Pope, in audience on Vatican II, reflects on Church as a priestly and prophetic people
March 18, 2026
Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV devoted his audience today to the Church as a priestly and prophetic people.
The audience (video), which took place in St. Peter’s Square, was the tenth in the series and the fourth devoted to Lumen Gentium, the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964).
“The messianic people receive from Christ the participation in the priestly, prophetic and kingly work office through which his salvific mission is carried out,” Pope Leo told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square. “The Council Fathers teach that the Lord Jesus, through the new and eternal Covenant, has established a kingdom of priests, constituting his disciples as a ‘royal priesthood’ (1 Pet 2:9; cf. 1 Pet 2:5; Rev 1:6). This common priesthood of the faithful is given with Baptism, which enables us to worship God in spirit and truth, and to “confess before men the faith which they have received from God through the Church” (Lumen Gentium, 11).
“This consecration is at the root of the common mission that unites the ordained ministries and the lay faithful,” the Pope continued. “The exercise of the royal priesthood takes place in many ways, all aimed at our sanctification, first and foremost through participation in the offering of the Eucharist.”
Turning to the People of God’s participation in Christ’s prophetic mission, the Pope said:
In this context, the important theme of the sense of the faith and the consensus of the faithful is introduced. The Doctrinal Commission of the Council specified that this sensus fidei “is like a faculty of the whole Church, by which she, in her faith, recognizes the revelation handed down, distinguishing between true and false in matters of faith, and at the same time penetrates it more deeply and applies it more fully in life.” 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.
“The Church, therefore, as 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,” the Pope added. “From this unity, which the Magisterium of the Church safeguards, it follows that every baptized person is an active agent of evangelization, called to bear consistent witness to Christ in accordance with the prophetic gift which the Lord bestows upon His whole Church.”
The Pontiff concluded:
Indeed, the Holy Spirit, who comes to us from the Risen Christ, “distributes special graces among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts He makes them fit and ready to undertake the various tasks and offices which contribute toward the renewal and building up of the Church” (Lumen Gentium, 12). A particular demonstration of this charismatic vitality is offered by consecrated life, which continually germinates and flourishes through the work of grace. Ecclesial associations, too, are a shining example of the variety and fruitfulness of spiritual fruits for the edification of the People of God.
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)
- The mystery of the Church, sacrament of the union with God, and the unity of all humanity (2/18/26)
- No audience on 2/25 (Pope, Roman Curia on retreat)
- The Church, a Visible and Spiritual Reality (3/4/26)
- The Church, people of God (3/11/26)
- The Church, a Priestly and Prophetic People (3/18/26)
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