Pope: Catholic communities must evangelize youth amid spiritual poverty

Pope Leo XIV encourages the Dicastery for Evangelization to assist Catholic communities throughout the world in their efforts to respond to the crisis of spiritual poverty among young people.

Pope Leo XIV meets with the plenary assembly of the Dicastery for Evangelization (@Vatican Media)

Pope Leo XIV met on Thursday with participants in the Plenary Session of the Dicastery for Evanglization – Section for Fundamental Questions of Evangelization in the World.

He recalled that 33 million people visited Rome during the 2025 Jubilee of Hope, thanking the Dicastery for coordinating efforts to welcome such a large number of the faithful.

Calling it “a time of grace,” the Pope said the Jubilee was lived in Rome through pilgrimage to the four Papal Basilicas, as well as in local Church communities, where Catholics recognized our deep desire for hope.

Pope Leo noted that the proclamation of the Gospel is not a utopian proposal but a witness that attracts others through the call to love and truth.

“Evangelization asks that it continue to be the fundamental motivation of every action of the universal Church and of local communities,” he said. “Only in this way is faith rediscovered again and again in its beauty and able to express its credibility in the best way.”

He pointed to the crisis of faith evident especially in Western countries, which has led to religious indifference.

The real risk for humanity, he added, is that indifference leads to failure to seek answers to existential questions, such as our search for meaning.

“Even in this context,” he said, “the encounter with Christ is able to restore fullness of meaning and value to people’s lives, and the Church rediscovers the perennial relevance of the mandate she has received from the Risen Lord.”

The Church’s mission, said the Pope, is to help humanity build upon reliable foundations, so that our future may be filled with “peace, justice, freedom, and fraternity.”

Many young people are waking up to their hunger for spirituality, he noted, urging the Church to respond to that desire by continuing to find new ways to preach the Gospel.

“The new generation is not closed off to the Gospel,” he said. “On the contrary, many, when they rediscover it, want to know it better, because they perceive that within it lies the secret to being truly happy.”

Since methods of evangelization are constantly changing, Catholic communities must listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit, so that He may lead many people to Christ and His saving love and word.

Pope Leo said the transmission of the faith has been interrupted in some parts of the world, leading to spiritual “poverty,” which he described as a lack of motivations and tools needed to mature in the full freedom of faith.

Hyper-mediated and consumeristic societies, he said, make people less able and willing to learn patiently or engage in a personal search for truth.

The transmission of the faith in these contexts, said the Pope, relies the encounter with communities and people who are joyful and live the Gospel consistently and credibly.

“The holiness of life, therefore, always remains the most convincing form of the beauty of the Christian faith, which transcends time and is proposed to every culture,” he said.

Finally, Pope Leo XIV encouraged the Dicastery for Evangelization to embrace its mission to assist with catechesis, especially for the increasing numbers of people who request Baptism as adults.

As new Catholics make their first steps in the faith, he concluded, Catholic communities must provide them with a space for growth and “interpersonal relationships lived in love and mutual service.”

Devin Watkins
Source: vaticannews.va/en