‘The City of God,’ Pope Leo XIV’s bedside book

The sack of Rome by an army of Visigoths in 410 AD: this is the historical event that Pope Leo XIV chose to mention before diplomats from around the world, gathered at the Vatican on January 9. “Certainly, our times are very distant from those events,” he acknowledged in his speech focusing on the geopolitical situation of the world in 2026. But he emphasized how much our time still draws nourishment from a book that is directly linked to this historical turning point: The City of God, written by St. Augustine between 413 and 426.

The origin of The City of God certainly predates the sack of Rome: Augustine mentions his plan to write about two cities around which humanity would be divided long before that. His initial goal was to respond to popular theories inspired by Eusebius of Caesarea (c. 260-339). This bishop-courtier, to please Constantine, described the Roman Empire as a reflection of the heavenly Jerusalem, considering it at the very least as a millennial model for all political Christianity.

However, the sack of Rome reversed these perspectives: from then on, many people — especially pagans — accused Christianity of failing to prevent the debacle and of being indirectly responsible for the Empire's decline.

In the first 10 chapters of The City of God, the Bishop of Hippo attacks the “spirit of pride” that animates these theories, which are largely inherited from the pagan theology and philosophy of his time. He draws on his extensive knowledge of classical literature to condemn the impiety, superstition, and cruelty of pagan Rome, insisting that it was only the virtue of some of its citizens that enabled it to rise to become the “caput mundi” — the head of the world.

Opposing the fatalism of his time, Augustine asserts that good and evil strike the good and the bad alike, and that what distinguishes them is only the way they face misfortune and fortune. 

Faced with pagan pride, but also that of certain Christians, he emphasized the detachment called for by Christ, who destined humanity for eternity and not for worldly contingencies. It was on this basis that he began to develop his reflection on the coexistence of two opposing cities within the same society.

In the second half of the work, which consists of 12 books, Augustine interprets events and historical reality through his model of the two cities. The first is the city of God. Leo XIV explains that it “is eternal and characterized by God’s unconditional love (amor Dei), as well as love for one’s neighbor, especially the poor.” The second is the earthly city, animated by prideful love of self and the thirst for power and glory. It’s the temporary place where human beings live until their death, and which is embodied, for Augustine, by the Roman Empire. Today, the Pope noted, this city would include “all social and political institutions, from the family to the Nation State and international organizations.”

“Two loves have made two cities: love of self to the point of contempt for God, the earthly city; love of God to the point of contempt for self, the heavenly city,” summarizes St. Augustine. In describing the heavenly Jerusalem and the Rome of the Caesars, however, he does not oppose the hereafter to the here and now, nor the Church to the State.

“The two cities are, in fact, mixed and confused together during this earthly life until they are separated at the Last Judgment,” he asserts. The two cities therefore coexist both in public life and in the hearts of men. Speaking to the diplomats, Leo XIV emphasized how, according to this perspective, “each of us is a protagonist and thus responsible for history.”

The Bishop of Hippo also emphasized the unique role of Christians, who are called by God to dwell in the earthly city with their hearts and minds turned toward the heavenly city, which is their “true homeland.”

This does not mean, Augustine insists, that Christians should be disinterested in politics, but rather that they should seek to apply Christian ethics, inspired by their faith, to the civil government of peoples.

Augustine thus warns against the grave dangers to political life arising from false representations of history or a form of idealization of the statesman. “The City of God does not propose a political program. Instead, it offers valuable reflections on fundamental issues concerning social and political life, such as the search for a more just and peaceful coexistence among peoples,” the Pope assured.

Finally, in an era marked by uncertainty, violence, and the faltering of a political order that was once thought to be eternal, St. Augustine offers a profound reflection on peace that speaks to our times. Leo XIV emphasized this point to the world's leaders, quoting him at length: