According to Pope Leo, the message of Gaudium et Spes on “the growing interdependence of men” is especially urgent today.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday that the diversity of the world’s peoples “must not be considered as a danger or a threat, but rather as a resource for enrichment and growth.” He also criticized confrontational attitudes that, at times, “degenerate into violence.”
“Conflict, which at times degenerates into violence, is the result of the power of sin and the way it conditions mindsets and actions at every level, causing destruction and death,” he said during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square.
He underscored the need to “be ever more open to the logic of reciprocity, sharing, and care, as is also the case amongst the various members of the human body.”
The pontiff thus continued his catechetical series dedicated to Gaudium et Spes, the pastoral constitution on the Church and its role in the modern world, approved by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 7, 1965.
According to Pope Leo, the message of the document, which considers “the growing interdependence of men” as “one of the salient features of the modern world,” is especially urgent today.
Risk of delegating important decisions to algorithms
Although the development of communications technology, social media, and artificial intelligence is opening up new possibilities and helping to break down “barriers and distances,” the pope observed that human relationships “are tending to become less and less personal, more virtual.”
From this perspective, he also warned of the risk of “becoming accustomed to delegating to algorithms decisions that are the sole preserve of the human conscience.”
“Ensuring that social relationships have real substance and personal depth is, in this regard, the contribution that the Christian community seeks to offer,” he told the hundreds of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square to hear his teaching.
The pope also recalled that the pastoral constitution Gaudium et Spes offers a concise definition of the common good, understood as “the sum of those conditions of social life which allow social groups and their individual members relatively thorough and ready access to their own fulfillment.”
At the same time, he noted that the document recognizes the interdependence of peoples and states that “every social group must take account of the needs and legitimate aspirations of other groups, and even of the general welfare of the entire human family.”
Respect for human dignity
Building on this approach, the council fathers identified several “practical and particularly urgent consequences,” including respect for the human person.
The pope recalled that Gaudium et Spes states: “Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where men are treated as mere tools for profit, rather than free and responsible persons; all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.”
Likewise, the pope said that the second consequence of this message is “respect and love for adversaries or for those who think and act in ways different from our own.”
Third, Pope Leo emphasized that the fundamental equality of all human beings gives rise to the demand for social justice. In this regard, he urged people to “overcome the individualistic mindset” and adopt “an attitude of responsibility and participation.”
“The future of humanity depends on each person’s commitment to collaborate with God and with their brothers and sisters in building a more humane world,” the pope concluded.
At the end of the general audience, Leo XIV offered a special greeting to various groups of pilgrims and expressed his “deep appreciation” for the apostolate carried out by prison chaplains.
“May you always be a living presence of the Gospel and of Christian hope,” the Holy Father said, also thanking them for the assistance they provide both to him and to the Secretariat of State in the spiritual care of prisoners who write to the pope each day to share their personal struggles and wounds.
Among those present, Leo XIV also greeted participants in a pharmaceutical care course, encouraging them to combine scientific expertise with human closeness and an integral vision of the person.
By Victoria Cardiel
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. It has been translated and adapted by EWTN News English.
