Bulletins, Newsletters, and Flocknotes

This morning, the Holy Father Leo XIV received in audience the members of the Information System for the Security of the Republic.

The following are the words of greeting addressed by the Pope to those present:

 

Greeting of the Holy Father

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you!

 

Distinguished Authorities,

Brothers and sisters!

I am pleased to welcome you on this centenary of the establishment of the Italian intelligence service. It was in 1925 that the Military Information Service was set up, laying the foundations for a more coordinated and effective system to protect national security.

First of all, I would like to express my appreciation for the work you do, which requires competence, transparency and confidentiality. It invests you with the serious responsibility of constantly monitoring the dangers that could threaten the life of the nation, in order to contribute above all to the protection of peace. It is a demanding job, which, due to its confidential nature, often runs the risk of being exploited, but which is of great importance in anticipating any scenarios that could be dangerous to the life of society.

Over the course of these hundred years, many things have changed, capabilities and tools have become much more sophisticated, and the challenges facing our societies have increased and diversified. In this regard, I would urge you to carry out your work not only with professionalism, but also with an ethical perspective that takes into account at least two essential aspects: respect for human dignity and the ethics of communication .

Firstly, respect for human dignity . Security activities must never lose sight of this fundamental dimension and must never fail to respect the dignity and rights of each individual. In certain difficult circumstances, when the common good seems more important than anything else, there is a risk of forgetting this ethical requirement, and therefore it is not always easy to find a balance. As the European Commission for Democracy through Law has stated, security agencies often have to collect information on individuals and therefore have a significant impact on individual rights. [1]

It is therefore necessary that limits be established, according to the criterion of human dignity, and that we remain vigilant against the temptations to which a job like yours exposes you. Ensure that your actions are always proportionate to the common good to be pursued and that the protection of national security always and in all cases guarantees people’s rights, their private and family life, freedom of conscience and information, and the right to a fair trial. In this sense, the activities of the services must be governed by laws that are duly promulgated and published, subject to the control and supervision of the judiciary, and their budgets must be subject to public and transparent controls.

The second aspect concerns the ethics of communication . The world of communications has changed notably in recent decades and, today, the digital revolution is something that simply forms part of our life and of how we exchange information and interact with each other. Furthermore, the advent of new and increasingly advanced technologies offers us greater possibilities but, at the same time, exposes us to constant dangers. The massive and continuous exchange of information requires us to be critically aware of certain issues of vital importance: the distinction between truth and fake news, the undue exposure of private life, the manipulation of the most vulnerable, the logic of blackmail, and incitement to hatred and violence.

Strict vigilance is required to ensure that confidential information is not used to intimidate, manipulate, blackmail or discredit politicians, journalists or other civil society actors. All this also applies to the ecclesial sphere. In fact, in several countries, the Church is the victim of intelligence services that act for nefarious purposes, oppressing its freedom. These risks must always be assessed and require a high moral stature in those who are preparing to do a job like yours and in those who have been doing it for some time.

I am well aware of the delicate role and responsibility to which you are called. In this regard, I would also like to remember those of your colleagues who have lost their lives in delicate missions carried out in difficult contexts. Their dedication may not make the headlines, but it lives on in the people they helped and in the crises they helped to resolve.

Finally, I would like to express my gratitude for the efforts of the Italian intelligence services in ensuring the security of the Holy See and Vatican City State. And here I would like to express my gratitude for your collaboration with the Gendarmerie, with the Vatican, the Holy See, in so many services, where this ability and opportunity to serve others truly becomes a reality thanks to our good collaboration with you.

I encourage you to continue your work, always keeping in mind the common good, learning to assess the various situations that arise before you with judgement and balance, and remaining firmly anchored to those legal and ethical principles that place the dignity of the human person above all else.

Ladies and gentlemen, I congratulate you on your choice to live the Jubilee together as a working community. God’s grace will not fail to bear good fruit on a personal level and, consequently, also in your work. This is my wish, which I accompany with my apostolic blessing for you and your families. I wish you all a Merry Christmas!

_______________________________________

[1]  Cf. Venice Commission,  Report on the Democratic oversight of the Security Services  (1-2 June 2007), § 2.

Dear brothers and sisters,

When Jesus Christ called his disciples, he almost invariably used the words “follow me”. In those few words we can find the deepest purpose of our lives, whether as seminarians, priests or members of consecrated life.

If we reread the Gospel texts about the calling, the first thing we notice is the Lord's absolute initiative. He calls them without any prior merit on their part (cf. Mt 9:9; Jn 1:43), seeing rather that the vocation to which he calls them is an opportunity to bring the Gospel message to sinners and the weak (cf. Mt 9:12-13). In this way, his disciples become instruments of God’s plan of salvation for all people (cf. Jn 1:48).

