Pope Leo XIV tells Rome's priests to 'do less and do it better'
Opening the pastoral year of the Diocese of Rome, the pope set out four criteria for assessing which pastoral activities are genuinely necessary and effective
Pope Leo XIV asked the priests of the Diocese of Rome to "do less and do it better" as he opened the diocesan pastoral year. Speaking on September 18, 2026, to the assembly gathered in the Basilica of St. John Lateran, he proposed devoting the year to a review of pastoral activities to work out which ones genuinely serve the Church's mission and which do not.
The pope built his proposal around four criteria. The first was "encountering Christ and helping others to encounter him." He said, "The Church does not exist for itself, but to guide every person toward an encounter with the Lord." It is not enough for an activity to be well organized or well attended, he said. The decisive question is whether it really leads to Christ and whether it brings the Gospel into contact with people's actual lives.
The second criterion was "building communities." The pope encouraged the priests to have the courage to concentrate on essentials: creating space for genuine relationships, where people feel welcomed, supported, valued and jointly responsible for the life of the Church.
The third was "living and serving in the city." The pope said Rome is not simply a backdrop for its communities but the place where their mission is carried out. The fourth criterion concerned "the formation of the People of God": whether activities help people grow in faith, whether they form missionary disciples, and whether they build a sense of responsibility in the Church that turns into concrete decisions about life and service.
In closing, the pope suggested that priests stop to examine the "why" of each activity: the evangelical intentions behind it and the real needs it sets out to meet. He also asked them to consider why some initiatives open up paths of faith while others remain isolated, and why some people take part while others stay on the margins.
Weighing those reasons against the results, he said, will produce genuine discernment about what should be kept, valued, corrected, abandoned or started in the pastoral work of the Diocese of Rome.
