Pope Leo XIV: ‘Holiness Is Not a Privilege Reserved for a Few’
Pope Leo XIV said the Solemnity of All Saints reminds Catholics that holiness is a universal calling, not a privilege reserved for a select few. He noted that the feast honors both canonized saints and countless people known only to God, whose acts of love help make the Kingdom of God present. The Pope said God sees hidden goodness and knows people’s stories and hearts, offering a message of hope. He urged the faithful, with Mary’s help, to keep fostering peace in major situations and everyday life.
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Pope Leo XIV used his All Saints’ Day Angelus address to describe holiness as a calling open to everyone, not a distinction reserved for a few. He said the feast offers hope because God sees goodness and knows people’s stories even when they are hidden from others.
Speaking in St. Peter’s Square on Nov. 1, Leo said the Church celebrates both canonized saints and the many people who have not been formally recognized but are known to God. He described holiness as impossible to measure, pointing to the acts of love through which saints have served God and their neighbors.
The Pope said saints come from diverse backgrounds, cultures and walks of life, and that their choices of love contrast with greed and evil. He called them signs of God’s Kingdom, which, he said, is coming and is already present.
Leo entrusted the faithful to the Virgin Mary, asking her to accompany them on the path to holiness and help them continue fostering peace in both major situations and everyday life.
Leo recalled the beatification in Savannah, Georgia, of Pedro de Corpa and four fellow Franciscan friars, killed in 1597 “in hatred of the faith.” He asked for their intercession for missionaries.
He also welcomed a humanitarian operation to assist civilians in Oleshky and expressed hope that cooperation among the parties involved would encourage dialogue and further peace initiatives. He described the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar as a hopeful moment for sport, noting that it was the first Olympic event held on the African continent.
The Pope praised a planned Nov. 8–15 Mission with the Poor in Rome by the Friars Minor, and said he would celebrate Mass at the city’s Verano Cemetery on Nov. 2, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed. He invited Catholics to pray for the dead, especially those who are remembered by no one.
Holiness as a universal vocation in Catholic theology
Catholic theology teaches that holiness is the vocation of every baptized person, not a spiritual elite or a privilege reserved for clergy and religious. It is God’s gift, begun in baptism and brought to maturity through grace, as each person learns to love God and neighbor in the real circumstances of their life. The different states and vocations of Christians shape how holiness is lived; they do not divide Christians into those called to holiness and those who are not.
The Second Vatican Council’s Lumen gentium devotes an entire chapter to “the universal call to holiness.” It says that Jesus preached holiness to disciples “of every condition” and that all the faithful, whatever their rank or state, are called to “the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity.”
Here, perfection of charity means the fullness of love: love of God and love of neighbor shaped by Christ. It does not mean that every Christian must have an identical life, or that holiness belongs only to people with extraordinary spiritual experiences. Rather, the Council describes one holiness expressed in many different ways, as people in different walks of life grow in charity and build one another up.
Holiness is both gift and task. The Council teaches that Christians are justified through faith and baptism, become children of God and sharers in the divine nature, and are “really made holy.” They are then called, with God’s help, to hold fast to and develop the holiness they have received. Holiness is therefore not something a person achieves independently of God: it begins in grace and calls for a free, continuing response.
The universal call is not merely a general invitation to behave well. It arises from Christ’s action: he sanctifies the Church and gives the Holy Spirit so that believers can grow in love. The Council calls the Church “indefectibly holy,” while also teaching that her holiness must be shown in the fruits of grace visible in her members.
That does not mean that every Christian, or every Church member, is already free from sin. Lumen gentium explicitly acknowledges that “we all offend in many things” and that all need God’s mercy continually. The Church’s holiness is grounded in Christ and the Spirit; the lives of Christians are meant to manifest that holiness, but they also need conversion and forgiveness.
Pope Leo XIV likewise describes holiness as God’s gift and as a call to inner transformation in Christ. He emphasizes that the reality of sin in the Church should lead to serious conversion, not to the denial of the Church’s holiness. Holiness is not reducible to an ethical effort, however important moral action is; it concerns the transformation of Christian life, personal and communal, by grace.
The call to holiness reaches Christians in every state of life. The Council refers to bishops, priests, laypeople, married couples and parents, widows, single people, workers, and those bearing poverty, illness, hardship, or persecution. Each is called to follow Christ within the conditions and responsibilities of their life.
This means that holiness is not a separate vocation that replaces a person’s ordinary duties. The same call is lived differently according to a person’s gifts, responsibilities, and situation. Marriage, family life, work, service in the Church, and care amid suffering can all be settings in which charity is practiced. The scholarly discussion of Lumen gentium summarizes the point: holiness is not the property of a particular category of Christians, but the goal toward which each Christian is to strive within their own state of life and mission.
Consecrated life has a distinctive place, but it does not have a monopoly on holiness. The Council presents the evangelical counsels—traditionally, poverty, chastity, and obedience—as a striking witness to the holiness to which the whole Church is called. Pope Leo XIV similarly describes consecrated life as a prophetic sign within the People of God. Its distinctive form witnesses to the common Christian vocation; it does not make other vocations lesser paths to God.
Because holiness is a life in Christ, it grows through the gifts and practices of Christian life. Lumen gentium points to following Christ, seeking the Father’s will, and devoting oneself to God’s glory and the service of others. The scholarly account of the Council’s teaching identifies the sacraments—especially the Eucharist—along with prayer, self-denial, and the practice of virtue as means of growth, with charity as the heart of that growth.
Pope Leo XIV stresses the Eucharist’s pre-eminent role among the sacraments as nourishment for a holy life, because it draws the faithful into conformity with Christ. He also explains that charity gives life to the means of holiness: spiritual practices are not ends in themselves but serve growth in love of God and neighbor.
Holiness can also involve suffering and courageous witness. The Council calls martyrdom an exceptional gift and the fullest proof of love, while teaching that all Christians must be ready to confess Christ, even under persecution. That readiness is not a demand that everyone seek martyrdom; it means that fidelity to Christ takes precedence over self-preservation when faith is tested. Pope Leo connects this witness not only with martyrdom but also with Christians’ efforts to leave signs of faith and love in society, including through commitment to justice.
The universal call means that no Christian should regard holiness as someone else’s responsibility or as an exceptional ideal for a select few. It also does not mean that everyone is expected to follow the same outward pattern. The consistent measure is charity: learning to follow Christ and serve others through the responsibilities, opportunities, and trials of one’s own life.
This teaching also guards against two misunderstandings. First, holiness is not a status reserved for religious specialists; all the faithful are called to it. Second, recognizing that everyone is called to holiness does not imply that Christians already live it perfectly: the need for mercy, perseverance, and conversion remains part of the Christian life.
The Catholic claim, then, is both demanding and hopeful: God calls every person in the Church to fullness of life in Christ, and gives grace for that journey. Holiness is universal in its reach, varied in its expression, and centered on charity.