Archbishop Thompson receives ‘an incredible boost’ from meeting Pope Leo XIV during pilgrimage

Archbishop Charles C. Thompson is pictured with Marilyn Santos, left, associate director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Antonia Salzano, St. Carlo Acutis’ mother, during a pilgrimage stop in Assisi, Italy. (Submitted photo courtesy of Marilyn Santos)

By Sean Gallagher

The news about it came quickly for Archbishop Charles C. Thompson and the group of pilgrims he led in Rome in late September.

While riding on a bus in the Eternal City on the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 25, the archbishop received a text and then a phone call letting him know that he and the group of people he was traveling with could meet Pope Leo XIV in a private audience at 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Archbishop Thompson was leading a group of 30 pilgrims from across the U.S. on a pilgrimage from Sept. 23-Oct. 2 sponsored by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The scheduled centerpiece of the pilgrimage was the group’s participation in the Jubilee for Catechists, one of a series of celebrations in Rome during this Jubilee Year of Hope. The archbishop was leading the pilgrimage group as the chairman of the USCCB’s Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis. (Related: Listen to the archbishop's thoughts on the Arch Indy Vox podcast at tinyurl.com/Rome-Pilgrimage)

That centerpiece changed for Archbishop Thompson and the pilgrims when they learned of their private audience with the pope.

Other significant moments happened on the pilgrimage. Archbishop Thompson gave a presentation to English-speaking catechists from around the world in a historic church in Rome on how catechists are doors of hope. He got to pray at the tomb of Pope Francis at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome. And he and the pilgrimage group met the mother of St. Carlo Acutis in Assisi.

But all of those memorable events take on a different perspective when Archbishop Thompson recalled the surprise he felt when he learned that Pope Leo invited him to meet with him one-on-one that Saturday morning before the pontiff met with the pilgrimage group.

‘I had no idea that that was going to happen’

The group arrived at the Vatican about 40 minutes in advance of the audience. Archbishop Thompson soon was guided to a different room.

“They took me out and down some stairs, walking into a rather large hall,” Archbishop Thompson said, noting that he could hear Pope Leo through a doorway to an adjacent room where he was speaking in Spanish to another group of people.

“At that point, I realized that he’s going to come out that door and I’m going to be standing here,” Archbishop Thompson said. “I guess he’s greeting me before he greets the group.”

Pope Leo greeted him and invited the archbishop to join him in another adjoining room.

“It was a small room,” he recalled. “There was a desk and two chairs, one on each side of the desk. He motioned me to sit down. I sat down. He sat down. The door was closed, and we spent about 10 minutes talking.”

Archbishop Thompson told The Criterion that he had met three other popes, twice as a bishop in ad limina visits to the Holy See. Such visits are prepared for months in advance, with reports about the bishop’s diocese being prepared and sent to the Vatican. But he had never met a pope in a one-on-one encounter.

“It’s one thing to write a report, send it and then discuss it when you go over there,” Archbishop Thompson said. “This was one-on-one. This was very informal, ‘Tell me about the Church in Indiana.’ ”

And he was happy to tell Pope Leo about the archdiocese.

“We do so many wonderful things here,” he said. “I shared that we have a very vibrant Church here in central and southern Indiana. We talked about how our people are so very good at doing national events, mentioning the Eucharistic Congress.”

He also spoke about the upcoming National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) to be held on Nov. 20-22 in Indianapolis. On the morning of Nov. 21, Pope Leo will have a live interactive video encounter in Lucas Oil Stadium with the estimated 15,000 youths who will attend NCYC.

“It was nice to be able to say all these beautiful things that we do, the wonderful people and how they embrace and love their faith,” Archbishop Thompson said.

Reflecting on the time he got to spend with Pope Leo, Archbishop Thompson spoke about how unexpected it was.

“I was so taken aback by the opportunity,” he said. “I have to admit that there was some nervousness there, of course. I had no idea that that was going to happen.”

While describing it as “an incredible boost, a profound encounter of joy and excitement” for him in his ministry in shepherding the Church in central and southern Indiana, Archbishop Thompson did admit that he second-guessed himself after the meeting.

“I probably spent the rest of that day and especially in the evening thinking about what I should have done,” he recalled. “Did I talk too much? Did I not talk enough? Did I follow proper protocol? You’re questioning everything you did afterward.”

