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Bishop Paul reflects on his visit to Rome

In the last week of June, I had a trip to Rome. I was there for celebrations for this Holy Year, this Year of Jubilee. I shared the week with thirty Redemptorist bishops from around the world.  They came from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, the United States, Canada, Italy, Ukraine, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, England, Zimbabwe and New Zealand. Cardinal Mykola Bychok and I were there from Australia.

The planning for the meeting began last year. The Redemptorist superior general, Fr Rogério Gomes, wrote to Redemptorist bishops and invited us to gather in Rome in the week of the Jubilee for Bishops. Fr Rogério arranged for us to stay at a hostel very close to St Peter’s basilica. In fact, from my window at the hostel I had a direct view of the front of St Peter’s.

On Monday June 23, we visited the Dominican Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva where the founder of the Redemptorists, St Alphonsus Liguori, was ordained as bishop.  From there we went to the main Redemptorist house in Rome, where the Redemptorist general council is based and where there is a college of moral theology. This is very close to the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where Pope Francis is buried. So I took the opportunity to visit Pope Francis’ tomb before returning to our hostel near St Peter’s.

The next day, we were up early to catch a bus travelling south to visit the Redemptorist community in Pagani, where St Alphonsus spent his final years. We celebrated Mass in the basilica of St Alphonsus and prayed at his tomb. The music for the occasion included hymns by St Alphonsus, led by a local choir and accompanied by a string quartet and flute.

The next day, June 25, was the day of the Jubilee of Bishops in Rome. In the morning we went in procession with hundreds of other bishops, entering St Peter’s basilica through the Holy Door, and we concelebrated Mass with Cardinal Ouellet, former prefect of the Congregation for Bishops. At noon we went into the basilica again to hear a talk from Pope Leo. He spoke in Italian, welcoming the bishops to Rome and offering us a message of encouragement in our service of the people of our dioceses throughout the world. He spoke of the qualities that a bishop needs in leading his community. He reflected on the bishop’s call to be a person of faith and hope and love and someone who leads by example as well as by his words.

On the morning of June 26, we walked across St Peter’s square again, this time to the entrance to the Pope’s residence, next to the basilica. One of the Swiss guards led us up the stairs to the room where we were to meet with the Pope. When Pope Leo arrived, he began our meeting with the sign of the cross and a greeting of peace. Then he offered some reflections on the service that St Alphonsus had given to the Church and the service that we are called to give as Redemptorist bishops. He recalled how St Alphonsus had been moved by the poverty of people in the most neglected neighbourhoods of Naples in the eighteenth century and had decided to renounce a comfortable life and a career as a lawyer to embrace the mission of bringing the gospel to people in need. Pope Leo said that people face similar challenges today and he encouraged us to follow the example of St Alphonsus in our care for people in our time. After sharing these reflections, the Pope invited each of us to come forward to meet him personally.

Acknowledgement: © Vatican Media

In my brief conversation with Pope Leo, he seemed to me to be a kind man, a man of peace. My impression during that meeting confirmed the impression I had when I first saw him on television when he appeared on the balcony of St Peter’s soon after being elected as Pope. His first words then were, “Peace be with you all.” I remember that greeting particularly because it was close to the motto I chose myself when I began my service as Bishop of Ballarat. When I started my ministry as bishop in 2012, I chose as my motto, “Peace be with you.” I was pleased to see that Pope Leo was also highlighting the message of peace. It is a message at the heart of the gospel. It is a message we hear from Jesus himself after he had risen from the tomb. When he met his disciples after his resurrection, Jesus said, “Peace be with you.” Pope Leo echoed these words of Jesus in his first words to the crowd in St Peter’s square after his election and in his meeting with us last week. Pope Leo is following in the footsteps of Jesus in being a man of peace.

The afternoon of June 26 and the morning of June 27 we spent in reflecting on our role as bishops, particularly on how we could draw on the spirit of our Redemptorist Congregation in our service.

In the evening of June 27, we returned to the Redemptorist general house to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. We have copies of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in our cathedral church in Ballarat and in many other churches throughout our diocese. The original icon is in the church of St Alphonsus in Rome. We joined the local congregation in celebrating Mass before the icon. Following the Mass we walked in procession through the streets, carrying a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. One side of the main street, Via Merulana, was closed to traffic to allow the procession to move along. We prayed and sang hymns, accompanied by a brass band. We paused outside the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the oldest Roman church dedicated to Mary. This was the church I had visited a few days before, to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis. The procession through the streets of Rome on a summer’s evening provided a beautiful conclusion to our week of celebrations.

While I was in Rome I offered some prayers for our diocese of Ballarat. In St Peter’s basilica I said a prayer at the tomb of St Peter. I also prayed at the tomb of Pope Francis in the basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. In each place I prayed for the communities of our diocese of Ballarat. I prayed that God would bless each person in our diocese and each family and each community. I prayed that the Jubilee of Hope we were celebrating in Rome would bring blessings of hope around the globe, reaching all the way to our diocesan community on the other side of the world.

Bishop Paul Bird CSsR

International meeting of Redemptorist Bishops

 

This was the first ever International meeting of Redemptorist Bishops from all over the world  held in Rome from June 22 – 27, 2025.

 

 

Bishop Paul Bird shares his impressions of the First Meeting of Redemptorist Bishops in Rome: