Originally published at https://www.acistampa.com/story/33243/leone-xiv-la-persecuzione-dei-cristiani-una-delle-piu-grandi-crisi-di-diritti-umani
The Pope’s speech to the diplomatic corps at the beginning of the year draws on St. Augustine’s “City of God ,” and it couldn’t be otherwise. Because the Augustinian Pope sees St. Augustine’s response to the Empire’s crisis as a possible response to today’s crisis, with all the necessary analogies. But Leo XIV goes even further. He denounces the persecution of Christians as “one of the most widespread human rights crises today, affecting 380 million believers worldwide.” He notes the weakness of multilateralism. He calls for respect for international humanitarian law, and denounces how recent conflicts (and one cannot help but think of the situation in the Holy Land) have also affected hospitals, schools, and infrastructure. He denounces the violation of the principle prohibiting countries from using force to violate the borders of others (think of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, but also the recent US special operation in Venezuela). He emphasizes a ” short circuit in human rights,” and also denounces jihadist violence.
It’s a dense speech, with interesting quotes, almost all from John Paul II and Benedict XVI. The reference to religious freedom is important. And, of course, there’s an overview of the world’s conflicts, with a fitting mention of forgotten Nigeria, which cannot fail to be striking. Added to this is the forceful condemnation of anti-Semitism.
Leo XIV speaks English—with a brief Italian aside when he speaks about the Jubilee—and this is already a novelty. The address to the members of the diplomatic corps was delivered in French, the language of diplomacy, until Pope Francis, who spoke Italian. Leo XIV uses his native English. And, after the customary pleasantries—thanking the Italian authorities for the Jubilee and recalling the agreements on spiritual assistance to the armed forces and the Santa Galeria center, welcoming the new resident ambassadors of Belarus, Burundi, and Kazakhstan, and greeting the authorities who permitted his first international trip to Turkey and Lebanon—the Pope gets to the heart of the matter, looking to his beloved St. Augustine.
“In our time,” the Pope notes, “ the weakness of multilateralism is of particular concern on the international level . A diplomacy that promotes dialogue and seeks consensus among all is being replaced by a diplomacy of force, of individual or group allies. War is back in fashion, and bellicose fervor is spreading. The principle established after the Second World War, which prohibited countries from resorting to force to violate the borders of others, has been broken . Peace is no longer sought as a gift and a desirable good in itself “in the pursuit of an order willed by God, which involves a more perfect justice among men,” but it is sought through arms, as a condition for the affirmation of one’s own dominion. This gravely compromises the rule of law, which is the basis of all peaceful civil coexistence.”
The Pope looks to the City of God in St. Augustine, which “is eternal and is characterized by the unconditional love of God (amor Dei), to which is united the love of neighbor, especially the poor ,” and “the earthly city, which is a temporary dwelling place in which human beings live until death,” which today “includes all social and political institutions, from the family to the nation state and international organizations,” and which at the time was the Roman Empire.
Augustine considers the two cities coexisting until the end of time, and for this reason “each of us is a protagonist and therefore responsible for history”, and Christians live this dimension, in a challenge that we still experience today, because ” as then we are in a time of profound reorganization of geopolitical balances and cultural paradigms; as then we are, according to the well-known expression of Pope Francis, not in an era of change but in a change of era”.
What are the issues to consider today? First and foremost, respect for “international humanitarian law,” which —Leo XIV denounces— “cannot depend on circumstances and military and strategic interests.” This is a “commitment that States have undertaken,” and therefore must “always prevail over the desires of belligerents.” Leo XIV emphasizes: “It cannot be ignored that the destruction of hospitals, energy infrastructure, homes, and places essential to daily life constitutes a grave violation of international humanitarian law. The Holy See firmly reiterates its condemnation of any form of involvement of civilians in military operations and hopes that the international community will remember that protecting the principle of the inviolability of human dignity and the sacredness of life always counts more than any mere national interest.”
Leo XIV addresses the crisis of multilateralism, emphasizing the importance of the United Nations—which celebrated its 80th anniversary —and today, “in a world confronted by complex challenges such as geopolitical tensions, inequality, and climate crisis,” should “play a fundamental role in fostering dialogue and humanitarian support, helping to build a more just future.” In calling for efforts “to ensure that the United Nations not only reflects the situation of today’s world, rather than the post-war one, but also that it is more oriented and efficient in pursuing policies aimed not at ideologies, but at the unity of the family of peoples,” the Holy See’s work for the organization’s reform is also reflected, making it more representative, because ultimately “the purpose of multilateralism is to offer a place for people to meet and talk.”
Dialogue is necessary, presupposing mutual understanding, and is a central theme for the Holy See, which has always emphasized that even in international documents, concepts must be clear and shared —and it does so especially when alleged rights to abortion are reaffirmed or gender ideology is reaffirmed with formulations that lack general consensus.
Leo XIV notes : “In our day the meaning of words is increasingly fluid and the concepts they represent increasingly ambiguous. Language is no longer human nature’s privileged means of knowing and encountering, but, in the folds of semantic ambiguity, it increasingly becomes a weapon with which to deceive, strike, and offend adversaries. We need words to return to expressing certain realities unequivocally. Only in this way can an authentic dialogue, free from misunderstandings, resume.”
The Pope’s invitation is to return to clear language. He notes that “the paradox of this weakening of speech is often claimed in the name of freedom of expression itself.” This is the theme of hate speech, often used to suppress certain issues in public debate .
The Pope notes that “ the opposite is true: freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed precisely by the certainty of language and by the fact that every term is anchored in the truth ,” while denouncing that “especially in the West, the spaces for authentic freedom of expression are increasingly shrinking, while a new language is developing, with an Orwellian flavor, which, in the attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that inspire it.”
