Bishops Find Hope, and Humor, during ‘ad Limina’ Meeting with Pope

Catholic News Service
January 14, 2020

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2020/01/bishops-find-hope-and-humor-during-ad-limina-meeting-with-pope/

Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo, N.D., Bishop David D. Kagan of Bismarck, N.D., and Bishop John M. LeVoir of New Ulm, Minn., and other U.S. bishops from North Dakota, Minnesota and South Dakota concelebrate Mass in the crypt of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 13, 2020. The bishops were making their "ad limina" visits to the Vatican to report on the status of their dioceses to the pope and Vatican officials. (Credit: Paul Haring/CNS.)

ROME - The ad limina visits bishops are required to make to the Vatican are occasions to be honest about challenges, while also being encouraged to hope, said Bishop John T. Folda of Fargo, North Dakota.

“It’s tempting at times to lose hope when all you hear is bad news and with some of the challenges we face in our dioceses at home; it’s extremely important to maintain a spirit of hope and the ad limina I think has been that for me,” Folda told Catholic News Service Jan. 13 after a two-hour meeting with Pope Francis.

Bishops from U.S. Region VIII - North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota - met the pope on the first day of their visit. The region’s 10 dioceses have one archbishop, one auxiliary bishop, six bishops, one bishop-designate and two diocesan administrators.

Archbishop Bernard A. Hebda of St. Paul and Minneapolis had previously made an ad limina visit as bishop of Gaylord, Michigan, in 2012. Pope Benedict XVI was pope. Even then, the archbishop said, there was a group discussion, although each bishop prepared a topic to discuss.

“This was even more free flowing,” the archbishop said.

Francis spent about 30 minutes meeting with priests and seminarians from the 10 dioceses - “he was very gracious and patient” - and then spent a full two hours alone with the bishops, Hebda said. “It was pretty amazing. It was beautiful.”