Pope Leo calls on Catholics to rediscover Vatican II teachings January 7, 2026By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service Filed Under: Feature, News, Vatican, World News VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The teachings of the Second Vatican Council are still “the guiding star” the Catholic Church is meant to follow, Pope Leo XIV said. Rereading all of its teachings “is a valuable opportunity to rediscover the beauty and the importance of this ecclesial event,” he said Jan. 7, and because its work remains “a guiding principle for us today.” Pope Leo XIV blesses a young woman at the end of his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican Jan. 7, 2026. The woman holds a handwritten sign that reads, “Vencí el cáncer” (“I beat cancer”). (CNS photo/Vatican Media) “We have yet to achieve ecclesial reform more fully in a ministerial sense and, in the face of today’s challenges, we are called to continue to be vigilant interpreters of the signs of the times, joyful proclaimers of the Gospel, courageous witnesses of justice and peace,” he said. Speaking to visitors gathered in the Paul VI Audience Hall for his weekly general audience, the pope said that with the conclusion of the Holy Year Jan. 6, he was beginning a new series of talks dedicated to the Second Vatican Council. The council, which convened for four sessions from 1962 to 1965, produced 16 documents, addressing everything from liturgy to Scripture, missionary activity to ecumenism and interfaith relationships, and the functions of clergy and laity to religious freedom. “Vatican Council II rediscovered the face of God as the Father who, in Christ, calls us to be his children,” he said in his talk. The council looked at the Catholic Church “as a mystery of communion and sacrament of unity between God and his people; it initiated important liturgical reform, placing at its center the mystery of salvation and the active and conscious participation of the entire people of God,” he said. “At the same time, it helped us to open up to the world and to embrace the changes and challenges of the modern age in dialogue and co-responsibility, as a Church that wishes to open her arms to humanity, to echo the hopes and anxieties of peoples, and to collaborate in building a more just and fraternal society,” he said. For the past six decades, the popes have repeatedly underlined the importance of Vatican II, its teachings and its fuller implementation. However, since the council was held so long ago, that means that “the generation of bishops, theologians and believers of Vatican II is no longer with us,” said the pope, who would have been 10 years old when the council ended in December of 1965. “It will be important to get to know it again closely, and to do so not through ‘hearsay’ or interpretations that have been given, but by rereading its documents and reflecting on their content” directly, he said. “Indeed, it is the Magisterium that still constitutes the guiding star of the Church’s journey today,” he said. Read More Vatican News 13 things to know about Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI Pope Leo XIV tells Vatican press conference AI must be ‘disarmed’ for humanity’s sake ‘Magnifica Humanitas’ a call for moral wisdom in the age of AI, panelists say 10 quotes from Pope Leo’s first encyclical you should know for the era of AI ‘Magnifica Humanitas’: Pope Leo’s AI encyclical warns of temptation to build future excluding God Pope Leo’s encyclical on AI a ‘powerful reminder’ of human dignity, says Archbishop Coakley Copyright © 2026 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Print
