Pope Leo XIV has highlighted the contributions of laypeople and religious who helped shape Catholic social teaching and embodied “a Church forging ahead in new directions”. Source: EWTN News.
During an audience on Friday with about 50 members of the Leo XIV International Study Centre, the Pope described Christian humanism as “a vision open to the Creator” that fosters fraternal relationships. He said Catholic social teaching emerged from that same humanist tradition.
“The Church’s social doctrine also emerged from this matrix,” Leo said in the Vatican’s Consistory Hall.
“Its analysis of Christian revelation in the context of modern social, labour, economic, and cultural issues would not have been possible without the contribution of the laity, men and women alike, who grappled with the great issues of their time.
“At their side were those men and women religious who embodied a Church forging ahead in new directions,” he said, quoting his apostolic exhortation Dilexi Te.
The research, educational, and cultural institution was founded within the Order of St Augustine in October 2025 and is dedicated to studying the life and magisterium of Pope Leo XIV.
“The epochal change we are now undergoing makes even more necessary a constant interaction between the faithful and the Church’s magisterium, between ordinary citizens and experts, between individuals and institutions,” the Pope said.
During the audience, Leo encouraged the centre’s members to promote formation directed toward public engagement and service to society.
“At the cost of swimming against the tide, your mission of hope consists of promoting, in Italy and throughout the world, formation for public and political life conceived as a service to the common good, responsibility towards the community, and the building of relationships based on solidarity, justice, and peace,” he said.
Established as an organisation in Italy’s “third sector” in December 2025, the centre seeks to promote reflection on Catholic social teaching and its application to contemporary challenges.
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Pope Leo XIV praises Catholics who led Church in ‘new directions’ (By Victoria Cardiel, EWTN News)