From the way Archbishop Thompson described how Pope Leo received him and the pilgrimage group, the U.S.-born pontiff was hospitable, even if his guests were a bit nervous.

“He was very gracious,” Archbishop Thompson said. “I found him very personable, very humble, very engaging, and very sharp, too.”

After meeting with Archbishop Thompson, Pope Leo met with the pilgrimage group and spoke with them for about 15-20 minutes.

Now that he’s back in the archdiocese, Archbishop Thompson cherishes his memories of the pilgrimage as a whole and his opportunity to spend time with Pope Leo.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime moment that I’ll never forget, that I’ll always appreciate,” he said. “I’m grateful to the Holy Father. His schedule is so tight. Not only was he gracious enough to fit us in. But he was so engaging, so personal, so humble. It was a wonderful moment to just be in his presence.”

‘Something we do every day’

As much of an impression that his audience with Pope Leo made on Archbishop Thompson and the pilgrimage group, they knew that they had come to Rome for a larger purpose—to be confirmed in their life of faith as pilgrims of hope.

“That’s something that we do every day,” said Archbishop Thompson. “That’s not something we just did from September 23 to October 2. The pilgrimage to Rome was a moment within our call to be pilgrims. It was a unique moment. It was a profound and powerful moment. But it was something within what we do day in and day out.”

He noted that coming to Rome specifically for the Jubilee for Catechists “kind of heightened the notion of what it means to be a pilgrim of hope.”

That was made clear for him when he was asked by the Holy See’s Dicastery for Evangelization to give a presentation on Sept. 27 to English-speaking catechists from around the world and to have a question-and-answer session with them.

“To hear from catechists from around the world sharing their experience, their struggles, their hopes and how we do this even more effectively, what the pitfalls are and the opportunities—it was a great time of solidarity, a great time of interaction and dialogue with the Spirit being present there,” Archbishop Thompson said.

The following day, Pope Leo celebrated Sunday Mass in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican for the estimated 20,000 pilgrims in Rome for the Jubilee for Catechists. Archbishop Thompson recalled the message Pope Leo shared with the pilgrims in his homily at the Mass.

“When he talked about catechists being witnesses, he said each must pronounce the word [of God] with his or her own life as a person of the word,” Archbishop Thompson explained. “He spoke about accompanying people from childhood to old age. We don’t leave anybody behind. We have to be attentive to every person that we are to accompany and walk with, from womb to tomb in a lifelong formation and conversion process.”

‘Called to be sent out’

With the Jubilee for Catechists and the pilgrimage over, Archbishop Thompson has had time to reflect on the broader meaning of what he experienced in Rome for the life of all Catholics across central and southern Indiana.

He said that all the baptized have a call to share the Gospel and help people understand the faith better.

“Every baptized person is called to be sent out,” Archbishop Thompson said. “Catechists do that in a very unique way, just as bishops, priests and deacons do that and religious do that. We each have our own unique way—lay or ordained—to carry that out. But we all have that same common baptismal call to holiness and mission and to proclaim through witness and action the good news. How do we draw people to Jesus Christ?”

He said that this common call to evangelization and catechesis, emphasized by Pope Leo in his homily during the Mass for the Jubilee for Catechists, echoes one of the principal messages of the Synod on Synodality concluded a year ago: co-responsibility.

“Every baptized person has a co-responsible part in the mission of the Church,” he said. “The Church, by nature, is missionary. The Church exists for the mission of evangelizing catechesis. We all have the responsibility, the opportunity and the ability to proclaim the good news, not by our own merit, our own particular gifts and talents, as much as by the grace of God that’s working in us.”

In reflecting on the Church’s mission and the responsibility of all the baptized for carrying it out, Archbishop Thompson emphasized that the various ways that the faithful can contribute to it in their daily lives must always be rooted in and directed toward Christ.

“Remember that we’re drawing people to Jesus, not to ourselves, not to our egos, not to our ideologies,” he said. “Our ultimate goal is to draw people to the person of Jesus Christ. He is the only savior. We’re instruments. We’re disciples. W e’re missionaries. We’re pilgrims.

“But we’re not saviors. The only savior is Jesus Christ. Pope Leo beautifully reminded us of that.”†