Pope Leo XIV: Human Activity and Progress Unfold the Creator’s Work

Vatican City, September 23, 2026: Human work and scientific progress are not opposed to faith but can participate in God’s plan for creation, Pope Leo XIV said during his weekly General Audience on Wednesday, reflecting on the Second Vatican Council’s Gaudium et spes.

Continuing his catechesis on the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, the Pope addressed what the document calls a “fundamental” question: “What is the value of human activity in the world, and therefore of technical, social, and scientific progress?”

Pope Leo clearly affirmed that “the human being is the agent of progress,” advancing society through freedom and intelligence.

He also lamented the modern prejudice that sees scientific and technical progress as weakening the relationship with God. “In post-Christian humanist thought,” he explained, “human beings and God are erroneously presented as rivals: in order to assert his knowledge, his freedom, and his progress, man is thought to have to emancipate himself from God.”

Such a denial, he said, results in losing “the possibility of affirming the transcendent value of the human person.”

Human beings cooperate in God’s plan

Referring to Gaudium et spes, Pope Leo said Christians “can justly consider that by their labour they are unfolding the Creator’s work, consulting the advantages of their brother men, and contributing by their personal industry to the realization in history of the divine plan.”

“God has placed in the hands of men and women a creation that is still in statu viae—that is, on a journey, in the process of growth—so that they may bring it to fulfilment through their wise activity,” he said.

Linking this understanding to “the mystery of the Incarnation,” the Pope explained that “humanity… is not absorbed or nullified by the encounter with God, but rather taken up in its entirety, continuing to be, in Christ, free and active.”

“From this perspective,” he continued, “an important truth emerges: to encounter God, the human being must not abandon his earthly vocations, but can live his vocation fully carrying out his daily work and sanctifying it.”

Pope Leo noted that Christians, like all human beings, work to build up “the city of man,” which must be distinguished from the development of “the Kingdom of God.” At the same time, he recalled the Council’s affirmation that progress in building up human society “is of vital concern to the kingdom of God.”

Progress must serve human dignity

Pope Leo stressed that “in order to be authentic human progress… technical and scientific progress must be inspired by charity.”

“Only in this way can it always be placed in the service of human dignity and promote the living conditions of all, especially the most disadvantaged,” he said.

The Pope concluded by recalling the Second Vatican Council’s invitation “to share the bread of knowledge and know-how, so that every person and every people may develop their potential, and together, with God’s help, we may build a better future.”

Courtesy: Vatican News