Drawing on the Fathers of the Church, the Pope defends a demanding but classic interpretation of poverty. Every Saturday, La Croix's permanent special envoy to the Vatican takes you behind the scenes of the world's smallest state.
Yet another reference to Saint Augustine. In his address to the popular movements, delivered on Thursday, October 23, at the Vatican, Leo XIV once again paraphrases the Father of the Church. This repetition is not insignificant. Since his election last May, the first American pope in history has continually invoked the Bishop of Hippo, his favorite author. This time, the quote touches on the very heart of his papal project: the issue of poverty.
"According to Augustine," the Pope said, "the human being is at the center of an ethic of responsibility. He teaches us that responsibility, especially toward the poor and those in material need, arises from being human with one's fellow human beings." This sentence, spoken before representatives of disadvantaged communities around the world, sheds a particular light on the way in which Leo XIV intends to lead the Church.
Five months after his election, the American pope is beginning to weave the threads of a coherent line of thought, rooted in the patristic tradition but resolutely focused on contemporary emergencies. His constant reference to Saint Augustine is not just an intellectual embellishment: it structures a vision of the Church and its relationship with the most vulnerable.
Saint Augustine, companion of the pontificate
An uninterrupted dialogue with the Bishop of Hippo
Since his first appearance in the loggia of St. Peter's on the evening of May 8, Leo XIV has made numerous references to St. Augustine. During the Youth Jubilee at Tor Vergata in early August, his speech was "woven, as is often the case, with quotations from St. Augustine, his favorite author," according to observers present. This closeness to the Doctor of the Church is not new.
During his formative years, and later as a missionary bishop in Peru, Robert Prevost – who became Leo XIV – never ceased to meditate on the works of the Father of the Church. Confessions, The City of God, Augustine's countless sermons accompanied his theological and pastoral reflection. "For Leo XIV, Augustine is not an academic reference," confides a close friend of the pontiff. "He is a spiritual companion, someone with whom he is in constant dialogue."
This familiarity is evident in his way of quoting the Bishop of Hippo. The Pope does not simply repeat famous phrases: he paraphrases, recontextualizes, and updates Augustinian thought. This is visible in his speech of October 23, where the quotation does not come as a guarantee of authority but as the natural extension of a personal reflection.
Quote of October 23: Responsibility and Poverty
The transition from discourse to popular movements deserves further attention. By asserting that "responsibility, especially toward the poor and those in material need, arises from being human with one's fellow human beings," Leo XIV mobilizes an often-forgotten dimension of Augustinian thought: social anthropology.
For Augustine, human beings are never isolated individuals. They are always already connected, embedded in a network of mutual responsibilities. The Pope applies this vision directly to the issue of poverty. Our responsibility to the poor does not stem primarily from an external moral commandment, but from our common humanity. It is because we share the same human condition that we are responsible for one another.
This reading of Augustine is not neutral. It allows Leo XIV to go beyond the framework of voluntary charity to lay the foundations of an ethic of social justice. If responsibility towards the poor stems from our shared humanity, it is not optional: it is constitutive of what it means to be fully human.
The Augustinian vision of poverty
A demanding reading of the Gospel
In his apostolic exhortation Dilexi te, published on October 9, Leo XIV "made charity towards the poor the criterion of truth of Catholicism." This radical formulation is rooted in a solid patristic tradition, of which Augustine is one of the principal representatives.
For the Bishop of Hippo, the relationship with the poor is not a secondary aspect of Christian life. It constitutes its decisive test. In his sermons, Augustine does not hesitate to affirm that the Christian who neglects the poor cuts himself off from the Gospel itself. "Do you want to pray to God? Give first to the poor," he proclaims in one of his most famous sermons.
Leo XIV took up this radicalism. In Dilexi te, he "hardens his tone: forgetting or despising the poor is not a matter of simple moral indifference, but of a break with the Gospel." The vocabulary is strong: we are no longer in the register of recommendation, but in that of the very essence of the Christian faith.
This demanding reading of the Gospel is part of what the Pope calls a defense against "contemporary heresies." Without explicitly naming them, he is targeting those forms of Christianity that evacuate the social dimension of faith, reducing it to individualistic piety or a system of moral norms disconnected from concrete justice.
