Faith should ‘become culture,’ Pope Leo emphasizes at audience on Vatican II

October 29, 2026

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV devoted his October 28 audience (video) to the relationship between faith and culture.

The audience, which took place in St. Peter’s Square, was the thirtieth audience in the series and the seventh devoted to the Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965). The audience was devoted to the second chapter of Part II of the pastoral constitution; the chapter is entitled “The proper development of culture” (nos. 53-62).

“The Catholic Church has always been concerned with accompanying the preaching of the Gospel with the establishment of schools of every kind, aimed at advancing the human, cultural and spiritual formation of men and women,” Pope Leo told the 30,000 people in attendance. “At the same time, the progress of culture and knowledge raises ever new and deeper questions, prompting believers to give an account of their faith. Finally, as expressions of the spiritual dimension of the human being, the various manifestations of culture contribute to opening minds to the perennial questions on the meaning of the world and of human existence, thus preparing people to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

“The relationship between faith and culture finds its primary foundation in the Incarnation: if the divine Word became flesh and came to dwell among us, then faith too is an incarnate reality, interwoven with the culture in which it is immersed,” the Pope continued. “It is also required to become culture [emphasis in original], that is, to reach the person in their living environment, made up of human words, traditions, religious meaning, art and poetry, thought and science.

Pope Leo then commented on three paragraphs of Gaudium et Spes:

• on n. 58: “Faith can be embodied in all cultures, because it does not identify itself with any of them in a specific one. It dwells within them, shaping them from within according to the ‘form’ of Jesus Christ; that is, through charity, service and the filial recognition of God’s fatherhood. In this way, the Church draws from the various cultures all that is good, beautiful and true, in order to embody and transmit the message of the Gospel.”
• on n. 60: “The Church promotes culture because it is a good in itself, a service to the human being and to the fulfilment of her vocation on earth. For this reason, Gaudium et Spes exhorts the international community to ensure that everyone has access to fundamental cultural goods, by overcoming illiteracy and the lack of education.”
• on n. 61: “Gaudium et Spes upholds the need to direct teaching towards a certain unity of knowledge, even though changing living conditions may make this more difficult. Christians are the first who must strive to bring about this unity of wisdom, first and foremost within themselves. Although they have received from Revelation the answers to the great questions of existence, they are not thereby exempt from patient intellectual and cultural formation; on the contrary, their human and scientific knowledge must go hand in hand with the substance of their faith, which must be continually deepened with age and in accordance with their level of study.”

Turning to n. 62, he concluded:

Brothers and sisters, the Constitution Gaudium et Spes reminds us not to live the faith in a spirit of opposition or hostility towards the world, culture and its human expressions, but rather exhorts us as follows: “May the faithful, therefore, live in very close union with the other men of their time and may they strive to understand perfectly their way of thinking and judging, as expressed in their culture” (GS, 62).

Achieving a mature and responsible synthesis between faith and culture is, in fact, a necessary condition for persevering in the Christian vocation, as well as an essential requirement for bearing witness to the faith before the world and communicating it to others in a credible manner.

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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)
• The reform of the liturgy: tradition and development (5/27/26)
• Rite, sign, and symbol (6/3/26)
• No audience on 6/10 (in Spain), followed by a special general audience on his apostolic journey to Spain (6/17/26)
• The mystery of the Eucharist (6/24/26)
• No audiences in July
• The prayer of the Church (8/5/26)
• The liturgical year (8/12/26)
• Sacred music (8/19/26)
• Motivations for liturgical reform (8/26/26)

On Gaudium et Spes, the Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World (1965):

• The Church: Listening to and Serving the World (9/2/26)
• Human dignity: gift and responsibility (9/9/26)
• The human community (9/16/26)
• The meaning of man’s activity throughout the world (9/23/26), followed by special general audience on his apostolic journey to France (9/30/26)
• The mission of the Church in the contemporary world (10/7/26)
• No general audience on 10/14/26 (Pope hospitalized)
• Commitment to the family in today’s society (10/21/26)
• The relationship between faith and culture (10/28/26)

 

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Further information:

• General Audience (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 10/28/26)
• General Audience (Holy See Press Office, 10/28/26)
• Pope at Audience: Faith enriches every culture with its positive outlook (Vatican News, 10/28/26)
• Catholics must engage with modern culture, not reject it, pope says (CNS, 10/28/26)