Let us allow ourselves to be shaped by the liturgy, Pope says at audience on Vatican II

May 20, 2026

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV reflected today on Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.

“In drafting this Constitution, the Council Fathers sought not only to undertake a reform of the rites, but to lead the Church to contemplate and deepen that living bond which constitutes and unites her: the mystery of Christ,” Pope Leo said in his audience, entitled “The liturgy in the mystery of the Church“ (video). “Indeed, the liturgy touches the very heart of this mystery: it is at once the space, the time and the context in which the Church receives her very life from Christ.”

“As manifested by the threefold renewal—biblical, patristic and liturgical—that the Church underwent through the course of the twentieth century, the Mystery in question does not designate an obscure reality, but God’s salvific plan, hidden from all eternity and revealed in Christ, according to Saint Paul’s affirmation (cf. Eph 3:2-6),” Pope Leo told the pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square. “Here, then, is the Christian Mystery: the Paschal event, that is to say, the passion, death, resurrection and glorification of Christ, which is made sacramentally present to us precisely in the liturgy, so that every time we take part in the assembly gathered ‘in his name’ (cf. Mt 18:20) we are immersed in this Mystery.”

The Pope explained:

Christ Himself is the inner source of the mystery of the Church, the holy people of God, born from His side pierced on the cross. In the holy liturgy, through the power of His Spirit, He continues to act. He sanctifies and unites the Church, His bride, to His offering to the Father. He exercises His utterly unique priesthood, He who is present in the proclaimed Word, in the sacraments, in the ministers who celebrate, in the gathered community and, in the highest degree, in the Eucharist.

“The rituality of the Church expresses her faith—in accordance with the familiar saying lex orandi, lex credendi—and at the same time shapes ecclesial identity: the proclaimed Word, the celebration of the Sacrament, the gestures, the silences, the space—all this represents and gives form to the people gathered by the Father, the Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit,” Pope Leo added. “Every celebration thus becomes a true epiphany of the Church in prayer.”

After reflecting on the Council’s teaching that the liturgy is “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed” and “the font from which all her power flows,” the Pontiff concluded:

Dear friends, let us allow ourselves to be shaped inwardly by the rites, symbols, gestures and above all the living presence of Christ in the liturgy, which we will have the opportunity to explore in the coming Catecheses.

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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)
• On the foundation of the Apostles: The Church in her hierarchical dimension (3/25/26)
• Living stones in the Church and witnesses in the world: The laity in the People of God (4/1/26)
• Holiness and evangelical counsels in the Church (4/8/26)
• No audience on 4/15 and 4/22 (in Africa), followed by a special general audience on his apostolic journey to Africa (4/29/26)
• The Church, pilgrim in history towards the heavenly homeland (5/6/26)
• The Virgin Mary, model of the Church (5/13/26)

On Sacrosanctum Concilium, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy (1963):

• The liturgy in the mystery of the Church (5/20/26)

 

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Further information:

• General Audience (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 5/20/26)
• General Audience, 20.05.2026 (Holy See Press Office, 5/20/26)