Faithful God, we thank you for calling Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost as Bishop of Rome and Pope Leo XIV. May he be a servant of communion for all your people, and a witness to peace and hope in the human family.

 

Through your Holy Spirit, enable him day after day to walk in the footsteps of your Son Jesus, as a creator of unity in the mystery of communion that is his Body, the Church, compassionate towards those who suffer and in solidarity with every person who seeks peace.

In a letter to the new pope, Brother Matthew wrote:

At this moment of particular importance for the whole Church, we pray that the Holy Spirit will sustain you in your ministry, so that you may be a sign of unity, peace and hope for the whole world. In this sense, your first blessing urbi et orbi touches us deeply, especially the call to be “a synodal Church, a Church on the move, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, that always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer”.

On Tuesday, a prayer for the conclave was held in Taizé and elsewhere in the world, an initiative taken up by the World Council of Churches in an online prayer at midday.

Photo : ecumenical prayer vigil in Rome on September 30, 2023, the day of the consistory at which Bishop Prevost became a cardinal. (C) Lars König, Taizé / Together Media Team

Song to invoke the Holy Spirit 

Tui amoris ignem

Words of welcome followed by the opening prayer (written by Brother Matthew of Taizé)

Faithful God, Shepherd of your people, you bring us together in all our diversity. You give us the gift of loving your Son Jesus and the mystery of communion that is his Body, the Church. We give you thanks for the life and ministry of Pope Francis, for the paths he has opened to proclaim the good news of your love in today’s world.

 

On the eve of the conclave, we ask you to send your Holy Spirit upon those who have been given the responsibility of choosing his successor as Bishop of Rome. May your Spirit give them a listening heart, and the wisdom and humility they need to discern your will.

 

Always renew our hope and bless the one you will call to be a servant of unity among your people and a witness to hope and peace in the human family, attentive to the lowly and the needy, for your kingdom belongs to them.

Psalm 34 (33), 2-9. 13-16

Verses to be sung or read alternating with the song Alleluia 24

• I will bless the Lord continually : God’s praise shall be always in my mouth. Let my soul boast of the Lord : the humble shall hear it and rejoice.

• O praise the Lord with me : let us exalt his name together. For I sought the Lord’s help and he answered : and he freed me from all my fears.

• Look towards him and be bright with joy : your faces shall not be ashamed. Here is a wretch who cried, and the Lord heard him : and saved him from all his troubles.

• The angel of the Lord encamps round those who fear him : and delivers them in their need. O taste and see that the Lord is good : happy whoever who hides in God!

• Which of you relishes life : wants time to enjoy good things? Keep your tongue from evil : and your lips from telling lies. Turn from evil and do good : seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of God are on the righteous : and his ears towards their cry.

From the Gospel according to St John (John 16,12-15)

Before his Passion, Jesus said to his disciples: 12 "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

Song that reflects the Word of God

Jésus le Christ

Silence

In places where this is not customary, it can help to announce to the participants that the prayer will continue with a long moment of silence. This can last 8 to 10 minutes.

Prayers of intercession

Sing or read each one alternating with the song Gospodi A

• 1. For the Church of Christ, for all the Churches throughout the world, for the communities and individuals who dedicate themselves to proclaiming the Gospel. We pray to you.
• 2. For the leaders of peoples, that their efforts may converge in the search for a lasting and just peace. We pray to you.
• 3. For Christian unity: may theological dialogue, encounter and the spiritual life open up paths of communion. We pray to you.
• 4. For an ever greater participation of all believers, women and men, old and young, in the synodal processes of discernment and decision-making, we pray to you.
• 5. In gratitude for the life and service of Pope Francis, we pray for those who were at the heart of his ministry: people living on the world’s existential margins - migrants, the poor, and so many others.
• 6. For the Church of England and the whole Anglican Communion, for the process of appointing the person called to serve as Archbishop of Canterbury. For all those who today carry out the mission of evangelisation within this Church. We pray to you.
• 7. For all the cardinals and for all those involved in the preparations for the conclave: send your Holy Spirit upon each of them to guide them in the election of the new bishop of Rome. We pray to you.
• 8. That the Holy Spirit may lead us into the fullness of truth, we pray to you.

Together, let us say the words that Jesus taught his disciples: Our Father …

Concluding prayer (from Taizé)

Bless us, Risen Christ, breathe your Holy Spirit on each one of us so that we may proclaim the good news of your love to all creation.

At the end of the time of prayer, a community leader (pastor or priest) can offer a meditation, and then the leaders of the various denominations can give a final blessing together, adapted to suit each place. A meditative song, or other songs of praise, can then be sung in places where a longer prayer can take place.

Song of praise

The Kingdom of God

Faithful God, we thank you for the life of our dear Pope Francis, whom you called to be with you this morning. He rests in your light, having given his life in the service of your Gospel, in the mystery of communion that is the Body of Christ, the Church. With courage, he urged us to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit today, and to go to the outskirts of the Church and the margins of society to live a sign of greater love. Praise be to you!

As the news of Pope Francis’ death reached us in Taizé, it is with deep emotion that we pray for him, filled with deep gratitude for his life.

The news of the Argentine Pope’s election on March 13, 2013, and his first words in St. Peter’s Square brought us great joy at Taizé. Several brothers were present in Rome at the time, and I myself was in Russia, in the city of Nijniy Novgorod, welcomed by an Argentinian Catholic priest. It was the Cardinal Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Maria Bergoglio, who had sent him to Russia a few years earlier.

