Pope Leo XIV: “Ensure Respect for Every Person, Including the Unborn”

Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful affirmation of the sanctity of life Friday, emphasizing that the Catholic Church must uphold the dignity of every person, particularly the unborn, in his first major address to the Vatican diplomatic corps.

The remarks, made ahead of his formal installation Mass on Sunday, underscored the Church’s unwavering commitment to protecting life from conception to natural death.

“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,” Pope Leo said, according to the Vatican’s released text of the private audience.

His words echoed long-standing Catholic teaching that places the unborn at the heart of its moral framework, a stance that pro-life advocates hailed as a clarion call to action.

The pontiff’s remarks come at a time when debates over abortion and family values remain contentious globally.

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By asserting that the family is founded on the “stable union between a man and a woman,” Pope Leo reaffirmed the Church’s traditional definition of marriage while linking it to the broader mission of safeguarding human dignity. Pro-life leaders praised the pope for connecting the defense of the unborn to the Church’s broader social justice teachings.

Leo’s pro-life stance is consistent with his earlier statements as Cardinal Robert Prevost.

In 2012, he declared, “We cannot build a just society if we discard the weakest—whether the child in the womb or the elderly in their frailty—for they are both gifts from God,” a quote widely circulated on X by pro-life groups following his election.

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