Letter of His Holiness to the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean on the occasion of the Third Centenary of the Canonization of Saint Turibius of Mogrovejo (8 September 2026)
Dear brothers in the Episcopate,
In response to the request of the Bishops of Peru and on the occasion of the third centenary of the canonization of Saint Turibius de Mogrovejo, patron saint of the Bishops of Latin America, I warmly greet you in the Lord and I thank you for the service that you render each day. As I address these words to you, my heart is once again filled with gratitude for the privilege of having exercised episcopal ministry in Peru. There I came to know first-hand the faith of a people from whom I received so much, and I came to understand better what it means to be a shepherd. That experience brought me particularly close to Saint Turibius, who also came from afar to a land that he eventually made his own through pastoral charity.
My predecessors have spoken at length about the “illustrious Metropolitan of Lima,” [1]recalling his zeal for evangelization, [2] his commitment to the building up and renewal of ecclesial life [3] and his closeness to the poorest and most vulnerable. [4] Without revisiting his biography now, I would like to reflect on his ministry in light of a ritual that points us to the very origin of our mission: the welcoming of the bishop into his cathedral church. [5] A similar rite is prescribed for a pastoral visit to a community, [6] as if the Church wished to lead the prelate, time and again, back to the meaning of that first entrance. What the liturgy expresses in a few gestures, the Apostle of the Andes brought to life throughout his years as a shepherd. The best way to honor his memory will be to allow ourselves to be challenged by the way he lived out the ministry that we also have received, and to imitate him.
The rite begins at the cathedral’s door. There, the new bishop is welcomed by the Church to which he has been sent. He arrives in a community that precedes him — one that has journeyed along a path of faith and in which the Holy Spirit was already at work. As he crosses that threshold, he enters into a history that did not begin with him and becomes bound, through his ministry, to a specific people. Saint Turibius arrived in a land whose peoples and customs were largely unknown to him. In order to shepherd them, he had to immerse himself in that culture by travelling throughout the region. His pastoral visits and his desire for the Gospel to be proclaimed in the local languages gradually strengthened his bond with that land and its people. Certain aspects of a diocese are hard to grasp from behind a desk. For this reason, we must ensure that pastoral visits retain their vitality: let us personally go out to meet our communities, listen to our flock and seek out those who seldom have the opportunity to approach the bishop. The ministry of a successor to the Apostles demands living with our heart in heaven and our feet on the road.
Still standing at the door, the bishop receives a crucifix and kisses it. The Church places before him the One who loved his own to the very end. That gesture holds a promise of self-sacrifice. His ministry may lead him down paths he had not anticipated and require sacrifices he may never have imagined. The cross reminds him that he must remain with the flock when difficult times come, and that protecting the sheep may come at a price for the shepherd himself. Turibius extended that kiss to the suffering body of the Lord through his travels and hardships as he defended the indigenous peoples, corrected abuses and remained close to the poor and those who suffered. Dear brothers, we need to return frequently to the school of the Cross. Abandoning the flock can begin long before any visible flight, when comfort, fear or self-interest take precedence over the good of the faithful. The hired hand calculates what he might lose; the shepherd knows that he must give something of himself to remain faithful (cf. Jn 10:12–13).
Next, the bishop receives the holy water, sprinkles himself, and sprinkles those present. This gesture brings him back to the common source of Baptism. Before being a shepherd, he is a disciple; before presiding over the People of God, he counts himself among the baptized who are made children in Christ. The holiness of the shepherd cannot be taken for granted (cf. 1 Tim 4:16). Saint Turibius was able to call for an ecclesial life that was more faithful to the Gospel because he began by holding himself to that very standard. Those who have been entrusted with the task of sanctifying others still need to be sanctified themselves; those who proclaim mercy also live by it. Let us, then, nurture our interior life and remain aware that we are disciples in need of conversion.
The rite then leads the bishop to the tabernacle, where he kneels and adores. Before beginning his ministry, he pauses in silence before the Blessed Sacrament. Bishops come and go; Christ always remains (cf. Heb 13:8). Pastors change, new challenges arise, and projects unfold, but the Church lives in the Lord. For this reason, I would invite you to make Eucharistic adoration a pastoral priority. Turibius’ love for the Eucharist was expressed in his concern for bringing everyone closer to Jesus. Let us offer our faithful the time and the space to remain before him, and encourage prolonged adoration. I am convinced that the Lord’s holy presence, faithfully welcomed and adored, sustains what our own strength cannot achieve and opens paths that no plan can conceive. It will be his love that transforms our dioceses.
After vesting, the bishop approaches the altar and kisses it. It is the Lord himself, before whom he has just knelt, now considered as the one who gathers his Church around himself and makes her one body (cf. 1 Cor 10:17). Saint Turibius served a vast and diverse Church, striving to keep it united. It is also our responsibility to ensure that the diversity of our dioceses finds its unity in Christ. The altar reminds us that communion lies at the very heart of our mission.
He then goes to the Cathedra, and the Apostolic Letter is read — the Papal Bull by which the Roman Pontiff has appointed him shepherd of that particular Church. The bishop has not given himself this mission; he has received it and exercises it in communion with the Church, united to the Successor of Peter and to the College of Bishops. The teaching he offers from the Cathedra does not derive from a word of his own word that must be imposed. He has received the faith of the Church and is called to “guard the good treasure,” to delve deeper into it, and to make it understandable to those entrusted to his care (cf. 2 Tim 1:13–14). Saint Turibius understood this responsibility well. His reception of the Council of Trent, the provincial councils, the diocesan synods and his catechetical work bear witness to his desire to transmit the faith in its entirety and to make it accessible to those before him. At a time when so many voices claim authority over the consciences of the faithful, it is the bishop’s duty to offer a clear teaching that is patient and rooted in this communion, in order to help his people recognize the voice of the one Shepherd.
