The Church is one but includes everyone.

God, who created the world and humanity and who desires to save every man and woman, accomplishes his work of salvation in history by choosing a specific people and dwelling among them. At first, He called Abraham, promising him "descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore." He then made a covenant with his children, after freeing them from slavery, accompanying them, caring for them, and gathering them when they strayed. "All this, however, was only to prepare and foreshadow the New and Perfect Covenant that would be concluded in Christ, and the more complete revelation that would be transmitted by the Word of God himself, made flesh," the Pope recalled, echoing the dogmatic constitution Lumen Gentium of the Second Vatican Council. It is Christ who, "through the gift of his Body and Blood, definitively gathers this people into himself," the Holy Father affirmed.

It is "a messianic people, precisely because its leader, Christ, is the Messiah." It "draws its existence from the body of Christ and (...) is itself the body of Christ; not a people like any other, but the people of God, gathered together by him and composed of men and women from all the peoples of the earth." Composed of people from all nations, "its unifying principle is neither language, nor culture, nor ethnic group, but faith in Christ." It is unified by faith in Christ, "by adherence to him, by a life animated by the Spirit of the Risen One." Thus, the Pope reminded us, what truly matters in the Church, "before any task orfunction," is to "be grafted onto Christ, to be, by grace, children of God."

The law that animates relations within the Church is love, as received and experienced in Jesus. Its goal is "the Kingdom of God, toward which it journeys with all humanity." On this point, he indicated that those who belong to the Church should not boast of merits or titles, but "onlyof the gift of being, in Christ and through Him, sons and daughters of God." "We are in the Church to continually receive the life of the Father and to live as his children and brothers and sisters among ourselves," said the Holy Father. Thus, "unified in Christ, Lord and Savior of every man and woman, the Church can never turn in on herself, but is open to all and is for all," he emphasized.

Furthermore, the Council stipulates that all men are called "to be part of the People of God." In order for this divine will to be fulfilled, the Pope emphasized that the People of God, "remaining united and unique, is destined to expand to the dimensions of the entire universe and throughout all ages." In this perspective, the Supreme Pontiff indicated that even those who have not yet received the Gospel are, "in a certain way," oriented toward the People of God. "In the Church, there is and must be a place for everyone," he insisted, inviting every Christianto"proclaim the Gospel and bear witness in every environment where they live and work." This is how this people manifests its catholicity, Leo XIV added: welcoming the riches and resources of different cultures and, at the same time, offering them the newness of the Gospel to purify and elevate them.

It is a great sign of hope – "especially in our times, marked by so many conflicts and wars"– to "know that the Church is a people where women and men of different nationalities, languages, and cultures coexist through the power of faith," rejoiced the Supreme Pontiff, noting that this "way for the Church to be the mystical body of Christ" is "a sign inscribed in the very heart of humanity, a reminder and a prophecy of that unity and peace to which God the Father calls all his children." In this sense, the Pope concluded, "the Church is one but includes everyone," comparing it to a "Single Ark of Salvation," which "must welcome all human diversity into its vast nave"; a "Single Banquet Hall," whose food "comes from all of creation." (Vatican News)