Pope: Progress must not leave new ruins in its wake

Differences do not necessarily have to lead to division. They can become a creative force when accompanied by shared responsibility and directed towards the common good.

That was one of the key themes of Pope Leo XIV’s message to participants in the Fourth ‘Fratelli Tutti’ Synodal Meeting, whom he received in audience in the Vatican today, Saturday 12 September 2026. The event had been held from Thursday 10 to Saturday 12 September in Rome.

In his wide-ranging address, delivered both in Spanish and in English, the Pope greeted representatives of the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

He also thanked representatives of international organisations, regional development banks, businesses, foundations, trade unions, employers’ associations, universities, ecclesial networks and social organisations for their presence.

The breadth of representation, he said, gives the meeting particular significance, and reflects a willingness to continue a dialogue which can translate into models of development that are “more human, sustainable and in solidarity”.

The Pope linked this effort to an essential dimension of the Church’s mission. He recalled that, at the beginning of his pontificate, he had told the College of Cardinals on 10 May 2025 of the need for a “courageous and confident dialogue with the contemporary world in its different components and realities”.

Dialogue with the world, he explained, is not a secondary activity for the Church but part of its evangelising mission. The Church proclaims the Gospel amid the concrete circumstances in which peoples live and is therefore called to look squarely at the reality of men and women.

In this context, the Pope recalled that the Church is called to “embrace reality” and to expose the contradictions that can accompany scientific and technological progress, whose unprecedented possibilities bring new responsibilities.