American bishops have been scheduled to meet next year with Pope Leo XIV, in the first of the ad limina visits to Rome for U.S. bishops during Leo’s pontificate.
In a May 19 letter, Msgr. Kevin Fuller, general secretary of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told U.S. bishops that while the Vatican had previously indicated quinquennial meetings would not be possible next year, a full schedule of meetings for the bishops of the country’s 196 dioceses has been recently granted.
“On behalf of [USCCB president] Archbishop [Paul] Coakley, I wish to inform you that we have received a schedule for ad limina Apostolorum visits beginning in March 2027,” Fuller wrote to the bishops Thursday, noting that conference officials were “initially informed that no ad limina visits were likely for next year.”
“The Prefecture of the Papal Household also noted that these dates might be subject to change in account of any possible Apostolic journeys of the Holy Father,” the general secretary noted, but said he, “wanted to share this information with you so that you may plan accordingly.”
In accord with canon law, all bishops are required to complete a pilgrimage to Rome every five years, at which they are “to venerate the tombs of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul,” hence the name ad limina Apostolorum — at the threshold of the apostles.
But while a spiritual pilgrimage is at the heart of the quinquennial ad limina visits, the trips are most often noted for the bishops’ meetings with the heads of the Roman curial dicasteries and with the pope, at which they are required to present comprehensive reports on the state of their dioceses, which usually span several hundred pages.
In his letter, Fuller explained that he wanted to give bishops as much advance notice as possible, after the Vatican had previously indicated that the bishops would not be making their ad limina visits next year.
Because of the large number of American dioceses and bishops, U.S. bishops make their ad limina visits by USCCB regional groups, of which there are 15.
The schedule as released to the bishops Tuesday is set to begin with Region I in the first week of March 2027, including the dioceses of New England, followed by Region II (New York) a the end of the month and proceeding in order until Region XV (the Eastern Catholic Eparchies of the U.S.) at the end of September.
The last slate of American ad limina visits took place across the winter months of 2019-2020. While the visits are in principle meant to take place every five years, the timeline is often expanded, because of the challenge of scheduling visits for bishops around the world, amid the other obligations of the pope and of Vatican officials. While U.S. bishops would have reached the five-year mark, and thus be due for a visit last year, the death of Pope Francis and the subsequent conclave significantly altered the ad limina schedule.
The meetings between the U.S. bishops and the first American born pope will be require significant preparation from U.S. chancery officials, some of whom will have less than a year to produce a comprehensive review of the pastoral, sacramental, financial, demographic, and evangelizing state of their dioceses, complete with data and statistical analysis of various elements in diocesan life.
In addition, the visits will be the first occasion for U.S. dioceses to present to Pope Leo the results, and U.S. bishops to relay their impressions, of the global synodal process inaugurated under Pope Francis.
The meetings will also follow U.S. midterm Congressional elections in November, and come after a series of notable points of disagreement between the Holy See and the White House on issues including military interventions in Venezuela and Iran, as well as the Trump administration’s campaign of mass detention and deportation of illegal migrants last year.