A Church of many faces: multiculturalism and inculturation in the Catholic mission

A large African community gathers on the first and third Sundays of each month at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish to celebrate Mass in Kiswahili. On this occasion, the Mass was celebrated by Father Evarist Shiyo and Father Costance Swai. (ICR photo/Vero Gutiérrez)

By Memo Gutiérrez

Director of Hispanic/Latino Ministry

In the Oct. 23, 2026, issue of the Idaho Catholic Register, we discussed the importance of multiculturalism as a present and future reality for the Catholic Church in the United States. (Use the QR code to read “Multiculturalism: The Present and Future of the Church.”)

A related concept that goes hand in hand with this is “inculturation.”

Today, the Catholic Church experiences a reality marked by cultural diversity. Migration, globalization and the increasing encounter between peoples have transformed the face of many parishes and dioceses.

Within a single faith community, people of different languages, customs, traditions and life experiences may live side by side. This reality presents pastoral challenges, but it also offers an extraordinary opportunity to manifest the universality of the Gospel.

In this context, two concepts take on special importance: multiculturalism and inculturation. Both are part of the Church’s evangelizing mission and have been developed by the contemporary Magisterium as essential elements for proclaiming Jesus Christ in today’s world.

Some of the women who participate in the Eucharistic celebration at Our Lady of the Rosary Parish. A Mass is celebrated each month in their native language, followed by a gathering in the parish hall where they share traditional foods from their home countries. (ICR photo/Vero Gutiérrez)

Multiculturalism refers to the presence and coexistence of diverse cultures within a single community. From its very origins, the Church has been composed of different peoples and nations. As early as Pentecost, men and women speaking many languages heard the proclamation of the Gospel and were called together to form one people in Christ. Ecclesial unity has never meant cultural uniformity. On the contrary, the richness of the Church has always resided in its capacity to welcome and harmonize diversity.

However, the coexistence of multiple cultures demands more than just tolerance. It requires an authentic ecclesial integration that allows each community to contribute its gifts to the life of the Church. This is where the concept of inculturation comes into play.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that evangelization must include a genuine process of inculturation, so that the Gospel may be effectively embodied in the lives of different peoples. The Christian faith does not present itself as a foreign culture that replaces local traditions; rather, it acts as a transformative force that illuminates, purifies and elevates the authentic values present within each society.

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist.

This vision was developed in depth by Pope Saint John Paul II. In his encyclical Redemptoris missio, he defined inculturation as the transformation of cultural values through their integration into Christianity, alongside the insertion of Christianity into various cultures. For the saintly pontiff, evangelization does not consist of exporting specific cultural models, but rather of enabling all peoples to discover Christ through the lens of their own history and cultural sensibilities.

The words of John Paul II are especially relevant for an increasingly multicultural Church. Pastoral care cannot be limited to merely translating messages or documents into different languages. It must be capable of understanding how each community experiences family life, expresses popular religiosity, celebrates the faith and participates in social life. Only in this way can the Christian message take deep root in the hearts of the people.

For his part, Pope Benedict XVI emphasized the need to maintain a balance between openness to cultures and fidelity to the Gospel. According to his teaching, inculturation entails a respectful dialogue between faith and cultures, recognizing within the latter what are called the “seeds of the Word”: that is, those values and aspirations that prepare the way for an encounter with Christ.

The pilgrims José and María, accompanied by the angel, are portrayed by children from the Our Lady of the Valley parish during the posadas.

Nevertheless, Pope Benedict XVI noted that the Church also has a mission to discern and purify those cultural elements that contradict human dignity or the Gospel message. Authentic inculturation does not mean relativizing the faith or adapting it to any and every circumstance; rather, it means allowing the Gospel to transform cultures from within, leading them toward their fulfillment.

This same perspective was further developed by Pope Francis, who offered a profound reflection on cultural diversity within the life of the Church. In his apostolic exhortation Evangelii gaudium, he affirmed that the People of God become incarnate among the peoples of the Earth and that grace presupposes culture. Additionally, he maintained that Christianity does not possess a single cultural model, as the message of Christ can be legitimately expressed through a multitude of traditions and ways of life.

For Pope Francis, the Church should reflect the beauty of a “multifaceted face,” capable of integrating the contributions of all peoples. This vision invites parish communities to move beyond attitudes of isolation or exclusion and to build spaces where diversity is recognized as a blessing. The presence of migrants, ethnic minorities and diverse cultural traditions should not be perceived as a pastoral challenge, but rather as a concrete manifestation of the Church’s Catholicity.

Pope Francis reaffirmed the importance of inculturation as an essential requirement of the evangelizing mission. According to his teachings, proclaiming the Gospel demands entering respectfully into the concrete history of peoples, understanding their experiences and recognizing God’s action present within their cultures. At the same time, he reminded us that no single culture can be fully identified with revelation, nor can any culture serve as an absolute criterion for the Christian faith.

These teachings carry concrete pastoral implications. Parishes are called to promote the participation of diverse cultural groups in community life, foster celebrations that authentically reflect the diversity of the faithful, train leaders and pastoral agents with intercultural sensitivity, and provide special accompaniment to migrant communities.

Furthermore, it is essential to create spaces for encounters where different cultures can come to know one another, engage in dialogue and mutually enrich each other.

Ultimately, multiculturalism and inculturation represent a providential opportunity for the new evangelization. In an increasingly diverse society, the Church is called to be a sign of communion, demonstrating that it is possible to build unity without erasing differences. When the Gospel becomes incarnate in cultures — and when those cultures offer their finest values in service to the Gospel — a truly Catholic community emerges: a Church with many faces, many languages and many traditions, yet with one Lord, one faith and one mission. In this way, the richness of all peoples becomes a reflection of the richness of the Kingdom of God and a living testimony to the universality of the Church.

Let us take these two aforementioned concepts as a preamble to the commemoration of the 500th anniversary of the apparitions of Our Lady of Guadalupe — arguably the clearest and most complete example of the inculturation of the love of God the Father, through the Mother of His Son.