Illustration: Saint Paul delivering the Areopagus Sermon in Athens, by Raphael, 1515.
Pope Leo’s General Audience
Wednesday, 28 October 2026
Catechesis. The Documents of the Second Vatican Council. IV.
Constitution Gaudium et Spes. 7. Some Principles for Development of Culture (GS, 58–62)
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Scripture reading:
Acts of the Apostles: 17:22-23
Paul stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship.
I even found an altar with this inscription: ‘to an unknown god’.
So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
Pope Leo’s Catechesis:
Dear Brothers and sisters,
The Second Vatican Council addressed the relationship between culture and the Christian faith. The Council addressed this issue in the second chapter of the second part of the Constitution Gaudium et Spes.
The Catholic Church has always accompanied the preaching of the Gospel with the establishment of schools of every type.
These schools are aimed at advancing the human, cultural, and spiritual formation of men and women across the five continents.
As we know, medieval universities arose from the heart of the Church and made a decisive contribution to the development of Western civilization.
At the same time, the progress of culture and knowledge gives rise to new and deeper questions, prompting believers to justify their faith
(1 Peter 3:15–17 – Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God’s will, than for doing wrong.).
As expressions of the spiritual dimension of human beings, the various manifestations of culture open minds to perennial questions about the meaning of the world and human existence.
This prepares people to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The relationship between faith and culture is primarily founded on the Incarnation.
If the divine Word became flesh and came to dwell among us (Jn 1:14), then faith is also an incarnate reality interwoven with the culture in which it exists.
Faith must also become culture to reach individuals in their living environments, which are made up of human words, traditions, religious meanings, art, poetry, thoughts, and sciences.
As Saint John Paul II loved to repeat, “a faith that does not become culture is a faith that is not fully embraced, not fully thought through, not faithfully lived”.
Faith can be embodied in all cultures because it is not specific to any one culture.
Rather, it dwells within them, shaping them according to the “form” of Jesus Christ through charity, service, and the recognition of God as Father.
The Church draws from various cultures all that is good, beautiful, and true to embody and transmit the message of the Gospel.
At the same time, “the Church, sent to all peoples of every time and place, is not bound exclusively or indissolubly to any race, nation, way of life, or customary way of life, whether recent or ancient.”
Faithful to her own tradition and conscious of her universal mission, she can enter into communion with various civilizations for their enrichment and her own.” (GS, 58).
The Church promotes culture because it is a good in itself and a service to humanity and the fulfillment of its vocation on earth.
For this reason, Gaudium et Spes urges the international community to provide everyone with access to essential cultural resources by eliminating illiteracy and a lack of education.
The Council boldly states that all those capable of pursuing higher education must be placed in a position to do so in practice.
Furthermore, “it will belong to all to acknowledge and favor the proper and necessary participation of women in cultural life.” (GS, 60).
Additionally, Gaudium et Spes emphasizes the importance of directing teaching towards a unified knowledge, despite the challenges posed by evolving living conditions (cf. GS, 61).
Christians must strive to achieve this unity of wisdom, beginning with themselves. Although they have received the answers to the great questions of existence from Revelation, they are not 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 continually be deepened with age and in accordance with their level of study.
The Council makes a particular appeal to theologians: “Those who teach theology should strive to collaborate with those versed in other sciences by sharing their resources and points of view.
Theological inquiry should pursue a profound understanding of revealed truth.
At the same time, it should not neglect close contact with the present time so that it may help those skilled in various disciplines attain a better understanding of the faith.”
Brothers and sisters, the Constitution Gaudium et Spes reminds us not to live our faith in opposition to or with hostility toward the world, culture, and its human expressions. On the contrary, it urges us as follows: “May the faithful live in close union with others in their time, striving to understand their way of thinking and judging as expressed in their culture” (GS 62).
In fact, achieving a mature and responsible synthesis between faith and culture is a necessary condition for persevering in the Christian vocation.
It is also an essential requirement for bearing witness to the faith before the world and communicating it to others in a credible way.
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Summary of Pope Leo’s words:
The Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes reflects on the Church in the modern world and addresses the topic of culture.
The Church has always promoted culture in all its forms by combining the proclamation of the Gospel with the establishment of schools.
This approach seeks to foster human and spiritual formation, encourage believers to account for their faith and prepare all peoples to receive the Gospel.
(1 Pet. 3:15–17 –Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence; and keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are abused, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.
For it is better to suffer for doing right, if that should be God’s will, than for doing wrong.),
The authentic relationship between faith and culture is rooted in the Incarnation. Therefore, faith enriches and fulfills every culture it encounters and is called to become a Christ-shaped culture.
Gaudium et Spes thus affirms the need to cultivate a fruitful integration of knowledge expressed through a positive outlook on life and history.