Pope Leo XIV delivered a comprehensive pro-life message yesterday in an address to members of the Spanish Parliament, urging lawmakers to defend the unborn and the migrant and to opt for peace over war through dialogue free of inflammatory rhetoric. Source: Crux.
Speaking at the Congress of Deputies – Spain’s lower legislative house – Pope Leo warned against various threats to human dignity and life, saying, the defence of life “is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest,” but “a goal of civilisation.”
“Every human life must be recognised and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence,” he said, saying that when this doesn’t happen, “the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person.”
When pursuit of the common good ceases to be a common pursuit, “public action runs the risk of fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all,” he said.
Pope Leo addressed Parliament on his third day in Spain, after holding a private meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party who has served in the role since 2018, earlier that morning.
His 20-minute meeting with Mr Sanchez and the condemnation of abortion he delivered before the Spanish Parliament were both significant, as the appeal to respect the unborn comes as Spanish lawmakers led by Mr Sanchez are pushing proposed legislation that would enshrine abortion as a constitutional right, much like the historic decision by France to do so in 2024.
The pontiff received a nearly 10-minute standing ovation following his speech, in which he also invoked Spain’s history of faith and the country’s role as one of the world’s leading evangelisers, as inspiration for the future.
Pope Leo urged the nation and Europe more broadly to renew the Christian roots of their cultural traditions as a path beyond polarisation and ideology.
Those themes have been strongly present and running through all the pontiff’s public remarks during his June 6-12 visit to Spain, and were again a key focus of his speech to parliament.
Leo offered an extended reflection on the nature and purpose of law – which must be at the service of humanity – and on the responsibility of society to defend life in all its stages and conditions.
FULLS TORY
Pope pushes pro-life message in speech to Spanish lawmakers (By Elise Ann Allen, Crux)