The clergy and the faithful then approach him to “show obedience and reverence.” [7] The reverence received becomes a responsibility for the bishop, and the obedience offered demands from him a fatherly heart. This is especially apparent in his relationship with the priests, who are united to him in a unique way in the one priesthood and in the mission entrusted to the particular Church. Turibius provided for their formation, was exacting in admitting them to Holy Orders, visited his priests and upheld ecclesiastical discipline, mindful that the life of the clergy has an impact on that of the people. Dear brothers, let us stand by our priests. Let us take particular care of the seminary and the first years of ministry; let us foster genuine brotherhood and ensure that no priest feels that he can only approach his bishop when there is a problem to be resolved. Episcopal fatherhood is often recognized when a priest knows that he can confidently knock on the door of the bishop’s residence.
After the Gospel, the bishop addresses his people for the first time. Up to this point, the liturgy has encouraged him to adopt an attitude of openness and listening, and led him into the silence of adoration. Only now does he speak. This simple order encloses a lesson that we should always keep in mind. Amidst the many duties that fill our day, we have been sent to proclaim the Good News. Like the Apostles, we are called to devote ourselves “to prayer and to serving the word” (Acts 6:4). Saint Turibius made his life a continuous act of preaching, and his message was credible because he had first allowed the Gospel to shape his very existence. May no urgency or pastoral task, however necessary it may be, cause us to neglect prayer, which is a necessary preparation for preaching. Let us always set aside the time we need to listen to the word and carefully consider how to present it to our people.
Once the introductory rites are finished and the Liturgy of the Word has been celebrated, the time comes to present the offering. In the Offertory, we can see a foretaste of everything the bishop will commend, day after day, to the Lord’s hands: his work, the projects he will undertake, the decisions he must make, the people entrusted to him, his concerns, and his hopes. There will be moments when he sees the path clearly, and others in which he will experience his own smallness: all of this can be placed upon the paten. It is the bishop’s duty to give himself faithfully; the fruit, in the end, belongs to God (cf. 1 Cor 3:6-7).
The celebration itself reveals the source of this fruitfulness. In the Holy Mass, Christ’s one sacrifice for the salvation of the world is made present sacramentally, while his people are united to their Lord’s offering. From this Holy Sacrifice flows the grace by which the Church lives and through which Christ continues to gather and sanctify her throughout history. The bishop, like every priest, lends his voice and his hands to Christ, the Eternal High Priest, who acts through his ministry. What he celebrates must also be extended into his own life, which is ever more united to the Lord’s offering, until his entire existence becomes, in Christ, an offering to the Father.
The spiritual geography of the Church in Latin America has been shaped by shepherds who have visibly made manifest the union that exists between the altar and one’s life. The figure of Saint Turibius, therefore, does not stand alone. Over the centuries and in different regions of the continent, a veritable constellation of bishops has emerged whom the Church venerates as saints and blessed. Alongside the great Archbishop of Lima are Saints Anthony Mary Claret, Ezekiel Moreno, Raphael Guízar, and Oscar Romero, and Blesseds Juan de Palafox, Jacinto Vera, Mamerto Esquiú, Enrique Angelelli, Jesús Jaramillo and Eduardo Pironio, among so many other distinguished bishops. Let us delve deeper into the ministry and writings of these shepherds and make them known in our local Churches. Their witness can help us better understand the mission of the bishop, and is of particular interest for the formation of seminarians and priests. Their lives reveal how the same mission can take different forms according to times and circumstances and they form a school of shepherds born of our ecclesial history. Indeed, the saints continue to form saints (cf. Heb 13:7).
Let us entrust to Our Lady of Guadalupe our desire to live out the mission we have received with renewed fidelity. At the dawn of the evangelization of that beloved continent, she wished for Saint Juan Diego to present her request to the bishop, so that he might discern and welcome what the Lord was carrying out through a humble messenger. That encounter remains an invitation to us as shepherds to be attentive to God’s action, which often manifests itself in unexpected ways and makes use of those whom we would least expect. Through the intercession of the Mother of God, let us ask for the grace to know, serve and love the churches entrusted to us, so that, when the time comes to give an account to the Lord of our ministry, we may hear: “Well done, good and faithful servant […] enter into the joy of your master” (Mt 25:21).
With fraternal affection, I cordially impart my Blessing.
From the Vatican, 8 September 2026, Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary
LEO PP. XIV
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[1] PIUS XII, Radio Message to the Fifth Inter-American Congress on Catholic Education, 12 January 1954.
[2] Cf. SAINT JOHN PAUL II, Meeting with the Bishops of Peru, 2 February 1985.
[3] Cf. BENEDICT XVI, Message for the Celebrations of the Fourth Centenary of the Death of Saint Turbius of Mogrovejo, 23 March 2006.
[4] Cf. FRANCIS, Meeting with the Peruvian Bishops, 21 January 2018.
[5] Cf. Cæremoniale Episcoporum, 1141–1144.
[6] Cf. Ibid., 1180.
[7] Ibid., 1143.
