Pope Leo XIV spoke about sacred Scripture during his weekly audience with pilgrims in the Vatican.<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV affirmed Wednesday that sacred Scripture has been entrusted to the Catholic Church \u2014 that she preserves and explains it, and supports its purpose of making Christ known to the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church is the rightful home of sacred Scripture,\u201d the pope said during the general audience on Feb. 11.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith its efficacy and power [sacred Scripture] sustains and invigorates the Christian community. All the faithful are called to drink from this wellspring, first and foremost in the celebration of the Eucharist and the other sacraments,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Addressing thousands of pilgrims in the Vatican\u2019s Paul VI Hall, Leo said Scripture \u201cfinds the sphere in which to carry out its particular task and achieve its purpose: to make Christ known and to open dialogue with God\u201d in the Church community.<\/p>\n
The pontiff pointed to the 2008 Synod of Bishops on \u201cThe Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church\u201d as one of the Church\u2019s recent important reflections on Scripture.<\/p>\n
He quoted from Pope Benedict XVI\u2019s postsynodal exhortation Verbum Domini. In that document, Pope Benedict affirmed that \u201cthe intrinsic link between the word and faith makes clear that authentic biblical hermeneutics can only be had within the faith of the Church, which has its paradigm in Mary\u2019s fiat\u2026 the primary setting for scriptural interpretation is the life of the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
The purpose of Scripture<\/p>\n
Pope Leo recalled the well-known phrase from St. Jerome that \u201cignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.\u201d<\/p>\n
The expression reminds us, he said, \u201cof the ultimate purpose of reading and meditating on the Scriptures: to get to know Christ and, through him, to enter into a relationship with God, a relationship that can be understood as a conversation, a dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe live surrounded by so many words, but how many of these are empty!\u201d the pontiff said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the contrary, the word of God responds to our thirst for meaning, for the truth about our life. It is the only word that is always new: revealing the mystery of God to us, it is inexhaustible, it never ceases to offer its riches.\u201d<\/p>\n
Leo said those who carry out the ministry of the word \u2014 bishops, priests, deacons, and catechists \u2014 should be guided by love for the sacred Scriptures and familiarity with them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church ardently desires that the word of God may reach every one of her members and nurture their journey of faith. But the word of God also propels the Church beyond herself; it opens her continually to the mission towards everyone,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vatican II\u2019s Dei Verbum<\/p>\n
The pope\u2019s catechesis at the general audience was part of a series on the documents of the Second Vatican Council.<\/p>\n
The Holy Father explained that the sixth chapter of Dei Verbum, Vatican II\u2019s constitution on divine revelation, expresses a \u201cprofound and vital link that exists between the word of God and the Church.\u201d<\/p>\n
The document \u201cpresented the revelation to us precisely as a dialogue, in which God speaks to humans as though to friends,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Quoting the constitution, Pope Leo said \u201cthe Church has always venerated the divine Scriptures just as she venerates the body of the Lord, since especially in the sacred liturgy, she unceasingly receives and offers to the faithful the bread of life from the table both of God\u2019s word and of Christ\u2019s body.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pope Leo XIV lights a candle in honor of the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes during the general audience in the Paul VI Hall on Feb. 11, 2026, at the Vatican. | Credit: Daniel Ibanez\/EWTN News<\/p>\n
Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes<\/p>\n
Before the audience began, Pope Leo lit a candle in front of a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes present in the audience hall in honor of her Feb. 11 feast day.<\/p>\n
He asked Our Lady of Lourdes to accompany young people, newlyweds, and the sick, and to \u201cintercede for [them] before God, and obtain for you the graces that sustain you on your journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the catechesis, the pope planned to visit the Vatican Gardens, where there is a replica of the grotto where Mary appeared to St. Bernadette Soubirous in Lourdes, France, in 1858.<\/p>\n
At the grotto, Leo said he would light a candle in prayer for the sick. The World Day of the Sick, commemorated on Feb. 11, was instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1992, one year after his diagnosis with Parkinson\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n
This article was originally published by EWTN English News.<\/p>\n