Vatican City: Pope Leo XIV said the Church is both human and divine and that the two dimensions exist together in harmony, as he continued his reflections on the Second Vatican Council document Lumen gentium during his weekly general audience on Wednesday.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in the Vatican, Pope explained that the Church should not be imagined as a perfect institution separated from human weakness. Instead, he said the Church of Christ lives within history and is made up of real people who experience both the joys and struggles of faith.
Pope noted that the first chapter of Lumen gentium explains what the Church is and describes it as a complex reality. He said this complexity comes from the fact that the Church contains both a human and a divine dimension.
According to the Pope, the Church is a community of men and women who share their faith, proclaim the Gospel and become signs of Christ’s presence in the world. At the same time, he said the Church is not only a human organization but also part of God’s plan for humanity, fulfilled through Jesus Christ.
He explained that the Church is therefore both an earthly community and the mystical body of Christ. It is a visible assembly but also a spiritual mystery, a reality that exists in history while guiding believers toward heaven.
Pope said these human and divine dimensions do not oppose each other but work together in harmony. The Church, he added, welcomes people with their weaknesses and leads them toward God.
Reflecting on the life of Jesus, the Pope said those who encountered Christ during his earthly life experienced his humanity through his words, gestures and presence. Yet through that same human encounter they also discovered God, because Christ revealed the invisible God through his human life.
Looking at the Church in the light of Christ, Pope Leo said believers can see its human side in the lives of its members, who sometimes show the beauty of the Gospel but also make mistakes. Despite these limitations, he said Christ continues to act and reveal his saving presence through the Church.
Pope also recalled the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who once told Swiss bishops that there is no opposition between the Gospel and the institutional structures of the Church. Instead, he said those structures help the Gospel take concrete form in the world today.
Pope Leo stressed that there is no ideal and pure Church separated from the world. The Church of Christ, he said, exists within history and carries both the strength and fragility of its members.
He said the true holiness of the Church lies in the fact that Christ continues to live and work through it, even through the smallness and weaknesses of human beings.
Pope concluded by encouraging Christians to become authentic witnesses of Christ’s love. By living in charity and communion with one another, he said, believers help build the Church and show the world the true spirit of the Gospel.