Pope Leo XIV: Faith Must Become Culture
In St. Peter's Square he rooted faith and culture in the Incarnation and warned against living the Gospel in hostility to the world.
Pope Leo XIV held his general audience on October 28 in St. Peter's Square. Before the catechesis, the Holy Father toured the square in the popemobile, blessing children in the crowd. Mariachi music played as the gathering opened under the Vatican's open sky.
The pope continued his series of teachings on Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the Church in the modern world. That Wednesday he addressed the relationship between the Christian faith and human culture. He said that relationship finds its deepest foundation in the Incarnation. Faith is called to become culture so that it may reach people in their living environment—where they think, work, and shape their common life.
To mark the point, Pope Leo XIV quoted St. John Paul II: "A faith that does not become culture is a faith not fully accepted, not entirely thought out, not faithfully lived." The words set a clear measure for the assembly: belief that remains incomplete in thought or practice has not yet taken the form the Incarnation asks of it.
Close to Contemporaries, Not Against the World
The Holy Father warned against living the faith in a spirit of opposition or hostility toward the world and culture. Catholics, he urged, are to live in close union with their contemporaries and to understand their way of thinking. Engagement with the cultures of the age, he said, belongs to the ordinary path of Christian life rather than to an optional extra.
A mature synthesis of faith and culture, Leo XIV stressed, is essential for persevering in the Christian vocation and for bearing credible witness to the faith. Without that synthesis, perseverance weakens and public testimony loses force. The audience thus joined an incarnational reading of culture to the concrete demands of vocation and mission.
Schools, Literacy, and Cultural Life
The pope placed the Church's educational work within the same horizon. He noted that the Church accompanies the proclamation of the Gospel with schools throughout the world. He called on the international community to overcome illiteracy and to ensure access to education, including the full participation of women in cultural life. The appeal linked the Church's long practice of schooling to a wider responsibility for human dignity and for cultures open to the Gospel.
Toward All Saints and All Souls
Looking to the days immediately ahead, Pope Leo XIV reminded the faithful that only a short time remains before the solemnity of All Saints on November 1. He announced that on November 2, the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, he will celebrate Mass at the Verano Cemetery in Rome, uniting the prayer of the Church for the dead with the pastoral presence of the Bishop of Rome.