Pope Leo XIV by ErreRoberto / Shutterstock.com
CV NEWS FEED // Pope Leo XIV offered a strong reaffirmation of Catholic teaching on the dignity of human life during his first formal address to the Vatican diplomatic corps, making clear his position on issues like abortion and assisted suicide.
Speaking from the Apostolic Palace on May 16, the Holy Father stressed that justice must begin with protecting the most vulnerable.
“No one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person,” he said, “especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.”
He also underlined the foundational role of the traditional family in society.
“It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies,” Pope Leo said. “This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, ‘a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society.’”
The speech marked the first time Pope Leo has directly addressed the issue of abortion since his election, though his record as a bishop and prior statements have left little ambiguity.
CatholicVote reported that in a homily given earlier this year, then-Cardinal Robert Prevost — serving at the time as Cardinal-Bishop of the Suburbicarian Diocese of Albano — emphasized the Church’s duty to defend the vulnerable.
“God’s mercy calls us to protect every life,” he said, “especially those society overlooks — the child yet to be born and the elderly nearing their journey’s end — because each bears Christ’s face.”
Years earlier, as bishop of Chiclayo, Peru, Pope Leo — then Bishop Prevost — had already shown a deep commitment to pro-life advocacy.
Although the X account belonging to him as Cardinal has since been deactivated, the New York Post recently reported several instances in which he used the platform to champion the protection of human life in various forms.
“Let’s defend human life at all times!” he wrote in a 2015 X post, sharing an image from a March for Life rally, the New York Post reported.
Two years later, he shared a report on New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan’s pre-March for Life homily, which called the womb “the primal sanctuary” meant to protect the child.
In a 2012 address, he cited the “homosexual lifestyle” and “alternative families comprised of same-sex partners and their adopted children” as examples of ideas promoted by media and culture “at odds with the Gospel,” according to the New York Post.
In 2016, he opposed government efforts to introduce gender ideology into school curricula, telling Peruvian newspaper Diario Correo that it fosters confusion by creating “genders that don’t exist.”
The same year, Pope Leo echoed the Church’s warning that such policies threaten the dignity of life. According to the New York outlet, he reposted an article urging Canadians not to adopt Belgium’s legal framework for assisted suicide, which critics say undermines trust in medicine and targets the vulnerable.
In that same spirit, Pope Leo also expressed opposition to the death penalty, writing in a 2015 post: “It’s time to end the death penalty.”