Having watched the live announcement together, the priest exclaimed: I’m Catholic, you’re Anglican, we’re in an Orthodox country - this is the sign that this pontificate will be ecumenical! And when I hear those words again, I can only confirm them.

We are particularly grateful to Pope Francis for having worked so hard for Christian unity. He did so through landmark visits and concrete gestures that increased communion. I recall, for example, his visit to the Phanar in November 2014, during which we were deeply moved by his words: "It is precisely young people - I’m thinking, for example, of the multitudes of young Orthodox, Catholics and Protestants who meet in the international gatherings organized by the Taizé Community - it is they who today ask us to take steps forward towards full communion. And they do so, not because they are unaware of the significance of the differences that still separate us, but because they know how to see beyond them, they are able to grasp the essential that already unites us."

Among the gestures that marked his pontificate, I recall in particular his friendship with Patriarch Bartholomew, with numerous Orthodox and Protestant leaders, and his fraternal welcome of Pope Tawadros to Rome in May 2013, his trip to South Sudan with the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury and the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, and also his presence at the ceremonies commemorating 500 years of the Lutheran Reformation in Lund, Sweden, where he expressed his gratitude “for the spiritual and theological gifts received through the Reformation”.

On this day, the memory of the “Together” ecumenical prayer vigil is particularly close to my heart. From the very beginning of this idea, which originated with my predecessor Brother Alois at the opening of the Synod on Synodality, the Pope expressed his full support, then accompanied the project and issued this invitation in January 2023: “The path of Christian unity and the path of the synodal conversion of the Church are linked. (...) From now on, I invite brothers and sisters of all Christian confessions to take part in this gathering of the people of God”. His presence in St. Peter’s Square on September 30, 2023, and the way he welcomed Christian leaders from all the Churches, demonstrated a genuine desire for fraternal communion in charity.

 [1]

From the very beginning of his pontificate, Pope Francis’ calls to reach out to the most vulnerable, to welcome migrants and refugees, to listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor, spoke deeply to us at Taizé. He gave value to those who thought they had none. And I know how much his encyclical “Laudato Si” challenged many people, as did his attention to inter-religious dialogue, which enabled him to forge friendships beyond Christian circles.

His trust in us, and in me as prior of the Taizé Community, remains a gift from God, for which we offer a prayer of thanksgiving today. A few weeks ago, I was due to see him again for another audience, but his hospitalization prevented this, and the following day we gathered with leaders of various Christian denominations in Rome for an ecumenical prayer, following which we rejoiced at the news of his release from hospital.

His pontificate came to an end on Easter Monday. With the brothers and the many young people gathered in Taizé these days, we pray for him, filled with profound gratitude for his life and his service to the Gospel and the Church.

Brother Matthew, prior of Taizé
Easter Monday, April 21, 2025

 [2]

The Community held its annual Community Council from 19 to 26 January. On Sunday evening, a common prayer concluded the Council with the sign of prostration by which the brothers recall the day of their commitment. Beforehand, Brother Matthew said the following prayer:

God of hope, blessed are you!

We thank you for these days of retreat and Council that you have enabled us to live together.

We thank you for your call to each one of us to follow your Son Jesus every day in our community, whether we are in Taizé or on mission in the fraternities. Enable us to listen to the whisper of the gentle breeze of his voice, he who is gentle and humble of heart, and lead us to grasp ever more deeply what you expect of us today.

We thank you for the witness of the lives of our brothers Charles-Eugène and Rudolf, whom you have welcomed into your eternal peace. We thank you for the brothers who have made their life commitment in the community and for the new brothers who have joined us this year.

May your Holy Spirit rekindle in us the passion for the unity of all those who live from the Gospel, who love Christ; rekindle in us the flame of fraternal love; rekindle in us the desire to deepen a life in you, a contemplative gaze.

May we remain all small so that we can welcome with empty hands the gift you offer us, the gift of each person, the gift of your creation, the gift of your presence, so that we may become gift in our turn.

May we keep our door open for those you entrust to us, and may our house more and more echo the presence of Christ.

Together, may we bring to Christ at every moment that which is paralysed in us, in our community, in the Church and in the world you have loved so much. Help us to accept that we too sometimes need to be carried by others.

Help us to understand how to live and speak of your forgiveness among ourselves, and how to understand it where there are wounds and injustice.

Day after day, you invite us, God of hope, to drink from the source of your love, an inexhaustible source of kindness and compassion that never disappoints.

Lead our steps along the path of peace and make us pilgrims of hope, pilgrims of this peace.

Together with two other brothers, this trip enabled him to pray with young people in Lviv, Ternopil and Kyiv, and also to meet many witnesses of the suffering and courage of the Ukrainian people. Brother Matthew also met several leaders of the two Orthodox Churches and all the bishops of the Greek-Catholic Church, who were meeting in synod at the sanctuary of Zarvanitsya.

In the town of Zhitomyr, he took part in a gathering with teachers and pupils of a Catholic school in the town, and then went on a pilgrimage of remembrance to the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where the traces of the occupation by the Russian armed forces in the spring of 2022 are still visible.

On the last evening of his stay in Ukraine, during a prayer in the Latin Catholic church in Kyiv, Brother Matthew said to the young people gathered: “We are going back to France, but we will not forget you. We are going to pass on your courageous testimony to the young people we will meet in Taizé. This is the time of the Resurrection: sometimes it is difficult to believe in the Resurrection, but it teaches us that suffering will not have the last word”.

Contacts

 General media questions: media taize.fr
 Requests and photos specifically linked with the brothers’ stay in Ukraine: ukraine taize.fr.