As he meets with Uruguay’s Bishops, clergy, and religious, Pope Leo XIV urges Catholics in dioceses around the world to pray and fast for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.
By Edoardo Giribaldi
“From Montevideo’s cathedral, I invite my brother Bishops around the world to encourage their dioceses to observe days of prayer and fasting for an increase in vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life.”
During Vespers with Bishops, priests, deacons, men and women religious, and seminarians at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and Saints Philip and James in Montevideo, Uruguay, Pope Leo XIV encouraged dioceses worldwide to follow the example of the local faithful, who came together for days of prayer and fasting for vocations.
“May parishes, families, and religious communities join in this prayer, and may this country’s example encourage many others to pray with the same trust!” he appealed.
How the Uruguayan initiative began
The Pope recalled that the initiative in Uruguay began in 2024, when the interdiocesan seminary received no new candidates. That prompted the faithful to gather “to ask the Lord to send laborers into His harvest.”
They have persevered in prayer ever since. “Today we give thanks,” he said, “that several young people have begun their journey in the seminary and in consecrated life and are here with us.”
“What a joy to know that people continue to respond generously to Christ’s love!” he said. “I thank with all my heart those who have sustained this prayer, and I encourage them to persevere. Recognize these fruits as proof that our God hears his people’s prayers.”
An earlier appeal to abstain from hurtful words
The appeal came at the end of the first day of the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to Latin America. Pope Leo had previously urged the faithful to set aside time to fast from food and to pray, both individually and together.
In his message for Lent 2026, the Bishop of Rome called for a practical and often overlooked form of abstinence by “refraining from words that offend and hurt our neighbor.”
In the same message, he said fasting must always be practiced “in faith and humility” if it is to remain true to the Gospel.
Fasting and prayer for peace
At the end of his General Audience on August 20, 2025, Pope Leo XIV also invited the faithful to observe August 22, the memorial of the Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a day of “fasting and prayer.”
He asked Catholics to implore the Lord to “grant us peace and justice” and to “dry the tears of those who suffer” because of ongoing armed conflicts.
