoice and to suffer with those who suffer, as well as self-control, delicacy, patience, discretion, great openness to listening and engaging in dialogue, and willingness to serve."

"These virtues, which each of us possesses to a greater or lesser extent by nature, can and must be cultivated in conformity to the Lord Jesus, with the grace of the Holy Spirit," the pope said.

Before leading the bishops in reciting the profession of faith together, Pope Leo encouraged them to be "men of communion, always promoting unity in the diocesan presbyterate" and to make sure "every priest, without exception," can sense the fatherhood, brotherhood and friendship of his bishop.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When facing despair, exclusion and disappointment, do not be afraid to turn to Jesus and pray for the healing power of his love, Pope Leo XIV said.

"A very widespread ailment of our time is the fatigue of living: reality seems to us to be too complex, burdensome, difficult to face," he told thousands of pilgrims gathered in St. Peter's Square for his general audience June 25. It was the last public general audience Pope Leo was scheduled to lead until July 30.

"At times we feel blocked by the judgment of those who claim to put labels on others," he said, and people may be tempted to "switch off, we fall asleep, in the delusion that, upon waking, things will be different." 

"But reality has to be faced, and together with Jesus, we can do it well," he said.

The pope centered his catechesis on two accounts of miracles in St. Mark's Gospel: Jairus' daughter who awakens from death and the woman who is healed of a hemorrhage.

These two miracles "reveal the healing power born of faith in Jesus," he said.

"These two Gospel accounts teach us to be unafraid to turn to Jesus in prayer and to entrust ourselves to the healing power of his love, which can transform apparently hopeless situations and even bring life out of death," he said.

"For God, who is eternal life, death of the body is like sleep. True death is that of the soul: of this we must be afraid!," Pope Leo said. 

When Jesus revives Jairus' child, he "tells the parents to give her something to eat," which conveys an important message for parents today, he said.

'When our children are in crisis and need spiritual nourishment, do we know how to give it to them? And how can we, if we ourselves are not nourished by the Gospel?" he asked.

The woman afflicted with hemorrhages had been condemned by others to stay hidden and isolated, he said. "At times, we too can be victims of the judgment of others, who presume to put a robe on us that is not our own. And then we suffer and cannot come out of it."

But she is brave, has faith and emerges from the crowd to touch Jesus, resulting in her healing, he said. Others in the crowd who touched Jesus experienced no similar transformation because they lacked faith. 

"Perhaps today, too, many people approach Jesus in a superficial way, without truly believing in his power. We walk the surfaces of our churches, but maybe our heart is elsewhere!" the pope said. 

"This woman, silent and anonymous, conquers her fears, touches the heart of Jesus with her hands, considered unclean because of her illness. And she is immediately healed," he said, because as Jesus said to her, "your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

"Dear brothers and sisters, in life there are moments of disappointment and discouragement, and there is also the experience of death. Let us learn from that woman, from that father: let us go to Jesus," he said.

"He can heal us, he can revive us. Jesus is our hope!" he said.

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