The poor as the face of Christ
Augustinian theology of poverty is based on a fundamental intuition: in the poor, it is Christ himself who presents himself to us. This identification, already present in the Gospel of Matthew ("I was hungry and you gave me something to eat"), is developed by Augustine with particular force.
For the Bishop of Hippo, the poor are not simply the object of our charity. They are the living sacrament of Christ. In serving them, we are not performing a good deed: we are encountering the Lord himself. "Christ begs at your door in the poor," Augustine wrote in one of his sermons.
This perspective radically transforms the relationship with poverty. It is no longer a matter of "doing something for the poor" in a top-down manner, but of recognizing in them a sacred presence that challenges and transforms us. This is exactly what Leo XIV expressed when he affirmed, in his speech of October 23, that "land, housing, and work are sacred rights."
The adjective "sacred" is not insignificant. It places these material realities within the realm of the divine. Denying someone a roof over their heads or a job is not just committing a social injustice: it is attacking something sacred, human dignity, which carries within it a transcendent dimension.
Leo XIV and the legacy of Francis
“Dilexi te”: continuity and deepening
The Apostolic Exhortation Dilexi te ("I loved you") marks a key moment in the young pontificate. Published five months after the election, it "places his pontificate in the continuity of his predecessor, Pope Francis: a Church close to the poor."
This continuity is assumed, even claimed. Leo XIV does not seek to distance himself from Francis, from whom he inherited many of his projects. On the contrary, he strives to "institutionalize Francis," as one Vatican observer notes. But this continuity is not a mechanical repetition: it involves a deepening of doctrine.
Where Francis spoke from the heart, multiplying prophetic gestures and striking formulas, Leo XIV draws on patristic tradition to give the preferential option for the poor a solid theological foundation. Saint Augustine becomes the intellectual tool that allows us to show that this option is not a 20th-century innovation, but belongs to the heart of the most ancient Christian tradition.
In Dilexi te, the Pope develops a reflection on what he calls the "necessity" of attention to the poor. This term, again, is not chosen at random. It is not one possibility among others, a particular sensitivity that some Christians might cultivate. It is a necessity constitutive of the Christian faith itself.
Popular movements, privileged recipients
The October 23 speech to the popular movements is part of this dynamic. Francis had made these grassroots organizations—who fight for access to land, housing, and employment—privileged interlocutors. Leo XIV resumed this dialogue, but enriched it with a doctrinal dimension.
"Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful speech to popular movements, extending the legacy of Francis while broadening the Church's social struggle," notes one observer. This broadening requires a clearer connection between the Gospel and concrete social struggles.
By affirming that "land, housing, and work are sacred rights," the Pope is not simply adopting a slogan of social movements. He is making a theological gesture: he is inscribing these material demands within the realm of the sacred, and therefore the intangible. These rights cannot be negotiated, commodified, or relativized, because they affect human dignity itself.
This sacralization of fundamental social rights is consistent with Augustinian thought. For Augustine, the just social order is not simply a question of the technical organization of society. It is a reflection, always imperfect, of divine justice. A society that tolerates the deprivation of some of the necessities is not simply a poorly organized society: it is a society at odds with the order desired by God.
An ethic of responsibility
Beyond Charity: Social Justice
The Augustinian reference allows Leo XIV to go beyond the framework of traditional charity to lay the foundations for an ethic of collective responsibility. This distinction is crucial and deserves further attention.
Charity, in its common sense, is voluntary. It is an act of generosity, laudable indeed, but one that remains at the discretion of each individual. I can choose to give or not to give, to help or to move on. Charity does not engage my responsibility in the strict sense: it manifests my potential goodness.
Responsibility, on the contrary, is not optional. It stems from my very condition as a human being. By stating that "responsibility, especially toward the poor, arises from being human with one's fellow human beings," Leo XIV places our duty toward the poor not in the order of moral merit but in that of justice.
This distinction between charity and justice is not new. It runs through the entire tradition of the Church's social doctrine. But Leo XIV gives it particular strength by basing it on Augustinian anthropology. Our responsibility to the poor is not an additional virtue that we can cultivate: it is constitutive of our humanity itself.
“Sacred rights” according to Leo XIV
The concept of "sacred rights" that Leo XIV develops in his speech of October 23 deserves special attention. It represents a significant theological innovation, even if it is rooted in tradition.
