From Humanae Vitae to Saint Augustine: The Family and the Message of Leo XIV

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Today’s homily by Pope Leo XIV, delivered during the Holy Mass for the Jubilee of Families, Children, Grandparents and the Elderly, resonates as a profound meditation on the mystery of human and divine love. Rooted in the high priestly prayer of Jesus from John 17, the Pope’s words invited us into the very heart of the Gospel: the call to unity, a unity that reflects the life of the Trinity and embraces the entire human family.

Yet what made this homily particularly luminous were two carefully chosen references: the prophetic teaching of Humanae Vitae and the theological depth of Saint Augustine. These references enriched the Pope’s message, drawing a line of continuity between the lived reality of family life, the Church’s magisterial tradition, and the eternal destiny promised to us in Christ.

Humanae Vitae: Love as a Total Gift

When Pope Leo XIV quoted Saint Paul VI—“marriage is not an ideal but the measure of true love between a man and a woman: a love that is total, faithful, and fruitful” (Humanae Vitae, 9)—he was doing more than recalling a past encyclical; he was re-proposing its core message to a world increasingly tempted to reduce love to a fleeting emotion or a contract of convenience.

Humanae Vitae, promulgated in 1968, stood as a courageous reaffirmation of the Church’s perennial teaching on human love, especially in the face of the sexual revolution. Its central insight—that conjugal love is inseparable from openness to life—was not merely a moral rule but a vision of human flourishing. Leo XIV, by invoking this text, underscored that love is not a self-contained reality. Rather, it is a gift that images the Creator, a love that generates life and nurtures communion.

This teaching becomes particularly poignant in today’s context, where the family is often under pressure from cultural and ideological currents that privilege individual autonomy over relational interdependence. By recalling Humanae Vitae, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed the dignity of conjugal love as a vocation and mission—a love that, in the words of the encyclical, is marked by “totality, fidelity, and fruitfulness”.

The Pope’s mention of Louis and Zélie Martin, Luigi and Maria Beltrame Quattrocchi, and the Ulma family, canonized not as individuals but as couples and families, offered living testimonies to this teaching. Their lives proclaim that the path of holiness is found in the domestic church, where spouses sanctify one another and their children through daily acts of love and sacrifice.

Saint Augustine: Unity Beyond Time

The homily’s climax came with Pope Leo XIV’s reference to Saint Augustine’s Sermo super Psalmum 127, where the great Doctor of the Church speaks of how we shall be “uno unum”—one in the One. This Augustinian phrase distills a profound theological insight: that human unity, fractured by sin, finds its consummation in Christ, who reconciles us to the Father. The phrase evokes the ultimate destiny of believers: a communion of saints, a mystical union in the eternal love of God.

In Augustine’s thought, the psalm’s vision of family life—“Your children like olive shoots around your table” (Ps 127:3)—is not only a symbol of earthly prosperity but a sign of eschatological hope. Families, Augustine teaches, are microcosms of the divine order, communities where love prepares us for the eternal banquet of God. Pope Leo XIV’s homily, by drawing on this rich imagery, invited us to see our own families—imperfect and fragile though they may be—as seeds of eternal unity.

The Pope’s words remind us that the unity Christ prays for is not uniformity or erasure of difference, but a communion of love, reflecting the Trinity itself: “As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us” (Jn 17:21). This is a love that transcends death, embracing our loved ones who have gone before us, and making their memory part of our liturgical celebration today. In this sense, the Jubilee of Families is not only a celebration of present relationships but also a remembrance of our shared hope in the resurrection.

A Call to Action

Pope Leo XIV’s homily was not merely contemplative; it was also a call to action. His exhortations to parents—to educate children “in freedom through obedience,” to “always see the good in them,” to nurture their gifts—echo the pastoral wisdom of a shepherd attuned to the challenges of modern families. His call for children to express daily gratitude to their parents, and for grandparents and the elderly to offer guidance with “wisdom and compassion,” sketches a portrait of the family as a school of love and faith, where each generation has its role in nurturing and transmitting life.

In a fragmented world, where individualism and alienation often erode the bonds of kinship and community, Pope Leo XIV’s homily stands as a prophetic reminder that families are not only the foundation of society but also the living sign of God’s covenant with humanity. His closing words—“Families are the cradle of the future of humanity”—echo not only Humanae Vitae but also Saint John Paul II’s teaching on the family as the “domestic church” and a sanctuary of life.

In sum, Pope Leo XIV’s homily masterfully wove together Scripture, tradition, and pastoral wisdom. His references to Humanae Vitae and Saint Augustine illuminated the path of the family as both a natural reality and a supernatural vocation. His message was clear: in the family, we encounter not only one another but also the face of Christ, who gathers us into unity. As we strive to embody this love in our homes and communities, we glimpse the promise of being “one in the One”—an eternal communion in God, who is Love itself.