Pope at Audience: 'Holiness is not a privilege for the few'

Vatican, April 8, 2026: Pope Leo XIV continued his catechesis series on the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen gentium, reminding the faithful that holiness “is not a privilege for the few,” but is meant for all the baptised, and “is manifested in our daily life every time we receive it with joy and respond to Him.”

“Holiness is not a privilege for the few, but a gift that commits every baptised person to strive for the perfection of charity, that is, the fullness of love towards God and towards one’s neighbour.”

The Pope shared this reflection during his weekly General Audience in the Vatican on Wednesday morning, as he continued his catechesis on the Second Vatican Council and its documents, referring specifically to Lumen gentium on the Church.

This week, the Pope continued his reflection on the Constitution, recalling that Lumen gentium devotes an entire chapter—the fifth—to the universal vocation to holiness of all the faithful, emphasising that each person is called to live in the grace of God, practise virtue, and imitate Christ.

He began by noting that the highest expression of holiness, as seen in the early Church, is martyrdom, described as the “supreme witness of faith and charity.” For this reason, the Council text teaches that every believer must be ready to confess Christ even unto blood, “as has always been the case and continues to be so today.”

This readiness to give witness, the Pope said, is fulfilled whenever Christians leave signs of faith and love within society.

Fostering a holy life

Pope Leo reminded those present that all the sacraments, and in a particular way the Eucharist, “are nourishment that fosters a holy life, assimilating every person to Christ, the model and measure of holiness.”

He explained that Jesus sanctifies the Church, adding that, “holiness is, from this point of view, His gift, which is manifested in our daily life every time we receive it with joy and respond to Him with commitment.”

The Holy Father also recalled that Pope Paul VI, during his General Audience on 20 October 1965, taught that for the Church to be authentic, all the baptised must “be holy, that is, truly worthy, strong and faithful children of hers.”

Pope Leo explained that this is realised through an inner transformation, by which each person’s life is conformed to Christ through the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Called to a serious change of life

He further recalled that Lumen gentium identifies holiness as one of the constitutive characteristics of the Catholic Church.

However, he clarified that this does not mean the Church is already holy in a complete and perfect sense, but that she is called to confirm this divine gift during her earthly journey, walking “amid the persecutions of the world and the consolations of God.”

Referring to the reality of sin within the Church—that is, within all people—the Pope said it calls each person to undertake a serious change of life, entrusting themselves to the Lord, who renews them in charity. “It is precisely this infinite grace, which sanctifies the Church, which delivers a mission to us to carry out day after day: that of our conversion.”

“Therefore, holiness,” he added, “does not only have a practical nature, as if it were reducible to an ethical commitment, however great, but concerns the very essence of Christian life, both personal and communal.”

Not shackles, but liberating gifts

In this context, the Pope made special mention of those who consecrate their lives to God through the evangelical counsels—poverty, chastity, and obedience—which express total trust in God’s providence, following the example of Christ’s self-gift to the Father with a pure heart.

“These three virtues,” he said, “are not rules that shackle freedom, but liberating gifts of the Holy Spirit, through which some of the faithful are wholly consecrated to God.”

Poverty, he explained, signifies complete trust in divine providence, freeing one from calculation and self-interest; obedience is modelled on Christ’s self-offering to the Father, freeing one from suspicion and domination; and chastity is the gift of a whole and pure heart in love, dedicated to the service of God and the Church.

“By conforming to this style of life,” the Holy Father observed, “consecrated persons bear witness to the universal vocation of holiness of the entire Church, in the form of radical discipleship.”

Thus, he said, “the evangelical counsels manifest full participation in the life of Christ, unto the Cross: it is precisely by the sacrifice of the Crucified One that we are all redeemed and sanctified!”

No human experience God does not redeem

Reflecting on this mystery, Pope Leo affirmed, “we know that there is no human experience that God does not redeem: even suffering, lived in union with the passion of the Lord, becomes a path of holiness.”

“Thus,” he continued, “the grace that converts and transforms life strengthens us in every trial, pointing us not toward a distant ideal, but towards the encounter with God, who became man out of love.”

Pope Leo XIV concluded by invoking the Blessed Mother, the all-holy Mother of the Incarnate Word, asking her to sustain and protect our journey always.

Courtesy: Vatican News