Arguably, nothing has turned off potential young churchgoers more than dry, long, uninspiring homilies and sermons. Yet they continue despite clear Vatican directives on the matter.
Perhaps it is time to look not only at the content of homilies (please, measure the theology) nut to exercise obedience.
Many priests and deacons are not even aware of the directives (and so are not really “disobedient”).
With that in mind, a few items of relevance:
Pope Francis addressed homily length throughout his pontificate, treating short, focused preaching as a core pastoral duty. His apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium (2013) established that a homily must not resemble an academic lecture, speech, or lesson. He warned that a long homily risks disrupting the balance of the Mass by overwhelming its sacramental nature.
Think about those words, and indeed: long homilies can all but overwhelm the sacraments.
Across several public audiences and addresses to priests, the Pope’s guidance focused on specific limits:
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8 to 10 Minutes: He consistently instructed preachers that homilies should last around eight minutes, never exceeding ten. That’s Sunday. (Weekdays, it seems, should be significantly shorter.)
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The “Attention Span” Warning: He noted that after eight minutes, the human attention span drops sharp, causing the sermon to become unfocused or lost on the congregation.
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“Long Homilies Are a Disaster”: In a 2023 address to diocesan liturgy directors, he called long, abstract homilies a “disaster” and urged clergy to convey just three elements: a thought, a feeling, and an action.
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The Three-Part Structure: He repeatedly advised priests to structure preaching around three concise points: one image, one idea, and one practical invitation to action. Let us add: a good dose of spiritual warfare and inspirational advice would also come in handy (and interest the congregants).
Pope Benedict XVI addressed the issue in his 2007 post-synodal apostolic exhortation Sacramentum Caritatis (No. 46) and the 2010 Directory on the Homily context. While he did not enforce a rigid minute count, he cautioned against “generic and abstract” preaching and urged priests to keep homilies concise enough to maintain a direct connection between the Scriptural readings and the Eucharistic sacrifice.
In his 1998 apostolic letter Dies Domini (No. 41), Saint John Paul II emphasized that the homily should be well-prepared and tailored to the needs of the faithful, maintaining a proper proportion so it neither overshadows the Liturgy of the Eucharist nor gets reduced to a brief, unprepared thought.
Popes named Leo have addressed preaching in the following contexts:
- Pope St. Leo the Great (Leo I): His surviving sermons from the fifth century demonstrate a concise, direct style. Delivered to congregation assemblies in Rome, his homilies averaged five to ten minutes when read aloud today, prioritizing clarity on dogma and practical charity over lengthy rhetoric.
- Pope Leo XIII: In his 1899 encyclical Depuis le jour, he addressed priestly formation and preaching, warning against overly dramatic, self-serving, or lengthy academic discourses, directing preachers to deliver straightforward instructions on doctrine and Christian morals.
Enough said.