Pope Leo XIV Reveals the "recipe for a happy life" and Discusses Dei Verbum of Vatican Council II at the General Audience - FULL TEXT

Pope LEO XIV at the GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul VI Hall on Wednesday, January 21, 2026
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FULL TEXT Catechesis. The Documents of the Second Vatican Council. Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum. 2. Jesus Christ, Revealer of the Father

Dear brothers and sisters, good morning and welcome!

We continue the catechesis on the Second Vatican Council 's Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum , on divine Revelation. We have seen that God reveals himself in a covenantal dialogue , in which he addresses us as friends. It is therefore a relational knowledge , which does not merely communicate ideas, but shares a history and calls us to mutual communion. The fulfillment of this revelation is realized in a historical and personal encounter in which God himself gives himself to us, making himself present, and we discover ourselves known in our deepest truth. This is what happened in Jesus Christ .

The Document states that the intimate truth of both God and the salvation of man shines forth to us in Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation (cf. DV , 2).

Jesus reveals the Father to us by involving us in his own relationship with Him . In the Son sent by God the Father, "men [...] can present themselves to the Father in the Holy Spirit and are made sharers in the divine nature" ( ibid . ). We therefore come to full knowledge of God by entering into the relationship of the Son with his Father, by virtue of the action of the Spirit. The evangelist Luke attests to this, for example, when he recounts the Lord's prayer of jubilation: "At that very hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the understanding and revealed them to little ones. Yes, Father, for this is what you have purposed. All things have been delivered to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him'" ( Lk 10:21-22).

Thanks to Jesus, we know God as we are known by Him (cf. Gal 4:9; 1 Cor 13:13). Indeed, in Christ, God has communicated himself to us and, at the same time, has revealed to us our true identity as children, created in the image of the Word. This "eternal Word enlightens all men" ( DV , 4), revealing their truth in the gaze of the Father: "Your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you" ( Mt 6:4, 6, 8), says Jesus; and he adds that "the Father knows our needs" (cf. Mt 6:32). Jesus Christ is the place where we recognize the truth of God the Father as we discover ourselves known by Him as children in the Son, called to the same destiny of full life. Saint Paul writes: "When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, […] so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!'" ( Gal 4:4-6).

Finally, Jesus Christ reveals the Father through his own humanity . Precisely because he is the incarnate Word who dwells among men, Jesus reveals God to us through his own true and integral humanity: "Therefore," says the Council, "by seeing whom the Father is seen (cf. Jn 14:9), he completes and perfects revelation by his entire presence and manifestation, by his words and deeds, by his signs and miracles, and above all by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead, and finally by the sending of the Spirit of truth" ( DV , 4). To know God in Christ we must accept his integral humanity: the truth of God is not fully revealed where something is taken away from the human, just as the integrity of Jesus' humanity does not diminish the fullness of the divine gift. It is the integral humanity of Jesus that tells us the truth of the Father (cf. Jn 1:18).

What saves and summons us is not only the death and resurrection of Jesus, but his very person: the Lord who becomes incarnate, is born, heals, teaches, suffers, dies, rises again, and remains among us. Therefore, to honor the greatness of the Incarnation, it is not enough to consider Jesus as the channel for transmitting intellectual truths. If Jesus has a real body, the communication of God's truth is realized in that body, with his own way of perceiving and feeling reality, with his way of inhabiting the world and passing through it. Jesus himself invites us to share his gaze on reality: "Look at the birds of the air," he says, "for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" ( Mt 6:26).

Brothers and sisters, following Jesus' path to the end, we come to the certainty that nothing can separate us from God's love: "If God is for us," writes St. Paul, "who is against us? He who did not spare his own Son, […] will he not also give us all things along with him?" ( Rom 8:31-32). Thanks to Jesus, the Christian knows God the Father and abandons himself to Him with trust.

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Greetings

I greet the French pilgrims, especially the military delegation of the 13th Parachute Dragoons and Marine Fire Brigade, as well as the Provincial Seminary of Lyon. Let us learn from contemplating the person of Christ to love and act as He reveals to us, to better serve our brothers and sisters and allow them to see in us the reflection of God's face. God bless you .

I greet all the English-speaking pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, particularly the groups from Great Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States of America. As we continue to pray for the unity of Christians, I greet the Ecumenical Delegation of the Catholic Association for Ecumenism and the Council of Churches of the Netherlands. Upon all of you and your families, I invoke the joy and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ. God bless you all!

 Dear German-speaking brothers and sisters, Jesus Christ, before his Passion, prayed for the unity of his disciples. In this "Week of Prayer for Christian Unity," let us pray with him that all his disciples may find unity, that the world may believe in him and in his revelation .

I cordially greet the Spanish-speaking pilgrims. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us so that we may continue to know Jesus, the revealer of the Father, through prayerful reading of the Gospel. May God bless you. Thank you very much.


I extend my cordial greeting to the Chinese-speaking people. Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord help you live in accordance with his teachings and for the good of society. I bless you wholeheartedly .

I greet the Portuguese-speaking pilgrims, especially the musical group The Brazilian Tropical Violins. Dear brothers and sisters, let us pray for peace, at a time in history that seems marked by a growing loss of the value of human dignity and in which war has returned to fashion. May the humanity of Jesus, which reveals the Father, help us find paths of justice and reconciliation. God bless you !

I greet the Arabic-speaking faithful. I invite you to always trust in God, for He is our support, our peace, and our hope in every circumstance. May the Lord bless you all and always protect you from all evil !


I cordially greet the Polish people. With the Sacrament of Baptism, God has established a covenant with each of us that we realize through our humanity. Let us use every gesture of human kindness and the promotion of Christian values ​​to reveal God to the world, building the Kingdom of Christ. It is a sure recipe for a happy life. My blessing to all !

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In greeting the Italian pilgrims present, I extend a special thought to the delegation from the Celio Military Hospital in Rome, and to the parish groups of Lomagna, Civitavecchia, Ruvo di Puglia, Pisticci Scalo, and Messina.

My greeting then extends to young people, the sick, and newlyweds. We are in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, which this year has as its theme: "There is one body, and one Spirit, just as God has called you to the one hope" ( Ephesians 4:4). Let us ask the Lord to bestow the gift of his Spirit on all the Churches throughout the world so that, through it, Christians may banish division and build strong bonds of unity.

My blessing to everyone!