Leo XIV: Work Is the Heart of the Economy
In St. Peter’s Square he applied Gaudium et Spes to jobs, finance and politics, condemning unemployment and exploitation before his South America trip.
On Wednesday, November 4, 2026, in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis on the Second Vatican Council’s pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes, turning to chapters III and IV of Part II, on socio-economic life and the political community.
The Council Fathers, he recalled, first identified “the danger to world peace” arising from imbalances produced by economic development that is “neither equitable nor respectful of creation”—a prophetic warning “confirmed in the last decades of the last century and still evident today.” Technical progress alone is insufficient. The council calls for “numerous reforms in the structures of socio-economic life” and “a change of mentality and lifestyle on the part of all.”
Economy, Work, and the Common Destination of Goods
“The heart of the economy is work,” the Pope declared. Work must never be “distorted to the detriment of people, the common good or creation.” Unemployment, exploitation, and working conditions that endanger health or life “are not acceptable.” Workers have “the right and the duty” to take part in decisions that affect their labor, including in associated form, and to resolve conflicts “through dialogue and non-violent action.”
Invoking the universal destination of goods—“one of the fundamental principles of the social magisterium”—he applied it to finance. Those responsible for investment and for organizing the global economy, whether individuals, groups, or public authorities, must secure “the goods necessary for a decent life” for every person and for the whole community, and keep “a just balance” between present consumption and the needs of future generations.
Politics in Service of the Human Family
On the political community, Leo XIV quoted the council’s definition of the common good as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow individuals, families and associations to reach their fullness more completely.” Political authority must always keep in view “the good of the entire human family.”
The political community and the Church are “independent and autonomous, each in its own sphere,” yet both serve the personal and social vocation of human beings; that service is more effective the healthier their cooperation. Engaging economics and politics by these criteria “is a way of building peace.” He cited Pope Francis in Fratelli Tutti: “war is a failure of politics and of humanity, a shameful capitulation, a defeat before the forces of evil.” Politics that “cares for the wounds of peoples and of those who suffer injustice,” he added, “offers grounds for hope for the future of humanity.”
He encouraged young people to follow the example of men and women who have given good witness in these fields and renewed his call for Christian communities to revive formation in Catholic social doctrine. In his greeting to English-speaking pilgrims, he named the United States among the countries represented.
The audience came two days before his apostolic journey to South America. He departs Friday, November 6, for Uruguay, Argentina, and Peru, with the visit scheduled through November 17.