On October 1, the feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, patroness of Word on Fire, Pope Leo XIV received Bishop Barron for a private audience. During their meeting, Bishop Barron shared updates with Pope Leo on the Diocese of Winona-Rochester and presented the Holy Father with a one-of-a-kind papal edition of Word on Fire’s Liturgy of the Hours.
The Liturgy of the Hours gifted to the Holy Father was the first completed copy of the forthcoming publication. A presentation page and foil-stamped leather endsheets with the papal coat of arms were included in the pope’s edition. The copy was presented in a special white leather box.
“It was an extraordinary privilege to meet with Pope Leo XIV, the successor of Peter, for a private audience. We met in his library, and upon entering, he immediately remarked that we were just ‘two guys from Chicago.’ We had a delightful conversation about a number of topics,” Bishop Robert Barron said. “And it was a unique joy to be able to give him a copy of Word on Fire’s Liturgy of the Hours, Second Edition.”
The papal edition was specially bound by L.E.G.O., the renowned Italian bookbinder. L.E.G.O. has been a long-standing partner on many Word on Fire projects, including The Word on Fire Bible.
After the Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours is the most important prayer of the Church. It has been prayed throughout the centuries and is composed of five prayer times, called “hours”: Morning Prayer, Daytime Prayer, Evening Prayer, Night Prayer, and the Office of Readings. Sacrosanctum Concilium describes praying the hours:
The divine office is devised so that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praises of God. Therefore, when this wonderful song of praise is rightly performed by priests and others who are deputed for this purpose by the Church’s ordinance, or by the faithful praying together with the priest in the approved form, then it is truly the voice of the bride addressed to her bridegroom; It is the very prayer which Christ Himself, together with His body, addresses to the Father. (SC 84)
Word on Fire’s Liturgy of the Hours was crafted to be beautiful, durable, and, above all, to raise hearts and minds to God through the official prayer of the Church. The new edition may be used beginning Ash Wednesday 2027 and incorporates a more faithful translation of the sacred texts, as well as new saints and feast days.
Earlier this year, Bishop Barron was invited to ordain the 2026 diaconate class from the Pontifical North American College, including Ryan Saltness of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester. Upon accepting the invitation, Bishop Barron requested the meeting with Pope Leo XIV.
The ordination took place on Thursday, October 1, in St. Peter’s Basilica. In addition to the diaconate ordination and papal audience, Bishop Barron was invited to speak at the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See, where he presented a lecture on America’s 250th anniversary and Catholicism.
Rounding out the trip, Bishop Barron joined others in a pilgrimage to Naples to the tomb of Don Dolindo Ruotolo, Servant of God and author of the Surrender Novena.