Full text: Pope Leo XIV’s general audience given September 2, 2026
Pope Leo XIV delivered his general audience address on September 2, 2026, in St. Peter’s Square. He opened with reflections on the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, stressing the Church’s duty to listen to and serve the contemporary world. The Pope cited Saint John XXIII’s vision and highlighted the need to confront modern challenges with faith, especially caring for the poor and afflicted. He warned against passivity and indifference, urging the Church to actively engage in the life of humanity.
29 days ago
Pope Leo XIV used his September 2, 2026, general audience to begin a catechesis on the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, emphasizing the Church’s responsibility to listen to, accompany and serve the contemporary world, particularly people suffering from poverty, injustice, discrimination and violence. 1
The pope said the document addresses the relationship between the Church and the modern world. He connected its approach to Pope John XXIII’s 1962 rejection of “prophets of doom” and his call to discern God’s providence amid changing historical circumstances. 1
Leo explained that the constitution’s pastoral character is central to the Church’s identity. He linked this responsibility to Christ’s Incarnation: because Christ shared fully in human life and suffering, the Church is called to share in humanity’s joys, hopes, griefs and anxieties—especially those of the poor and afflicted. 1
The pope urged Christians not to remain “unengaged spectators” amid current events and rapid social change. Instead, he called them to listen attentively, allow themselves to be challenged and take on the burdens of those affected by injustice, discrimination and violence. 1
He presented Christian solidarity as both practical engagement with reality and a means of deeper understanding. Citing Gaudium et Spes, he said the Church must continually scrutinize the “signs of the times” and interpret them in the light of the Gospel. 1
Leo also described the Church’s mission as one of service rather than earthly ambition. He said the Church is called to continue Christ’s work under the guidance of the Holy Spirit: bearing witness to truth, rescuing rather than judging, and serving rather than seeking to be served. 1
The pope cited Pope Francis’ teaching that the Church’s option for the poor is primarily a theological category. Christians, he said, are called to find Christ in the poor, listen to them, support their causes, speak for them and receive the wisdom God may communicate through them. 1
Leo identified several tensions that Gaudium et Spes continues to address:
He said these contradictions require the Church to serve the human person by listening to the deepest questions and longings of the human heart and pointing to Christ as the key, center and goal of human history. 1
Leo called for a “merciful kenosis,” or self-emptying, modeled on Christ, who took the form of a servant and accepted death on the cross. He concluded by praying that joy and hope—“gaudium et spes”—would characterize a Church that proclaims the Gospel and draws close to the people of its time. 1
The pope welcomed English-speaking pilgrims from England, Scotland, Malta, Canada and the United States. He also greeted a delegation from the Interreligious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World and expressed appreciation for the King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, praying for the success of its deliberations. 1
Pope Leo XIV’s call for active pastoral engagement in modern society
Pope Leo XIV’s call for active pastoral engagement in modern society presents the Church not as a withdrawn institution, but as a missionary community that listens, accompanies, serves, and evangelizes within concrete social realities.
For Pope Leo, pastoral engagement begins with knowing people’s actual circumstances. Speaking to the clergy of Rome, he stressed that pastors must study the communities they serve rather than repeat methods that worked elsewhere:
“If you want to love and serve a community, it is very important to know it.”
This implies attentive listening to changing urban cultures, migration, economic pressures, digital life, family structures, and religious marginalization. Evangelization cannot be reduced to maintaining inherited programs; it requires discernment—prayerful judgment about how the Gospel can be faithfully proclaimed in a particular time and place.
His approach is therefore neither uncritical adaptation to society nor nostalgic restoration of past patterns. The Church must remain faithful to Christ while seeking an appropriate “inculturation,” meaning the expression of the Gospel within the language, questions, and circumstances of contemporary people.
Pope Leo connects pastoral activity with the Church’s missionary identity. In his address to the College of Cardinals, he highlighted:
This engagement is not merely institutional activism. It must arise from prayer and listening to the Holy Spirit. At the installation of his Roman episcopate, Pope Leo interpreted the Council of Jerusalem in Acts 15 as a model: disagreement was addressed through dialogue, communion, humility, and attentiveness to God’s will.
Thus, pastoral engagement is not simply “doing more.” It is discerning together how to make the Gospel present without imposing unnecessary burdens or treating people as problems to be managed.
Pope Leo gives particular attention to the world of work. He urges local Churches to be “close to the world of work,” especially where unemployment, layoffs, and economic insecurity damage families and communities. The Church’s proclamation should become both “consolation and hope” and a prophetic reminder that work is essential to social life.
This reflects an important Catholic distinction: the Church does not identify the Gospel with a particular political program, but she cannot remain indifferent to human dignity, justice, labor, poverty, or social exclusion. His 2026 encyclical Magnifica Humanitas states that the Church “cannot consider herself a stranger to the forces shaping society”; she should contribute to the development of a more just and fraternal social order.
The Pope’s choice of the name Leo XIV reinforces this social dimension. He linked it to Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum and identified artificial intelligence and technological change as contemporary challenges involving human dignity, justice, and labor.
Active pastoral engagement must be measured by closeness to the vulnerable. In Dilexi te, Pope Leo warns that Christian convictions weaken when they remain only ideas and are not expressed through concrete acts of charity. Almsgiving, social responsibility, and personal contact with suffering remain necessary.
He presents Christian love as a force that crosses social barriers and reaches those who are distant or excluded. This love is “prophetic” because it challenges unjust structures while also expressing personal compassion and support.
Accordingly, the Church’s social mission involves both charitable service and attention to the causes of poverty. Parish communities should not merely speak about the poor; they should encounter them, listen to them, defend their dignity, and address unjust conditions.
Pope Leo rejects a passive model of pastoral care. Older people, for example, should not be treated merely as recipients of services. They are “active subjects” of evangelization, capable of offering wisdom, devotion, and experience.
The same principle applies to youth. Pope Leo acknowledges the opportunities offered by social media but warns that online religious experiences can remain isolated and disconnected from the ecclesial community. Authentic Christian life requires embodied relationships, shared prayer, service, and belonging.
Families likewise require pastoral accompaniment, especially those who feel excluded or distant from ordinary parish life. The Church must recognize their desire for community and create conditions in which they can encounter Christ rather than simply expecting them to enter established structures on their own.
Pope Leo’s vision calls parishes and dioceses to:
In summary, Pope Leo XIV’s pastoral call is for a Church that is present without being absorbed, dialogical without surrendering truth, socially engaged without becoming partisan, and missionary without becoming domineering. Her credibility in modern society depends on whether people encounter in her the living Christ through attentive listening, courageous witness, practical charity, and communion.