By ZENIT Staff
Publication Date: 2026-08-12 23:57:00
(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 08.12.2026).- For the second consecutive week—possibly due to the high temperatures in Rome—Pope Leo XIV presided over the Wednesday general audience inside St. Peter’s Basilica. This marks the second week that the Holy Father has resumed holding general audiences following his vacation in July. For his catechesis, Leo XIV returned to the topic of the documents of the Second Vatican Council, a series to which he has already devoted 21 catecheses. Below is the English translation of the catechesis from Wednesday, August 12.
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Dear brothers and sisters,
The fifth chapter of the Conciliar Constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium (SC) is dedicated to the liturgical year, a theme we would like to look at today, to explain its value in the life of every believer.
First of all, it is important to note that this way of referring to the cycle of Christian feasts as the ‘liturgical year’ became widespread in ecclesiastical language thanks to the work of the Servant of God, Abbot Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875).
In the Encyclical Mediator Dei, Pope Pius XII states that it “is not a cold and lifeless representation of the events of the past, or a simple … record of a former age. [The liturgical year] is rather Christ Himself who is ever living in His Church. Here He continues that journey of immense mercy which He lovingly began in His mortal life … with the design of bringing men to know His mysteries and in a way live by them. These…
