A significant new development has emerged as Pope Leo XIV encourages people to attend church on Sunday by presenting Sunday as sacred time and connecting it with Christ’s authority and His Second Coming. The Pope also calls for the sanctification of Sunday and urges society to provide working conditions that will allow people to participate in Sunday Mass. This papal appeal is particularly significant because it increasingly connects Sunday observance with faithfulness and loyalty to Christ and the Church:
The Vatican Press Office published the following remarks by Pope Leo XIV on August 12, 2026:
• “The Council Fathers considered ‘the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year to be Sunday, the original feast day. In various modern languages, its name indicates that it is the ‘dies Domini—the Lord’s day.’ Even in those languages where the reference to the ‘day of the sun’ (Sunday, Sonntag) has prevailed, the link with Christ can be discerned: Christ is the true ‘sun of righteousness’ who enlightens every person!” [1]
• “Saint John Paul II, in the Apostolic Letter Dies Domini (31 May 1998), teaches that Sunday is the day of the Lord, the day of the Church, the day of man and, finally, the day of days. Since Sunday is the weekly Easter, recalling and making present the day upon which Christ rose from the dead, it is also the day which reveals the meaning of time.” [1]
• “Christ’s Second Coming—Sunday foreshadows the last day, the day of the Parousia, when we shall all rise again.” [1]
• “To sanctify Sunday, it is fundamental to celebrate the Eucharist. Listening to the Word and partaking of the Body of Christ entail, according to the Council Fathers, the coming together in unum, that is, the joyful gathering of the faithful. In this assembly, the Christian community makes visible its communion with the Lord and bears witness to its belonging to Christ and its fidelity to the Church.” [1]
•, “In this regard, I urge everyone to seek the best possible conditions so that even those who are unable to take time off work on Sundays may take part in Holy Mass.” [1]
Ellen G. White describes the progression of how Sunday will eventually unite religious and political powers.
“Yet this very class put forth the claim that the fast-spreading corruption is largely attributable to the desecration of the so-called “Christian Sabbath,” and that the enforcement of Sunday observance would greatly improve the morals of society” (Great Controversy, p. 587).
“When the leading churches of the United States, uniting upon such points of doctrine as are held by them in common, shall influence the State to enforce their decrees and to sustain their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and the infliction of civil penalties upon dissenters will inevitably result” (Great Controversy, p. 445).
Today, Sunday is being exalted as the Lord’s Day and presented as sacred time. Sunday worship is being portrayed as essential to Christian life, Sunday rest is being promoted as beneficial for workers and families, and calls are increasingly being made to protect the day. The next step will ultimately be the civil enforcement of Sunday observance, bringing it into direct conflict with the seventh-day Sabbath.
While Rome is calling the world to sanctify Sunday, the Three Angels’ Messages are calling the world back to the Creator and His commandments, including the call to “worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters” (Revelation 14:7)—a direct quote from the fourth commandment and a call to honor the true seventh-day Sabbath established by God at Creation.
Sources
[1] https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2026/08/12/260812a.html
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