By describing the rights to land, housing, and work as "sacred," the Pope is making a double gesture. On the one hand, he is removing these realities from the purely economic sphere and placing them within the religious sphere. On the other, he is affirming that their violation is not just a social injustice: it is a form of sacrilege.
This sacralization of fundamental social rights might seem excessive. Is it not instrumentalizing religion to serve a political agenda? Leo XIV's response, inscribed in Augustinian logic, is clear: these rights are sacred because they touch on human dignity, and human dignity is sacred because human beings are created in the image of God.
For Augustine, and Leo XIV echoes this, there is no watertight separation between the spiritual and the material. The human being is not a pure spirit that incidentally has a body: it is a psychosomatic unity where body and mind are inseparable. To deprive someone of material necessities is therefore to undermine their spiritual dignity.
This integral vision of the human person is at the heart of what the Pope calls "an ethic of responsibility." We are not only responsible for the spiritual salvation of our brothers and sisters: we are responsible for their material well-being, their concrete living conditions, their ability to lead a dignified existence.
The concrete implications
A pontificate marked by the preferential option for the poor
Five months after his election, the contours of Leo XIV's pontificate are becoming clearer. "By placing the poor at the heart of his pontificate and denouncing economic logic," the American pope is clearly following in Francis' footsteps, while giving him a more explicit doctrinal foundation.
This preferential option for the poor is manifested in actions and speeches. The encounter with popular movements, the repeated calls for social justice, the insistence on "sacred rights": all contribute to making the social question one of the major axes of the pontificate.
But this centrality of poverty is not just a pastoral choice. It is presented as stemming from the very essence of Christianity. This is the whole force of the Augustinian reference: it allows us to show that attention to the poor is not a passing fad or a particular sensitivity of this or that pope, but belongs to the permanent doctrinal heritage of the Church.
In Dilexi te, Leo XIV goes so far as to assert that "to forget or despise the poor" constitutes "a break with the Gospel." This radical formulation is reminiscent of the positions of Augustine, who did not hesitate to say that the rich man who keeps for himself what he does not need is guilty of stealing from the poor.
Contemporary challenges
This Augustinian vision of poverty must today confront realities that the Bishop of Hippo could not have imagined: globalization, growing inequalities, mass migrations, ecological crises that hit the most vulnerable first.
Leo XIV is aware of this. In his speech to the popular movements, he does not limit himself to doctrinal reminders: he "denounces the economic logic" that produces exclusion. This denunciation is part of the prophetic tradition of the Church, but it takes on a particular acuity today.
The Pope is clear about the limits of his actions. In his first interview, published in September, he confided that he was still "learning," particularly in his role as "global head of state." This humility does not preclude firmness. By affirming that "land, housing, and work are sacred rights," he establishes a non-negotiable principle that must serve as a compass for public policy.
This position is consistent with Augustinian thought. For Augustine, the Church has no vocation to govern the earthly city, but it does have the duty to recall the principles of justice that must animate it. The role of the Pope is not to propose technical solutions to economic problems, but to lay the ethical foundations from which these solutions must be thought.
A classic and demanding read
Rooted in tradition
Leo XIV's approach has a remarkable characteristic: it is both radical in its conclusions and profoundly traditional in its foundations. Drawing on Saint Augustine, the Pope shows that demanding attention to the poor is not an invention of liberation theology or a concession to the spirit of the times: it belongs to the heart of the patristic tradition.
This intellectual strategy is not innocent. In a Church where some see the preferential option for the poor as an ideological deviation, Leo XIV responds by showing that it is, on the contrary, contempt for the poor that constitutes a heretical innovation. "Faced with contemporary heresies," he writes in Dilexi te, attention to the poor appears as the criterion of true orthodoxy.
This way of bringing tradition and contemporary emergencies into dialogue characterizes the new pope's style. Intellectually trained in tradition, he does not seek rupture for the sake of rupture. But he is not content with a rigid traditionalism either. He updates the sources, making them speak to today's issues.
A disturbing requirement
The reference to Augustine allows Leo XIV to maintain a demanding line without appearing revolutionary. When he asserts that neglecting the poor constitutes "a break with the Gospel," he is simply repeating, in contemporary terms, what Augustine was already saying in the 5th century.
