Pope offers advice to Christians engaged in politics
April 25, 2026
Pope Leo XIV received leading members of the European People’s Party today and offered advice to Christians engaged in politics: first and foremost, “rediscovering and embracing the Christian heritage from which you come, while still maintaining the necessary distinction between prophetic religious witness—reserved to the ecclesial community—and Christian witness expressed through concrete political choices.”
“Being a Christian in politics does not mean being overtly confessional; instead, it means allowing the Gospel to guide the decisions that have to be made, even those that may not attract easy consensus,” Pope Leo said during the audience, which took place in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “It means working to preserve the connection between natural law and positive law, and between Christian roots and political action.”
“To be a Christian engaged in politics requires a realistic perspective that starts with people’s concrete concerns,” the Pope continued. “This perspective should seek, above all, to foster dignified working conditions that will encourage people’s ingenuity and creativity in the face of a market that is increasingly dehumanizing and unfulfilling.”
He explained:
Such an outlook must enable people to overcome the fear of starting a family, of having children, a fear that seems to be particularly prevalent in Europe. It also needs to address the root causes of migration, caring for those who suffer, while also taking into account the real capacities for welcoming and integrating migrants into society. It likewise requires confronting in a non-ideological way the great challenges of our time, such as care for creation and artificial intelligence. The latter offers great opportunities, but it is also fraught with danger.
“Being a Christian engaged in politics also means investing in freedom—not a trivialized freedom reduced to mere personal preferences, but one rooted in the truth, which safeguards religious freedom as well as freedom of thought and of conscience in every place and circumstance,” the Pope added.
During the audience, Pope Leo also recalled the founding fathers of postwar Europe—Konrad Adenauer, the Servant of God Alcide De Gasperi, and Venerable Robert Schuman—and distinguished between “pursuing an ideal” and “glorifying an ideology.”
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