Pope, in audience on Vatican II, reflects on the mystery of the Church
February 18, 2026
Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV spoke this morning on the theme of “the mystery of the Church, sacrament of the union with God, and the unity of all humanity.”
The audience (video), which took place in St. Peter’s Square, was the seventh in the series and the first devoted to Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964).
“When the Second Vatican Council, to whose documents we are dedicating the catecheses, wanted to describe the Church, it was concerned first and foremost with explaining where its origins lie,” Pope Leo began. “In order to do so,” Lumen Gentium “drew the term ‘mystery’ from the Letters of Saint Paul.”
“When Saint Paul uses the word, especially in the Letter to the Ephesians, he wishes to indicate a reality that was previously hidden and is now revealed,” the Pope explained. “It refers to God’s plan, which has a purpose: to unify all creatures thanks to the reconciliatory action of Jesus Christ, an action that was accomplished in his death on the cross.”
This unity, he continued, “is experienced first of all in the assembly gathered for the liturgical celebration: there, differences are relativized, and what counts is being together because we are drawn by the Love of Christ, who broke down the wall of separation between people and social groups (cf. Eph 2:14).”
The Pope then observed that “the condition of humanity is one of fragmentation that human beings are unable to repair, even though the tendency towards unity dwells in their heart.” He added:
The action of Jesus Christ enters into this condition through the power of the Holy Spirit, and overcomes the powers of division and the Divider himself. Gathering together to celebrate, having believed in the proclamation of the Gospel, is experienced as an attraction exerted by the cross of Christ, which is the supreme manifestation of God’s love. It is feeling called together by God: this is why the term ekklesía is used, that is, an assembly of people who recognize that they have been summoned together.
“This convocation, precisely because it is brought about by God, cannot however be limited to a group of people, but rather is destined to become the experience of all human beings,” Pope Leo said.
In commenting on the Council’s teaching that “the Church is in Christ like a sacrament or as a sign and instrument both of a very closely knit union with God and of the unity of the whole human race,” the Pope explained that
- “with the use of the term ‘sacrament’ and the consequent explanation, it is intended to indicate that the Church is an expression of what God wants to accomplish in the history of humanity; therefore, by looking at the Church, we can to some extent grasp God’s plan, the mystery. In this sense, the Church is a sign.”
- “the term ‘instrument’ is added to the term ‘sacrament,’ precisely to show that the Church is an active sign. Indeed, when God works in history, he involves in his activity the people who are the objects of his action. It is through the Church that God achieves the aim of bringing people to him and uniting them with one another.”
Citing Lumen Gentium’s teaching that the Church is “the universal sacrament of salvation” (n. 48), the Pontiff concluded:
This text enables us to understand the relationship between the unifying action of the Pasch of Jesus, which is the mystery of the passion, death and resurrection, and the identity of the Church. At the same time, it makes us grateful to belong to the Church, the body of the risen Christ and the one pilgrim people of God journeying through history, which lives as a sanctifying presence in the midst of a still fragmented humanity, as an effective sign of unity and reconciliation among peoples.
Audiences in series “Vatican Council II through its Documents”
- Introductory catechesis (1/7/26)
On Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (1965):
- God speaks to men as to friends (1/14/26)
- Jesus Christ reveals the Father (1/21/26)
- A single sacred deposit: The relationship between Scripture and Tradition (1/28/26)
- The Sacred Scripture: the Word of God in human words (2/4/26)
- The Word of God in the life of the Church (2/11/26)
On Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964)
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