Pope Leo XIV: Church Must Serve Humanity and Confront Society’s Contradictions

Vatican City, September 2, 2026: Pope Leo XIV called the Church to serve humanity, especially the most vulnerable, by engaging with the realities and challenges of the modern world during the Wednesday General Audience in St. Peter’s Square.

Reflecting on the 1965 Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes of the Second Vatican Council, the Pope urged Christians to reject passivity and indifference in the face of tensions, conflicts and rapid social changes.

“We cannot remain as unengaged spectators; rather, we must listen with our hearts, allow ourselves to be challenged, and become involved,” Pope Leo said. He called believers to take on the burdens of their brothers and sisters, particularly those affected by injustice, discrimination and violence.

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Unmasking society’s contradictions

Pope Leo said Christian solidarity requires engagement with reality and the courage to “unmask” the contradictions present in contemporary personal and social life.

He pointed to scientific and technological progress that benefits only some, growing knowledge of social laws alongside uncertainty about their direction, and the abundance of wealth and economic power that exists alongside hunger and poverty.

He also highlighted the contradiction between growing awareness of the threat to the planet and the continued pursuit of selfish consumption, as well as the belief that war can be an effective means of building peace.

In the face of these imbalances, the Pope said, the Church is called to serve the human person by listening to their deepest questions and longings and pointing to Christ as “the key, the focal point and the goal of … all human history”.

Church called to share humanity’s life

Pope Leo recalled Pope St. John XXIII’s opening address to the Second Vatican Council in 1962, in which he rejected the idea that his generation was necessarily worse than previous ones. Instead, John XXIII urged the Church to recognise God’s providence working through human history.

Pope Leo explained that Gaudium et Spes recognises the Church’s involvement with humanity as essential to her nature. Just as Christ became incarnate and chose to share human life, the Church is called to share in the joys, hopes, griefs and anxieties of people today, particularly the poor and afflicted.

He stressed the Church’s duty to scrutinise “the signs of the times” and interpret them in the light of the Gospel while continuing Christ’s mission of bearing witness to truth and serving all.

Christ present among the poor

Pope Leo said the Church’s option for the poor is not merely a moral imperative but, as Pope Francis taught, “primarily a theological category”.

Christians are called to find Christ in the poor, listen to them, speak for them and embrace the wisdom God shares through them, he said.

The Pope concluded by expressing his hope that “joy and hope – gaudium et spes” would characterise a Church that proclaims and witnesses to the Gospel by drawing close to the women and men of our time.

Courtesy: Vatican News