Pope calls for respect and love toward those who think differently

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV said Wednesday that the diversity of the world’s peoples “must not be considered as a danger or a threat, but rather as a resource for enrichment and growth.” He also criticized confrontational attitudes that, at times, “degenerate into violence.”

“Conflict, which at times degenerates into violence, is the result of the power of sin and the way it conditions mindsets and actions at every level, causing destruction and death,” he said during the general audience in St. Peter’s Square .

He underscored the need to “be ever more open to the logic of reciprocity, sharing, and care, as is also the case amongst the various members of the human body.”

The pontiff thus continued his catechetical series dedicated to Gaudium et Spes , the pastoral constitution on the Church and its role in the modern world, approved by the Second Vatican Council on Dec. 7, 1965.

According to Pope Leo, the message of the document, which considers “the growing interdependence of men” as “one of the salient features of the modern world,” is especially urgent today.

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