In this missionary month, Bishop Adolfo Zon Pereira of Alto Solimões, Amazonia, Brazil, reflects: “To the chair of Peter, Pope Leo brings the experience of a shepherd with the smell of the sheep, of a missionary who learned to evangelize on his knees, while listening”.

In the silence of the peripheries, where the Gospel often arrives as a faint whisper amid the confusion of so much cultural noise, a vocation like that of Pope Leo appears. Not inherited through prestige, as in the case of a cathedra, but shaped in the slow fire of the mission ad gentes.
The beginning of his story is not in the halls of the Vatican, but on the dusty paths of the villages of northern Peru, encounters with marginal communities, small gestures of love more eloquent than many words. Mission, in accordance with the Second Vatican Council, is the vanguard of the outgoing Church. And so, on these margins, Leo was a shepherd.

Bishop Robert Prevost attended the inauguration of the Our Lady of Chota soup kitchen in Campodónico, Chiclayo. Courtesy Caritas Chiclayo

Mission, for Leo, is not the expansion of the ecclesial institution, but the passionate response to the Lord Jesus’s command: “Go and make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19). His experience of diverse cultures and languages, of realities profoundly marked by poverty and exclusion, has equipped him with a contemplative, patient, and embodied vision of reality. A missionary on the margins of the world, he learned local languages primarily to listen, not to teach. He did not evangelize from above, but rather side by side, like a brother among brothers. His mission was imbued with simplicity: he shared the table with the poor, visited the sick, travelled long distances to celebrate the Eucharist in unknown communities. He was especially attentive to the elderly, to disoriented young people, to mothers exhausted by daily toil. In every face he saw the face of Christ, and to every one he reserved a gaze of appreciation and tenderness.
To the Chair of Peter, Pope Leo brought this experience of a shepherd with the smell of the sheep, of a missionary who learned to evangelize on his knees, listening.
His pontificate will undoubtedly be an extension of his missionary spirit, and his leadership will reflect the spirituality of listening, presence, and hope. Leo’s example reminds us that mission requires courage, passion, and, above all, a heart open to the action of the Holy Spirit.

Monsignor Prevost visits the district of Illimo during the floods in the area. Courtesy, Diocese of Chiclayo.

Mission, according to Pope Leo, takes place within the home, in the daily routine of family life, in the workplace, in schools, and in city streets. It is not something special or distant, but the daily practice of listening, welcoming, and caring for others. Evangelization occurs in personal encounters with others, especially the marginalized and excluded.
One does not have to travel many miles to be a missionary, because mission is where there is a need for testimony, where a soul is waiting for the light of the Gospel.
Evangelizing, according to Pope Leo, is more than preaching; it is experiencing Christ’s presence in the world, as a presence of peace and hope. In short, mission is not simply something to do, an external task, but an interior experience that transforms the missionary first and foremost. I hope that Pope Leo’s pontificate, inspired by the mission ad gentes, will leave a profound and lasting mark on the life of the Church, enabling her to be more courageous, capable of encountering others with humility, unafraid of differences, and with a heart open to dialogue and service. With his guidance, every local Church is invited to rediscover missionary zeal, not only in distant lands, but also in the urban and existential peripheries, in forgotten areas, in digital and cultural environments where Christ is still little known and loved. (Open Photo: Pope Leo XIV. Vatican Media)

(MO)