This demand is disturbing. It calls into question well-established practices, comfortable arrangements, forms of Christianity that evacuate the social dimension of faith. In some ecclesiastical circles, particularly those that value above all traditional piety and abstract doctrinal orthodoxy, this insistent reminder of responsibility towards the poor is poorly received.
But Leo XIV does not seek confrontation for its own sake. His strategy is more subtle: by showing that care for the poor belongs to the Church's most classical tradition, he makes it difficult to reject it in the name of traditionalism. How could one claim to be a follower of Augustine while ignoring what he teaches about poverty?
Towards a transformation of mentalities
A long-term job
The pontificate of Leo XIV is only just beginning. But already, a guiding principle is emerging: a profound transformation of attitudes toward poverty. It's not simply a matter of increasing calls for generosity, but of changing the way Christians view the poor and their own responsibility.
This transformation requires patient educational work. The repeated references to Saint Augustine, the doctrinal development in Dilexi te, speeches to popular movements: all this aims to gradually create a consensus within the Church on the central importance of the social question.
The Pope knows he cannot act alone. In his meeting with the French bishops in June, he was "attentive to several priorities of the Church in France, notably ecology and the growth of catechumens." This attention to local churches and their specific concerns is characteristic of his style of governance.
Predictable resistances
This emphasis on responsibility towards the poor will not be without resistance. In some parts of the Church, particularly in the West, where Christianity has often accommodated itself to dominant economic structures, this discourse will appear excessive, even politically biased.
Leo XIV is aware of this. But he stands firm on the essentials. By affirming that the rights to land, housing, and work are "sacred," he sets a clear boundary: these issues are not a matter of public debate or political preferences, but of the very essence of the Christian faith.
This firmness on principles is accompanied by a certain flexibility on modalities. The Pope does not claim to dictate technical solutions. He establishes an ethical framework within which solutions must be sought. This distinction between non-negotiable principles and debatable concrete applications is classic in the social doctrine of the Church.
A message for our time
Augustine's Relevance Today
Why does Augustine still speak today, sixteen centuries after his death? This is the question implicitly posed by Leo XIV's constant references to the Bishop of Hippo. The answer undoubtedly lies in the anthropological depth of Augustinian thought.
Augustine doesn't just formulate moral rules. He explores what it means to be human, what connects us to one another, what underlies our mutual responsibility. These questions are timeless, even if they arise differently in different eras.
By mobilizing Augustine on the issue of poverty, Leo XIV makes a double gesture. On the one hand, he shows that the Christian tradition has powerful intellectual resources for thinking about contemporary social issues. On the other hand, he reminds us that these issues are not new: the question of social justice runs through the entire history of Christianity.
A call for consistency
At its core, Leo XIV's message is a demand for consistency. One cannot call oneself a Christian while remaining indifferent to the fate of the poor. One cannot celebrate the Eucharist, the sacrament of communion, while accepting social exclusion. One cannot invoke Christ while ignoring those in whom he makes himself present.
This requirement is not new. But it is formulated with a clarity and radicality that may surprise. By stating that neglecting the poor constitutes "a rupture with the Gospel," the Pope leaves no room for escape. This is not evangelical advice reserved for a few, but an obligation that stems from faith itself.
The reliance on Saint Augustine allows us to give this requirement historical and doctrinal legitimacy. This is not a whim of the current pope; it is the constant teaching of the Church since its origins. Augustine already said it, and before him the Apostolic Fathers, and before them the prophets of Israel: faith that does not engender justice is only an appearance.
On this Saturday, October 25, as Leo XIV continues his apprenticeship in the pontifical role, his repeated references to Saint Augustine outline the contours of a pontificate that seeks to reconcile tradition and prophecy, doctrinal roots and social urgency. For him, poverty is not just another issue: it is the place where the authenticity of the Christian faith is verified.
This demanding but classic interpretation of poverty through the Augustinian prism could well become one of the hallmarks of this pontificate. It reminds us that the Church, if it wishes to remain faithful to its identity, cannot avoid a permanent conversion to the Gospel of the poor.
How will you be inspired by this Augustinian vision of social responsibility in your own Christian commitment?
