Eight men are set to be ordained to the priesthood this Sunday, April 26, in Rome, as Pope Leo XIV presides over a ceremony that coincides with the Catholic Church’s annual day of prayer for vocations.
The ordination Mass will take place at St Peter’s Basilica, where Pope Leo XIV will confer the sacrament of Holy Orders on candidates preparing for ministry in the Diocese of Rome. The ceremony falls on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, an occasion established by Pope Paul VI in 1964 to encourage reflection on priestly and Religious vocations worldwide.
The candidates represent a diverse range of personal backgrounds and vocational journeys. One of those to be ordained, Giovanni Emanuele Nunziante, first sensed a calling to Religious life in childhood but only made a decisive commitment after reflecting on the Gospel message of the Good Shepherd in 2016. Another ordinand, Jos Emmanuel Nleme Sabate, was raised in a Protestant family of Cameroonian origin and entered the Catholic Church at the age of 12, later developing a pastoral interest in ministry to people with disabilities, including the study of sign language.
Others bring professional or academic experience from outside the Church. Daniele Riscica, once regarded as “a new promise of international piano”, was a precocious concert musician who had performed internationally and left a musical career in his mid-20s to pursue seminary formation. Having performed at prestigious venues in Brazil, China and Mozambique, he felt he was called by the Lord to something more and left this behind.
Antonino Ordine, meanwhile, had been studying medicine before discerning a vocation through involvement in the Neocatechumenal Way, a missionary-focused movement present in many dioceses around the world.
“I can say that the Lord has made my life much more beautiful than I ever imagined. Whether here in the Diocese of Rome, in many parishes, or during some missions in Latin America, the Middle East, and India, I have understood that it is beautiful to serve the Church,” he testified.
Preparations for the ordination began with a prayer vigil held on April 24 at the Archbasilica of St John Lateran, the cathedral church of the Bishop of Rome. The event was organised by several Vatican and diocesan bodies, including the Dicastery for the Clergy, and featured scripture readings, testimonies and participation from young Catholics involved in vocational discernment.
Senior Church leaders expected to attend included Cardinal Lazzaro You Heung-sik and Cardinal Baldo Reina, underscoring the significance the Vatican attaches to priestly formation at a time when many regions – particularly in Europe – continue to face declining numbers of seminarians.
Globally, the Catholic Church has experienced a gradual reduction in priestly vocations over the past two decades, especially in Western countries, even as numbers have remained comparatively stable or increased in parts of Africa and Asia, though in Africa this is largely accounted for by population growth.
