Catholics must engage with modern culture, not reject it, Pope Leo says

Catholics must not live their faith in opposition or "hostility" toward modern culture, Pope Leo XIV said, emphasizing that integrating faith and culture is essential to living out the Christian vocation and sharing the Gospel with others.

"The authentic relationship between faith and culture is rooted in the Incarnation," he said in his address to English speakers during his weekly general audience Oct. 28 in St. Peter's Square. "Faith, therefore, enriches and brings to fulfillment every culture it encounters, and is itself called to become a culture that is shaped by Christ."

Throughout history, the Catholic Church has played a significant role in creating educational opportunities, the pope said, noting that many medieval universities arose from the Church and contributed to the development of Western civilization.

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The Church continues to promote access to education and culture, he said, citing the Second Vatican Council's pastoral constitution "Gaudium et Spes" and its call to overcome illiteracy and to ensure that everyone has access to fundamental cultural opportunities.

Pope Leo also emphasized the importance of expanding access to higher education, especially for women, and encouraged Christians to deepen their scientific and cultural knowledge alongside their understanding of the faith.

"The Church promotes culture because it is a good in itself; it is a service to the human being and to the fulfilment of her vocation on earth," the pope said during his main catechesis in Italian.

Yet the development of human knowledge and culture also raises new and deeper questions, prompting believers to reflect more deeply on their faith, he said.

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Faith itself is interwoven with culture through traditions, art, poetry, thought and science, Pope Leo said. Quoting St. John Paul II, he said "a faith that does not become culture is a faith that is not fully embraced, not fully thought through, not faithfully lived."

Faith is not limited to any one culture, but can take root in all cultures, shaping them according to the example of Jesus Christ through charity, service and recognition of God as Father, he said.

"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," the pope said.

He urged theologians in particular to collaborate with experts in other disciplines, arguing that intellectual inquiry and religious formation should develop together.

The pope said that cultural expression can open people's minds to fundamental questions about the meaning of the world and human existence, helping prepare them to receive the Gospel.

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Catholics, he said, must strive to understand the cultures they live in, rather than approach the modern world with opposition.

"Achieving a mature and responsible synthesis between faith and culture is, in fact, a necessary condition for persevering in the Christian vocation," he said, as well as for communicating the faith to others in a credible way.