Leo XIV: ‘Christians called to be tools of peace, love, and reconciliation’
Some 25,000 faithful welcomed Pope Leo XIV in St Peter's Square for today’s general audience. In his catechesis on the Constitution Lumen Gentium, the pope said that, “every baptized person is an active agent of evangelization”. The Church “cannot err in matters of faith”. May “true peace prevail among all peoples,” the pontiff said in his greetings to Arabic-speaking faithful from the Middle East.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – At today's general audience, a desire for peace for suffering humanity punctuated the greetings that Leo XIV dedicated to the faithful present.
To Arabic-speaking pilgrims, particularly those from the Middle East, he said: "Christians are called to be instruments of peace, love, and reconciliation, so that true peace may prevail among all peoples.”
The pontiff also urged Chinese-speaking pilgrims to “Persevere in leading a life inspired by Christian values so as to be instruments of peace in society.”
This morning, 25,000 people gathered in St Peter's Square on a sunny but windy day, greeting the pontiff in the Basilica's parvis. From there, Pope Leo XIV read this week’s catechesis, which is part of a series dedicated to the Documents of the Second Vatican Council.
The Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium. The Church, Priestly and Prophetic People is the title of today's reflection. The relevant biblical passage, read in various languages, was taken from the First Letter of Peter (1 Peter 2:9-10).
Pope Leo focused on the second chapter of the conciliar document, noting that the Council Fathers taught that Jesus instituted "a kingdom of priests”. Yet, a "common priesthood of the faithful” exists that “is given with Baptism”. Indeed, “This consecration is at the root of the common mission that unites the ordained ministries and the lay faithful,” the pope said.
Leo XIV cited Pope Francis who noted that "looking at the people of God means remembering that we all enter the Church as lay people." Thus, “The exercise of the royal priesthood takes place in many ways”; for example, "Through prayer, asceticism and active charity,” we can bear witness to "a life renewed by God’s grace”.
“The Doctrinal Commission of the Council specified that this sensus fidei ‘is like a faculty of the whole Church’,” Leo said. “The sense of faith therefore belongs to individual believers not in their own right, but as members of the People of God as a whole.”
For this reason, the “communion of the faithful – which naturally includes the pastors – cannot err in matters of faith: the organ through which this truth is preserved, founded on the anointing of the Holy Spirit, is the supernatural sense of faith of the entire People of God, which is manifested in the consensus of the faithful.”
“From this unity, which the Magisterium of the Church safeguards, it follows that every baptized person is an active agent of evangelization,” Leo explained, noting a "peculiar demonstration" of the "charismatic vitality" emanating from the Holy Spirit, namely consecrated life, but also “ecclesial associations”.
Finally, “Dearly beloved, let us reawaken within ourselves the awareness and gratitude of having received the gift of being part of God's people; and also the responsibility that this entails,” Leo said.
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