Full text: Pope Leo XIV’s Angelus address given October 18, 2026
Pope Leo XIV reflected on Jesus’ command to give the emperor what belongs to the emperor and to God what belongs to God, urging honesty and freedom from hypocrisy and selfish ambition. He said Christian faith calls people to fulfill their responsibilities in history while seeking God’s kingdom and righteousness above all. On the 100th World Mission Day, he prayed that the Church would remain faithful to Christ’s command to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world. The pope thanked people for their prayers and support in recent days.
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Pope Leo XIV used his October 18 Angelus address to reflect on Jesus’ teaching to give the emperor what belongs to the emperor and God what belongs to God, emphasizing truthfulness, freedom from hypocrisy, and doing good. After the prayer, he marked the centenary of World Mission Day, thanked people who had prayed for him and the staff who treated him, and said he would gradually resume his activities after recovering from surgery.
Reflecting on Matthew’s account of the question about paying taxes to the emperor, Leo described the questioners as trying to trap Jesus. Jesus’ response, he said, avoided their trap and exposed their hypocrisy.
The pope said Jesus’ words do not abolish human roles and responsibilities. Rather, they call people to live without selfish ambition or unjust motives, seeking God’s Kingdom and righteousness above all.
Leo presented giving to God what belongs to God as living truthfully and doing good, free from servile fear and hypocrisy. He invited those gathered to pray for help in living this way and to entrust themselves to Mary’s intercession.
After the Angelus, Leo noted that the Church was celebrating the 100th World Mission Day. He called for prayer that the Church remain faithful to the risen Christ’s command to proclaim the Gospel throughout the world.
He thanked those who had prayed for him, saying he had felt their support, and expressed particular gratitude to the doctors, nurses, and staff of Gemelli Hospital. He said his experience had brought him especially close to people living with illness or infirmity.
Having come through what he called a delicate phase, Leo said he would gradually resume his activities, with God’s help and the faithful’s prayers.
Christian responsibility to civil authority and God’s sovereignty
Christian responsibility to civil authority is real but limited: believers should respect lawful authority, obey just laws, pay taxes, work for the common good, and pray for those who govern. Yet civil authority is not sovereign in an absolute sense. God alone is sovereign, so a command that contradicts God’s law cannot bind a Christian’s conscience.
The New Testament presents public authority as serving an important purpose: maintaining social order and protecting the good. St. Paul therefore urges Christians to be subject to governing authorities, pay what is due, and act from conscience—not merely from fear of punishment. The Church’s social teaching explains that this does not mean endorsing every ruler or every policy; authority merits respect insofar as it serves justice and the common good.
Respect also means resisting contempt and needless disorder. Christians can serve their communities, participate responsibly in public life, and pray for those in office, including leaders with whom they disagree. The aim is not simply quiet compliance, but a peaceful public life in which people can pursue what is good.
Jesus’ words, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s,” recognize civil duties while denying the state any claim to what belongs to God. Civil authority is therefore legitimate within its proper sphere, but it is not absolute: human law cannot make evil good or require what God forbids.
When a civil command conflicts with divine law, the Christian must obey God rather than the human authority. This may require conscientious refusal or, where appropriate, public witness against injustice. Such resistance is not a blanket rejection of government; it is fidelity to the higher authority of God, practiced with a commitment to truth, justice, and the common good.
The practical principle is: respect civil authority and fulfill just civic duties, but never treat the state as God.