# Pope Leo: build progress that leaves no ruins

> Pope Leo XIV told a Rome gathering that technology's real question is not which tools to use, but what kind of humanity we are building.
- Title: Pope Leo: build progress that leaves no ruins · Vaticannews
- Summary: Pope Leo XIV told a Rome gathering that technology's real question is not which tools to use, but what kind of humanity we are building. Progress only counts…
- Keywords: pope leo xiv, catholic social teaching, technology, dialogue, development, religion, world, Pope, Leo, build, progress, leaves
- Source: Vaticannews — https://vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-09/pope-leo-fratelli-tutti-synodal-north-south-americas-progress.html
- Author: Vatican News
- Published: 2026-09-12T11:22:06.654+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: pope leo xiv, catholic social teaching, technology, dialogue, development, religion, world
## Differences need not divide
Pope Leo XIV opened the Fourth 'Fratelli Tutti' Synodal Meeting audience on 12 September 2026 with a claim about difference: handled with shared responsibility, it turns into a creative force.
## Bishops, banks and unions
He greeted the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council, the Amazon Ecclesial Conference and the US bishops, plus development banks, unions, universities and businesses. The range, he said, is the point.
## Dialogue is the mission
Speaking in Spanish and English, Leo returned to what he asked of the cardinals in May 2025. Talking with the world is not a side project for the Church, it is part of preaching the Gospel.

> a courageous and confident dialogue with the contemporary world
## What humanity are we building
On technology he refused the accept-or-reject framing. New powers bring new duties, and the Church has to work out what serves the person and what will eventually turn on them.

> what kind of humanity we want to build and what place each person will have in it
## No institution can do it alone
Today's upheavals outrun any single body, so he called for subsidiarity and backed a North-South Shared Responsibility Agenda for Multisectoral Cooperation across public bodies, firms, workers and communities.

> major social challenges require shared responsibility, participation and collaboration
## Dignity as the measure
In English he turned to the res novae, asking for regulation that does not stifle. Businesses, he said, must treat human dignity rather than profit as the test of success.
## Negotiate, then build a home
Catholic Social Teaching is shared discernment, not a rulebook applied by rote. He urged a healthy culture of negotiation and hoped what gets built becomes a refuge rather than rubble.

> a home and a refuge for all
## Key takeaway

Progress only counts as progress if it respects human dignity and leaves something everyone can live in.