Pope: Social security systems must foster economic justice and right to work

Vatican, April 11, 2026: Pope Leo XIV met with a delegation from the Italian National Institute for Social Security, encouraging national welfare systems to advance social responsibility and economic growth.

On Friday, Pope Leo XIV held an audience with executives and staff of the Italian National Institute for Social Security (INPS), which functions as Italy’s national pension body.

In his address, the Pope highlighted that the institution plays a vital social role by ensuring the equitable distribution of wealth to support many vulnerable individuals facing hardship.

He noted that this responsibility gives INPS “the possibility of acting effectively in promoting a social responsibility that combines economic development and community cohesion, guiding choices toward the common good.”

Pope Leo also reflected on the imbalance between wealth and its distribution, observing that significant wealth remains concentrated among a small number of people.

“Many hundreds of millions of people across the planet,” he said, “are immersed in extreme poverty and lack food, shelter, medical care, schools, electricity, drinking water, and indispensable sanitary services.”

However, the Pope stressed that inequality is not inevitable, but instead calls for integrity and a strong moral compass to ensure fair distribution of resources.

“Within such a horizon,” he said, “the response to the concrete needs of persons has always been at the center of the attention of the Catholic Church, both as regards the world of work and assistance to the needy.”

Pope Leo XIV recalled the enduring tradition of Catholic Social Teaching, significantly articulated by his predecessor and namesake, Pope Leo XIII in the encyclical Rerum novarum.

The 19th-century Pope had advocated for social security and assistance systems to ensure that workers are never without employment and have access to support in cases of illness, accidents, or old age.

Since then, Pope St. John XXIII, Pope St. Paul VI, Pope St. John Paul II, and Pope Benedict XVI have all affirmed the human right to welfare support when individuals are unable to work due to life circumstances.

At the same time, Pope Leo XIV pointed out that both Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI offered a “critique of welfare dependency”.

Within the social teaching of Pope Francis, particularly in Fratelli tutti, the Church’s Social Doctrine elevates the “welfare state to the status of a true universal right.”

“The model proposed is that of a system of solidaristic security, based on the principles of subsidiarity, social responsibility, and human fraternity, always with the aim of directing welfare intervention so as to allow everyone ‘a dignified life through work’,” said Pope Leo.

The Pope expressed gratitude to the Italian pension agency for its work in protecting the most vulnerable and investing strategically in youth development.

“Even in the face of the need to guarantee the sustainability of the system,” he said, “your commitment must always be directed also toward safeguarding its solidaristic fabric and its fairness, both at the pension level and in accompanying the worker along his or her professional path.”

He also remarked that the labour system in the 21st century has undergone significant transformation, pointing to the emergence of the gig economy, the outsourcing of jobs due to globalisation, and growing instability in career paths.

In conclusion, Pope Leo XIV urged INPS executives and employees to place the human person at the centre of their work, so that “no one may lack dignity and freedom to live an authentically human life.”

Courtesy: Vatican News