Pope Leo: “Housing, Work and Land Are Sacred Rights”

Pope Leo XIV lays out a vision of a “poor Church for the poor” and declared housing, work, and land to be “sacred rights” — a moral manifesto for the age of AI and inequality.

caption...

At a Vatican gathering of global popular movements on October 23, Pope Leo XIV delivered one of the most impassioned speeches of his pontificate – and nearly no one in the English-speaking world heard it at first.

Blame a translation delay. Indeed, the text wasn’t posted in English until a week later.

Why? The unsubstantiated rumor is that the pope’s English translator was on vacation.

But once revealed, the address proved extraordinary.

The pope took up the mantle of Pope Leo XIII, explicitly invoking his namesake’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum on workers’ rights.

Much like Leo XIII confronted the injustices of the industrial age, Leo XIV tackled today’s injustices head-on — from high-tech inequality to what he, like Pope Francis, calls a “poor Church for the poor.”

Standing before an audience of grassroots activists from society’s margins, Pope Leo declared that the Church’s place is firmly with the oppressed.

The poor, he affirmed, “are at the center of the Gospel”, not on the fringes.

He insisted the Church must walk courageously alongside people’s movements, because Jesus “has hidden his face in that of the poor,” as the pope put it.

This was a rallying cry for a Church that doesn’t merely serve the poor from afar, but actually becomes a poor Church in solidarity with them.

An Economy Called Out in the Age of AI

Pope Leo XIV’s address amounted to a sweeping critique of what he sees as an inhumane economic system — possibly the most striking critique of AI and the modern economy during his pontificate.

He lamented the bitter irony of our era: incredible technological advances alongside persistent destitution.

There is a “systemic arbitrariousness” to a world that puts “artificial intelligence in our pockets while millions of people languish in deprivation of their basic human needs,” Leo observed.

In other words, having AI-powered gadgets is meaningless — even cruel — when so many people lack access to food, water, or shelter.

“Bad management of the economy generates and increases inequalities with the pretext of progress,” the pope warned, and a system that doesn’t center human dignity ultimately “fails… in justice.”

From that starting point, Leo rattled off a litany of ills plaguing the modern “throwaway” society.

He noted how exclusion has become “the new face of social injustice,” the climate crisis batters the poorest communities first, social media fuels envy and despair among those left out, online gambling exploits the vulnerable, and even a “cult of physical wellbeing” (pushed by Big Pharma) feeds addiction to opioids.

In a particularly powerful moment, the pope highlighted the blood and sweat behind our smartphones — citing conflicts over coltan and lithium mines that wreak havoc on impoverished nations.

This stark inventory of harms painted a picture of a global economy that has lost its soul, prioritizing profit and technology over people.

Yet, in true Leo XIV fashion, the speech was not just a diagnosis but a moral call-to-action.

He praised the activists in the hall as “champions of humanity, witnesses to justice, and poets of solidarity,” thanking them for fighting the “forms of dehumanization” that afflict the vulnerable.

In the pope’s eyes, these popular movements are filling the void left by institutions that have failed the poor. And he made it clear that the Church, under his leadership, will back them every step of the way.

“Sacred Rights” — Land, Housing, Work

Towards the climax of the address, Pope Leo XIV issued an electrifying affirmation of fundamental human rights — one that might have been the headline of the day, had more media been aware.

“The Church supports your just struggles for land, housing, and work,” he said plainly, voicing unequivocal support for those on the front lines of social justice.

He then evoked Pope Francis’s own rallying cry from a decade prior, insisting that real change rises “from the ground up, from the periphery toward the center.”

Like Francis, Leo believes the solutions start with empowering the marginalized.

Finally, the pope drove his point home with a declaration that brought the room to a hush.

“I say today: housing, work, and land are sacred rights; it is worthwhile to fight for them,” Leo proclaimed, before adding a personal pledge of solidarity:

“I am here, I am with you!”

In those words — a pope telling poor and excluded communities “I am with you” — the Church’s preferential option for the poor was made incarnate. It’s rare to hear a pontiff frame social rights in language as strong as “sacred”.

By doing so, Leo XIV elevated the demands of landless farmers, homeless families, and jobless workers to the level of a moral and even spiritual imperative.

This is a poor Church for the poor in action: not merely caring for those in need, but affirming their rights and standing alongside them in their fight for justice.

Pope Leo’s address to the popular movements may have arrived late in English ears, but thanks to outlets like this one, spreading Leo’s words far and wide, its impact is destined to reverberate.

In an era of AI miracles and stark human misery, the first American pope has set a clear marker for where the Church must stand.

A “soulless” economy that treats people as disposable is condemned by the Vicar of Christ — and a renewed, humble Church, marching with the poor, is held up as the hopeful alternative.

It’s a message both challenging and uplifting, one that will likely echo far beyond that hall in Rome.

As Pope Leo XIV has shown once again, the Gospel in action looks a lot like land for the landless, housing for the homeless, and work with dignity for all. And he’s not afraid to say it.

Letters from Leo is open to anyone who wants to be informed and inspired by our pope — and to turn that inspiration into action that leaves America and the world more just, less cold, and more alive with hope.

If you want to support this mission, here’s how you can help:

• Subscribe as a paid member to receive exclusive posts about the life and formation of Pope Leo and help sustain this newsletter.

• Donate with a one-time gift to fuel this project’s mission.

• Share this post (and Letters from Leo) with a friend who might enjoy it.

Whether you give $0, $1, or $1,000, your presence here matters — no matter your faith or your politics.

Thank you for reading. I’ll see you on the road.