Shafaqna English- At the Wednesday General Audience, Pope Leo XIV said that ” In a time marked by tensions, conflicts and many changes, the Church is called to be at the service of humanity – especially those who are most vulnerable.
The Church must “leave behind all passivity and indifference in the face of current events, history and people’s lives, especially in the face of the rapid and profound changes we are experiencing today,” the Pope highlighted to the crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square.
As the Church is called to get involved in humanity, it means that “Christian solidarity commits us to engaging with reality and also to unmasking the contradictions that characterize personal and social life in the contemporary world,” the Pope emphasized in his catechesis.
He cited various examples of this in our current societies such as technological and scientific progress that only benefits some people; or a clearer understanding of the laws of society but uncertainty regarding their direction; or a great abundance of wealth, resources and economic power which, however, “today as in the days of the Council, leaves ‘a huge proportion of the world’s citizens … still tormented by hunger and poverty’.”
Or also lastly, “a shared awareness that the future of the planet is at stake, coupled with an inability to renounce selfish consumption and the illusion that war is an effective means of building peace.”
The Pope concluded by expressing his hope that “joy and hope – gaudium et spes – be the distinctive features of a Church that proclaims and bears witness to the Gospel, drawing close to the women and men of our time.”
Sources: Vatican News