At the same time, the Gospel exhorts us to be aware of the commitment that responding to this vocation entails. It speaks to us of certain demands that we can identify in the frustrated call to the rich young man ( Mt 19:21): the demand for the absolute primacy of God, the only good (v. 17); the requirement of the urgent need for theoretical and practical knowledge of the divine law (vv. 18-19); and the requirement of detachment from all human security, with the consequent offering of all that we are and all that we have (v. 21).

Saint Ambrose, in his exegesis of the surprising passage about the young man whom Jesus does not allow to bury his father ( Lk 9:59), assumes that in this demand to leave everything behind—even things that are in themselves just – the Lord does not intend to evade natural duties, sanctioned by God's law, but rather to open our eyes to a new life. In this new life, nothing can take precedence over God, not even what we had previously known as good, and it implies the death of sin and the old worldly man. All this “so that we may be one with Almighty God and see his only begotten Son” ( Treatise on the Gospel of Saint Luke , 40).

For Ambrose, this indispensable union with Jesus, far from separating us from our brothers and sisters, leads us back to communion with others. We do not walk alone; we are part of a community. We are not united by bonds of sympathy, shared interests or mutual convenience, but by belonging to the people whom the Lord redeemed at the price of his Blood (cf. 1 Pet 1:18-19). Our union tends towards an eschatological value that will be verified when we imitate “the unity of eternal peace with an unbreakable harmony of souls and in an endless alliance” and fulfil “what the Son of God promised us when he raised this prayer to his Father: ‘May they all be one, as we are one’ ( Jn 17:21)” ( Treatise on the Gospel of Saint Luke , 40).

Finally, in the Gospel of Saint John, Jesus repeats the words “Follow me” twice to the Apostle Peter. He does so in a very different context, the Resurrection, just after Peter's thrice-repeated confession of love in reparation for his sin. Even though he confessed his love, the Apostle did not fully understand the mystery of the cross, but the Lord already had in mind the sacrifice with which Peter would give glory to God and repeated to him: “Follow me” ( Jn 21:19). When, throughout our lives, our vision becomes clouded, as it did for Peter in the middle of the night or during storms ( Mt 14:25, 31), it will be the voice of Jesus that sustains us with loving patience.

The second time Jesus says to Peter, “Follow me”, he assures us that the Lord knows our frailty and that, often, it is not the cross that is imposed on us, but our own selfishness that becomes a stumbling block in our eagerness to follow him. The dialogue with the Apostle shows us how easily we judge our brother and even God, without docilely accepting his will in our lives. Here too, the Lord repeats to us, with constancy: “What is that to you? Follow me!” ( Jn 21:22).

Brothers and sisters, since we live in a society of noise that distracts us, today more than ever we need servants and disciples who proclaim the absolute primacy of Christ and whose voice is clear in our ears and hearts. This theoretical and practical knowledge of divine law is achieved above all through reading the Holy Scriptures, meditating in the silence of deep prayer, reverently welcoming the voice of legitimate pastors, and attentively studying the many treasures of wisdom offered to us by the Church.

In the midst of joys and difficulties, our motto must be: if Christ went through this, it is also our duty to live what He lived. We must not be driven by applause because its echo is short-lived; nor is it healthy to dwell only on the memory of days of crisis or times of bitter disappointment. Let us rather see that all this is part of our formation and say: if God has willed it for me, I also will it (cf. Ps 40:8). The deep bond that unites us to Christ, whether as priests, consecrated persons or seminarians, is similar to what is said to Christian spouses on their wedding day: “in sickness and in health, in poverty and in wealth” ( Ritual of Marriage , 66).

May the Blessed Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, Mother of the true God through whom we live, teach us to respond with courage and to keep in our hearts the wonders that Christ has accomplished in us, so that we may go forth without delay to proclaim the joy of having found him, of being one in the One and living stones of a temple for his glory. May Mary Most Holy watch over your journey through Rome and intercede for you, so that everything you learn in Rome may be fruitful in your mission. God bless you.

Vatican, 9 December 2025. Memorial of Saint Juan Diego

LEO PP. XIV

Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Piura, Peru

Appointment of bishop prelate of Chuquibamba, Peru

 

Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Piura, Peru

The Holy Father has appointed the Reverend Luciano Maza Huamán, of the clergy of the archdiocese of Piura, Peru, until now vicar general, as metropolitan archbishop of the same archdiocese.

