The Holy Father appealed to communities of nations \u201cto be ever vigilant, so that the horror of genocide may never again befall any people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV said he is praying for a world \u201cwithout antisemitism, without prejudice, oppression, and persecution of any human being,\u201d during his general audience on Jan. 28.<\/p>\n
Recalling the Jan. 27 commemoration of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, held in memory of the millions of Jews and others who lost their lives during that genocide, the pope called on communities of nations \u201cto be ever vigilant, so that the horror of genocide may never again befall any people and that a society based on mutual respect and the common good may be built.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo made his appeal at the end of his weekly general audience in the Vatican\u2019s Paul VI Hall on a rainy Jan. 28.<\/p>\n
He also mentioned Holocaust Remembrance Day in brief comments to journalists as he left his Castel Gandolfo residence outside of Rome on the night of Jan. 27.<\/p>\n
Asked about the presence of a United States aircraft carrier in the Middle Eastern region, he stressed the need \u201cto pray hard for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe little ones can raise our voices and always seek dialogue rather than violence to resolve problems, especially on this day that commemorates the Shoah,\u201d he said, adding that we must eliminate \u201call forms of antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
The word of God is a living reality<\/p>\n
In his main message at the Jan. 28 audience, Pope Leo continued his series of talks on the dogmatic constitution Dei Verbum of the Second Vatican Council. He focused on divine revelation and reflected in particular on the relationship between sacred Scripture and tradition.<\/p>\n
The word of God \u201cis not fossilized, but rather it is a living and organic reality that develops and grows in tradition,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV gives his blessing at the end of the general audience in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall on Jan. 28, 2026. Credit: Daniel Ibanez\/EWTN News<\/p>\n
He pointed to the teaching of St. John Henry Newman, doctor of the Church, who in his work \u201cThe Development of Christian Doctrine\u201d affirmed that Christianity \u2014 both as a communal experience and as a doctrine \u2014 is \u201ca dynamic reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo noted that this understanding is already present in the Gospel, when Jesus uses the parables of the seed to express a life that develops thanks to an inner vital force.<\/p>\n
Scripture and tradition: An inseparable unity<\/p>\n
Following the teaching of the Second Vatican Council, the pope emphasized that sacred Scripture and tradition \u201care so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others.\u201d<\/p>\n
Quoting Dei Verbum, he said \u201cthere exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end.\u201d<\/p>\n
Church tradition, he explained, \u201cbranches out throughout history through the Church, which preserves, interprets, and embodies the word of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, citing a motto of the Church Fathers, also affirms that \u201csacred Scripture is written principally in the Church\u2019s heart rather than in documents and records.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pontiff recalled two classic expressions of the Christian tradition. St. Gregory the Great famously said \u201cthe sacred Scriptures grow with the one who reads them\u201d and St. Augustine observed that \u201cthere is only one word of God that unfolds through Scripture, and there is only one Word that sounds on the lips of many saints.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the end of Wednesday's General Audience, Pope Leo made a special appeal, recalling the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Remembering the millions of Jews and countless others who were killed, the Pope described the day as an \u201cannual\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/reCRz2t7U2<\/p>\n
Safeguarding the deposit of faith<\/p>\n
Leo XIV also quoted the exhortation of the Apostle Paul to Timothy: \u201cO Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you.\u201d<\/p>\n
This passage, he said, is echoed by Dei Verbum, which states that \u201cSacred tradition and sacred Scripture form one sacred deposit of the word of God, committed to the Church,\u201d whose interpretation belongs to the \u201cliving teaching office of the Church, whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The pope explained that the term \u201cdeposit\u201d is juridical in origin and imposes a precise duty: to preserve the content \u2014 \u201cwhich in this case is the faith\u201d \u2014 and to transmit it intact.<\/p>\n
For this reason, he stressed that the \u201cdeposit\u201d of the word of God \u201cis still in the hands of the Church and all of us,\u201d who, in our various ecclesial ministries, are called to preserve it \u201cin its integrity, as a lodestar for our journey through the complexity of history and existence.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN News English.<\/p>\n
Hannah Brockhaus contributed to this report.<\/p>\n