Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council documents during his weekly General Audience. The focus of this session was the Dogmatic Constitution 'Dei Verbum,' concerning Divine Revelation. The Pope highlighted Jesus' words calling followers friends, emphasizing that this friendship transforms the relationship with God. This new covenant relationship, rooted in love, is a fundamental aspect of Christian faith recalled by 'Dei Verbum'. While acknowledging the inherent asymmetry between God and creatures, the Pope noted the covenant opens up fully with the coming of the Son.
about 2 months ago
Pope Leo XIV held his weekly General Audience on January 14, 2026, in the Vatican.1 2
He launched a new catechesis series on the Second Vatican Council documents.1 2
The first focus was the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum on Divine Revelation.1 2
The Pope described Dei Verbum as one of the Council's most beautiful and important texts.1 2
It highlights God's revelation through friendship, quoting Jesus: "No longer do I call you servants... but I have called you friends" (Jn 15:15).1 2
God speaks to humanity as friends, inviting communion (cf. Ex 33:11; Jn 15:14-15).2
Jesus radically changes the God-human relationship from servitude to friendship.1 2
The covenant remains asymmetrical—God is God, humans are creatures—but Christ makes believers sons and daughters.1 2
This resemblance to God comes through the Incarnation, not sin.2
God converses with humanity, as in Genesis, restoring dialogue broken by sin.2
Believers must listen to the Word penetrating minds and hearts.1 2
They also speak to God in prayer, revealing themselves.1 2
Prayer cultivates this friendship, starting with liturgical and community forms.1 2
Personal prayer in the heart follows.1 2
"Time dedicated to prayer, meditation and reflection cannot be lacking in the Christian’s day and week."1 2
Friendships end through rupture or neglect; the same risks the bond with God.1 2
Jesus' call to friendship must not be ignored.1 2
Nurturing it leads to salvation.1 2
Explore how Dei Verbum redefines Christian friendship with Christ
Dei Verbum, the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, centers on the intimate relationship between Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition as the unified deposit of God's word entrusted to the Church. While it profoundly shapes how Catholics understand revelation—including scriptural passages like John 15:15 where Jesus declares, "I no longer call you servants... I have called you friends"—it does not redefine Christian friendship with Christ. Instead, it provides a hermeneutical framework that enriches the reception of this biblical truth through the living Tradition of the Church. The provided sources affirm friendship with Christ as rooted in Scripture, dynamically sustained by Tradition, and exemplified in papal and theological reflections, but Dei Verbum itself focuses on revelation's transmission rather than altering the concept of divine friendship.
Christian friendship with Christ draws directly from the Gospel of John, particularly chapter 15, where Jesus elevates his disciples from servants to friends by sharing the Father's secrets and calling for a communion of wills: "You are my friends if you do what I command you." This is no mere relational upgrade but a profound intimacy, marked by trust, knowledge of divine mysteries, and sacrificial love extending to the Cross. Pope Francis echoes this in Christus vivit, portraying Jesus as a friend who invites freedom—"Come and see"—and remains faithful even when we stray, urging us to "abide in me." Theologians like Michael S. Sherwin, O.P., and John Emery, O.P., deepen this by linking it to participation in the Trinity's life (perichoresis), where grace configures us to Christ, making us "participators in the divine nature."
Dei Verbum presupposes this scriptural core without redefining it. The constitution describes apostolic preaching—expressed "in a special way" in inspired books—as preserved through an "unending succession of preachers," ensuring the Gospel's wholeness. John 15's words on friendship form part of this inspired deposit, handed on by the Apostles alongside their deeds and oral teaching.
Far from redefining friendship, Dei Verbum illuminates how Tradition vitalizes Scripture, fostering a deeper grasp of truths like divine friendship. Tradition "renders a more profound understanding in the Church of Sacred Scripture and makes it always effective," allowing God to "uninterruptedly converse" with his people through the Holy Spirit. This "living tradition" grows in insight via believers' contemplation, spiritual experience, and episcopal preaching, moving the Church toward "the fullness of divine truth."
In this light, friendship with Christ is not static but participatory and unfolding. As the Pontifical Biblical Commission notes, the Spirit recalls Jesus' words (Jn 14:26), bears witness (Jn 15:26), and leads into "all truth" (Jn 16:13), dynamically enlivening Tradition. Commentaries on Dei Verbum highlight an "inner unity" between Scripture's words and Tradition's deeds, mirroring Christ's own revelation and ensuring coherence. Applied to John 15, this means friendship is not isolated verses but a mystery clarified and activated in the Church's life, worship, and teaching—much like how Tradition discerned the biblical canon itself.
Pope Benedict XVI (then Cardinal Ratzinger) connects this to mature faith: an "adult faith" rooted in friendship with Christ distinguishes truth from falsehood, blending truth and love. His later Verbum Domini reaffirms Tradition's perennial truth amid progress, consigning God's word to the Church for every age. Thus, Dei Verbum safeguards the scriptural call to friendship while enabling its living application, without introducing new definitions.
The sources reveal no textual basis in Dei Verbum for redefining friendship—searches yield no mentions of "friendship," "friends," or John 15:15. Instead, they stress Scripture and Tradition as a "single sacred deposit," venerated equally, from which the Church draws certainty on revelation. Earlier analyses, like Kevin Raedy's, underscore their "conversation" and mutual edification, preserving revelation's "full integrity."
Theological works on friendship (e.g., Sherwin and Emery) cite Aquinas and Scripture directly, not Dei Verbum, viewing divine friendship as Trinitarian communion via grace. Benedict XVI's reflections integrate friendship into agape's universal scope via Eucharist, but again, without invoking Dei Verbum for redefinition.
Dei Verbum does not redefine Christian friendship with Christ; that truth remains anchored in John 15, as unpacked by popes and theologians. Rather, it equips the Church to receive this friendship ever more deeply through Tradition's living interpretation of Scripture, ensuring its vitality across generations. For believers, this invites abiding in Christ as friend, nourished by the Church's perennial witness.