Curriculum vitae

Msgr. Luciano Maza Huamán was born on 4 June 1957 in Castilla, archdiocese of Piura. He studied philosophy at the San Luis Gonzaga Seminary in Jaén, and theology at the Facultad de Teología Pontificia y Civil de Lima.

He was ordained a priest on 25 March 1987, and incardinated in the metropolitan archdiocese of Piura.

After ordination, he obtained a diploma in pastoral theology, a diploma in psychology, and a diploma in spirituality; he then served as parish vicar of Sagrado Corazón de Jesús (1987-1988), parish priest of San Silvestre (1989-1990), formator, spiritual director and professor at the San Juan María Vianney archdiocesan seminary (1991-2001), regional spiritual assistant of the Presencia del Evangelio Secular Institute (1995-2013), chancellor of the archdiocese of Piura (1999-2002), diocesan spiritual assistant of the Movimiento Juan XXIII (since 2010), member of the College of Consultors and the Presbyteral Council, member of the Vicaría de la Familia (since 2023), and to date, vicar general of the metropolitan archdiocese of Piura.

 

Appointment of bishop prelate of Chuquibamba, Peru

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Juan Carlos Asqui Pilco as bishop prelate of the territorial prelature of Chuquibamba, Peru, transferring him from the titular see of Arpi and the office of auxiliary of Tacna y Moquegua.

Curriculum vitae

Bishop Juan Carlos Asqui Pilco was born on 7 December 1972 in the city of Tacna, diocese of Tacna y Moquegua. He studied philosophy at the Seminario Nacional Cristo Sacerdote in Colombia and theology at the Instituto Superior de Estudios Teológicos Juan XXIII – ISET in Lima, obtaining a bachelor’s degree in theology.

He was ordained a priest on 23 April 2000 and incardinated in the diocese of Tacna y Moquegua.

He has held the following offices: pastoral assistant in Coruca, Inclán, Poquera and Tacna (2000), parish vicar of San Jerónimo in Ilo and assessor of the youth movement (2001), administrator of San Jerónimo in Ilo and spiritual assessor of ecclesial and charismatic groups (2002), parish priest of Santísima Trinidad in Ilo (2003) and the Santuario Señor de Locumba in Tacna (2004-2006), bursar and member of the Economic Council of the diocese of Tacna y Moquegua (2006-2013), parish priest of San José Misericordioso in Tacna (2007-2013), bursar of the San José diocesan seminary of Tacna (2013), parish priest of San Antonio de Padua in Moquegua (2014-2019), member of the Presbyteral Council of Tacna y Moqugua (2014), episcopal vicar for pastoral care and for the implementation of the Plan de Renovación y Evangelización de la Diócesis (2014-2019), and rector of the San José diocesan seminary of Tacna (2019-2022).

He was appointed titular bishop of Arpi and auxiliary of the diocese of Tacna y Moquegua on 26 March 2022, receiving episcopal consecration the following 12 May.

To date, he has served as apostolic administrator of the territorial prelature of Chuquibamba.

This morning, the Holy Father received in audience:

- His Eminence Cardinal Jean-Marc Aveline, metropolitan archbishop of Marseille, France, president of the Bishops’ Conference of France; with Archbishop Vincent Jordy, metropolitan of Tours, vice president; Bishop Benoît Bertrand of Pontoise, vice president; and the Reverend Christophe Le Sourt, secretary general;

- Archbishop Georg Gänswein, titular of Urbisaglia, apostolic nuncio in Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia;

- Bishop Ricardo Basilio Morales Galindo, O. de M., of Copiapó, Chile;

- The Reverend Fr. Hans Zollner, S.J.;

- Directors and staff of Italian intelligence.

Appointment of apostolic nuncio in Portugal

Appointment of ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

 

Appointment of apostolic nuncio in Portugal

The Holy Father has appointed Archbishop Andrés Carrascosa Coso, titular of Elo, until now apostolic nuncio in Ecuador, as apostolic nuncio in Portugal.

 

Appointment of ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences

The Holy Father has appointed the distinguished Professor Adrian Pabst, professor of politics at the University of Kent, Great Britain, as ordinary member of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences.

Curriculum vitae

Professor Pabst was born in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, on 2 November 1976. He graduated in economics at the University of Cambridge in 1998, in European studies at the London School of Economics in 1999, in political thought at Sciences Po Paris in 2000, and in philosophy and theology at the Institut Catholique de Paris in 2002. He was awarded a doctorate in political philosophy and philosophy of religion at the University of Cambridge in 2006. He taught political theory and political economy at the University of Kent, and is the author of numerous books and academic articles, as well as the editor of various collections. Since 2014, he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the Centesimus Annus Pro Pontifice Foundation and, since 2016, its secretary.