Leo XIV claims “the dignity of every person”, including “the unborn”

Pope Leo XIV delivered his first speech yesterday before the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, and he did not disappoint.

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The speech can be read in full in English here. He said some very interesting things, but there is one paragraph that I particularly liked:

It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies. 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.” [2] In addition, no one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for the dignity of every person, especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.

The quote marked with a [2] links to the Encyclical "Rerum novarum" of Pope Leo XIII, published on May 15, 1891.

It is commendable that the Pope begins his pontificate with such a beautiful defense of the family and human life, which does not deviate even a millimeter from Catholic doctrine. I say this because of the voices on both sides expressing demands or complaints in this regard.

I would like to take this opportunity to recall that in a general audience held on 23 October 2024 in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis already expressed the same concept of family and marriage:

Christian marriage is the sacrament of self-giving, one for the other, of man and woman. This is how the Creator intended it when he “created man in his own image […] male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). The human couple is therefore the first and most elementary realization of the communion of love that is the Trinity.

As I also recalled here almost a month ago, Pope Francis was also very clear in his rejection of abortion, as he stated on February 3, 2025, in a speech at the summit on children's rights:

In the name of this logic of discarding, in which human beings become all-powerful, nascent life is sacrificed through the homicidal practice of abortion. Abortion suppresses the life of children and cuts off the source of hope for the entire society.

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Photo: Vatican News.