Saint Joseph Catholic Church

Continuing his series of Wednesday general audiences on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, Pope Leo XIV spoke today about the dignity and mission of the laity.

“The victory born of Christ’s gift-of-self stands as both a beacon and a challenge for all of us today,” Pope Leo said during the audience, which took place on March 30 in Clementine Hall of the Apostolic Palace. “As men and women charged with the role of governance, you too are called to discover and to exemplify the gift of service.”

“In a particular way, you are called to be attentive to the needs of the weakest and the most vulnerable in order to assist them towards an integral human development,” the Pope continued. “While there are many tasks that vie for your attention each day, I would encourage you to continue listening to the poor, to immigrants, to the least among you, seeking to accompany them in your work to promote the common good to the benefit of all.”

“In identifying ‘the instruments of good works,’ Saint Benedict, in Chapter IV of the Rule, urges us to ‘keep guard over one’s every act,’” Pope Leo said. “You, contemplative Benedictine nuns, Benedictine monks, know well how much prayer and prayerful reading of the Word of God, especially in the lectio divina, assist in this vigilance, enabling those who practice them to understand the truth about themselves, in the recognition of their own weaknesses and sins and in the celebration of the Lord’s graces and blessings.”

The Pope concluded:

Dear brothers and sisters, thank you for the immense and hidden good you do for the Church, through your offering, your unceasing prayer, your service, and the witness of your life. Continue this work, which is “the work of God” (cf. Saint Benedict, Rule, 43, 3).

I entrust you to Mary Most Holy, Mother of Silence, Woman of Listening, to Saint Benedict, to Saint Scholastica, and to the many Benedictine saints, and I bless you from my heart.

“Thank you for your generous commitment to helping young people in their formation and integration into the workplace,” Pope Leo said. “Investing not in objects, but in people, in their abilities and skills, constitutes a key strength of your work.”

“Indeed, in this way, it is the young people themselves who become the protagonists of their own future, without being regarded as functional tools for a company or cogs in the wheel of commercial success,” the Pope added.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, met with Yaron Sideman, Israel’s ambassador to the Holy See, to discuss the Israeli police’s decision to bar the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem from celebrating Palm Sunday Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.