Catholic legislators are called to enact laws that reflect love of God and love of neighbor, Pope Leo XIV told an international group of lawmakers.
Newsroom (25/08/2025, Gaudium Press ) Catholic legislators have a duty to craft laws that embody love for God and neighbor, Pope Leo XIV told an international gathering of lawmakers, warning that the future of society hinges on rejecting selfish pursuits in favor of divine principles.
“The future of human flourishing depends on which ‘love’ we choose to organize our society around — a selfish love, the love of self, or the love of God and neighbor,” the pope said during an audience with members of the International Catholic Legislators Network at the Vatican on Aug. 23.
The lawmakers, convening in Rome for their annual meeting, focused on the theme “The New World Order: Major Power Politics, Corporate Dominions and the Future of Human Flourishing.” Pope Leo described the topic as reflecting both anxiety about global trends and a deep yearning for a better world.
“We are all concerned about the direction our world is taking, and yet, we long for authentic human flourishing,” he said. “We long for a world where every person can live in peace, freedom and fulfillment according to God’s plan.”
Drawing from his Augustinian roots, the pope invoked St. Augustine’s seminal work, “The City of God,” to frame the challenges facing modern society. St. Augustine, a key Church figure during the decline of the Roman Empire, observed “immense upheavals and social disintegration,” the pope noted.
“The City of God,” composed in the early fifth century, provides “a vision of hope, a vision of meaning that can still speak to us today,” Pope Leo said.
According to St. Augustine, human history intertwines two spiritual realities: the City of Man, driven by pride and self-love, characterized by quests for power, prestige and pleasure; and the City of God, founded on selfless love for God, marked by justice, charity and humility.
The saint urged Christians to imbue earthly institutions with heavenly values, guiding history toward divine fulfillment while fostering well-being in the present, the pope explained.
This perspective offers stability amid contemporary shifts, including “the emergence of new centers of gravity, the shifting of old alliances and the unprecedented influence of global corporations and technologies, not to mention numerous violent conflicts,” he added.
Pope Leo critiqued modern notions of prosperity, often equated with material wealth, unchecked autonomy or consumer-driven pleasures. Such visions fall short, he argued, as evidenced by rampant loneliness, despair and purposelessness in prosperous nations.
“Authentic human flourishing,” he said, aligns with the Church’s concept of integral human development, encompassing physical, social, cultural, moral and spiritual growth.
Rooted in natural law — “the moral order that God has written on the human heart” — true flourishing occurs when people live virtuously in supportive communities, valuing their identity as God’s children beyond mere possessions.
It demands “the freedom to seek truth, to worship God and to raise families in peace,” along with environmental harmony and solidarity across societies and borders, the pope emphasized.
Legislators, he told the group, serve as “bridge-builders between the City of God and the City of Man,” striving for a society where “power is tamed by conscience, and law is at the service of human dignity.”
Referencing his predecessor, the late Pope Francis, who in January called on Vatican diplomats to foster a “diplomacy of hope,” Pope Leo extended the idea to broader realms.
“I would add that we also need a ‘politics of hope,’ an ‘economics of hope,’ anchored in the conviction that even now, through the grace of Christ, we can reflect his light in the earthly city,” he said.
The address comes amid the Jubilee of Hope, underscoring the pope’s call for faith-inspired action in global politics.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from OSV News
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