On Ash Wednesday, as Catholics around the world began their Lenten journey, Pope Leo XIV used his weekly General Audience to reflect on the mystery and mission of the Church, drawing from the Second Vatican Council’s Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium.
Continuing his catechesis on Vatican II, the Holy Father turned attention from Dei Verbum, the Council’s constitution on Divine Revelation, to Lumen gentium, which focuses on the nature and identity of the Church. According to Vatican News, the Pope explained that understanding the Church requires first understanding God’s plan of salvation.
“The Church is the mystery made perceptible,” Pope Leo XIV said during the audience, according to Vatican News.
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The Pope clarified that when the Council described the Church as a “mystery,” it did not mean something vague or unknowable. Rather, he explained that Saint Paul used the word to describe a divine reality once hidden but now revealed. According to Vatican News, the Pope noted that the term points to God’s plan “to unify all creatures thanks to the reconciliatory action of Jesus Christ, an action that was accomplished in His death on the Cross.”
This plan of unity stands in stark contrast to the fractured condition of modern humanity. The Holy Father observed that the human condition is marked by division that people cannot fully repair on their own. Yet Christ enters into that brokenness. According to Vatican News, Pope Leo said the “action of Jesus Christ enters into this condition through the power of the Holy Spirit, and overcomes the powers of division…”
The Church, he explained, becomes the visible sign of this unity especially in the liturgy. When believers gather for worship, social and cultural differences are set aside. According to Vatican News, he described the assembly as a place where “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.”
The Pope also reflected on the biblical meaning of ekklesía, the Greek word for Church, which refers to an assembly called together. He described the Cross as “the supreme manifestation of God’s love,” according to Vatican News, emphasizing that Christians gather because they have been summoned by God Himself.
In this light, the Church is both a sign and an instrument. It is a sign because it visibly reflects the unity Christ won through His Passion and Resurrection. It is an instrument because God uses the Church to carry out His saving plan in the world.
As Lent begins, Pope Leo encouraged the faithful to see the Church not merely as an institution, but as the living, visible expression of God’s reconciling love in a divided world. According to Vatican News, he concluded by urging Catholics to ask the Lord to guide His Church in its mission of sanctification and reconciliation as humanity continues to struggle with fragmentation.
In a world wounded by conflict and separation, the Pope’s message serves as a reminder: through Christ and His Church, what was once hidden has been revealed, and unity remains possible through the power of the Cross.
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