The Pope denounces that this Orwellian world ends up “compressing the fundamental rights of the person, starting with freedom of conscience .” He reiterates the importance of the right to freedom of conscience, which leads to not committing acts against one’s beliefs, “whether it be the refusal of military service in the name of non-violence or the denial of practices such as abortion or euthanasia for doctors and healthcare workers.”
“Conscientious objection,” states Leo XIV, “is not a rebellion, but an act of fidelity to oneself. In this particular historical moment, freedom of conscience seems to be increasingly questioned by states, even those that claim to be founded on democracy and human rights. This freedom, instead, establishes a balance between collective interest and individual dignity, emphasizing that a truly free society does not impose uniformity, but protects the diversity of consciences, preventing authoritarian tendencies and promoting an ethical dialogue that enriches the social fabric.”
The Pope also denounces the risk of a restriction of religious freedom, and denounces – using figures from the latest report on Religious Freedom by Aid to the Church in Need – that “ the persecution of Christians remains one of the most widespread human rights crises today, affecting over 380 million believers worldwide, who suffer high or extreme levels of discrimination, violence and oppression because of their faith.”
The data speak of one in seven Christians, globally, being a victim of persecution, data which, notes Leo XIV, “unfortunately show how religious freedom is considered in many contexts more as a ‘privilege’ or a concession, rather than a fundamental human right ”.
In particular, the Pope recalls the religious violence in Bangladesh, the Sahel, Nigeria, the attack in the parish of Saint Elias in Damascus last year, but also the victims of jihadist violence in Cabo Delgado, Mozambique , without neglecting the “subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians, which is spreading even in countries where they are numerically in the majority, such as in Europe or the Americas , where they sometimes see their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel limited for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.”
Leo XIV places the Holy See in “defense of the inalienable dignity of every person,” which applies to everyone, starting with migrants. Not all of them, in fact—says the Pope—”move by choice, but many are forced to flee because of violence, persecution, conflict, and even the effects of climate change, as in many parts of Africa and Asia.”
The Pope hopes that ” the actions that States undertake against illegality and human trafficking do not become a pretext for undermining the dignity of migrants and refugees,” and makes the same considerations for prisoners who “can never be held accountable for the crimes they have committed.” This is an opportunity to thank governments for the amnesties granted in response to the Jubilee appeal, without forgetting ” the suffering of so many political prisoners in many States.”
The family: Leo XIV emphasizes that the family faces two challenges. One is the “worrying tendency in the international system to neglect and undervalue its fundamental social role, leading to its progressive institutional marginalization.” The other is the situation of ” fragile, broken, and suffering ” families, which is why the Pope reiterates the ethical imperative to “empower families to welcome and fully care for unborn life,” a priority “especially in those countries experiencing a dramatic decline in the birth rate,” because ” life, in fact, is a priceless gift that develops within a project of relationality based on reciprocity and service .”
Leo XIV emphasizes the “categorical rejection of practices that deny or exploit the origin of life and its development,” starting with abortion. The Holy See, the Pope states, is also concerned about cross-border mobility in the name of safe abortion and deplores the fact that “public resources are being allocated to the suppression of life, rather than invested in supporting mothers and families.”
Leo XIV reiterates his rejection of surrogate motherhood, which “by transforming gestation into a negotiable service, violates the dignity of both the child, reduced to a ‘product,’ and the mother, by exploiting her body and the procreative process and altering the family’s original relational project.”
But the Pope’s gaze also goes to “the sick, the elderly, and the lonely,” who “struggle to find a reason to continue living,” and he asks civil society and states to “respond concretely to situations of fragility, offering solutions to human suffering, such as palliative care, and promoting policies of authentic solidarity, rather than encouraging forms of illusory compassion such as euthanasia.”
Leo XIV also addresses the issue of drug addiction, emphasizing that “a joint effort by all is needed to eradicate this scourge of humanity and the drug trafficking that fuels it , in order to prevent millions of young people around the world from falling victim to drug use.” He also seeks to establish addiction recovery policies, starting from the assumption that “the protection of the right to life constitutes the essential foundation of every other human right. A society is healthy and progressive only when it protects the sacredness of human life and actively works to promote it.”
Leo XIV denounces a “short circuit” of human rights, where “the right to freedom of expression, to freedom of conscience , to religious freedom and even to life, are subjected to limitations in the name of other so-called new rights, with the result that the very structure of human rights loses its strength, leaving room for force and oppression”, a problem that occurs when “each right becomes self-referential”.
Leo XIV emphasizes that our time is “inclined to deny the right of citizenship to the City of God,” while “only the earthly city seems to exist.”
And then the global overview begins. First, the war in Ukraine, “with the burden of suffering inflicted on the civilian population.” Leo XIV forcefully calls for an immediate ceasefire and a search for peace, and makes a pressing appeal to the international community “to maintain its commitment to pursuing just and lasting solutions to protect the most vulnerable and to restore hope to the affected populations, renewing the Holy See’s full willingness to support any initiative that promotes peace and harmony.”
Then, the Holy Land, where there is “a grave humanitarian crisis .” The Holy See—says the Pope—” pays particular attention to every diplomatic initiative that seeks to guarantee the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip a future of lasting peace and justice in their own land , as well as for the entire Palestinian people and the entire Israeli people.” The Pope reiterates his support for the two-state solution and denounces the increase in violence in the West Bank.
then expressed concern for “the worsening of tensions in the Caribbean Sea and along the American Pacific coast”, and cited in particular the situation in Venezuela, renewing “the appeal to respect the will of the Venezuelan people and to commit ourselves to the protection of the human and civil rights of each person and to building a future of stability and harmony”.
But the overview also includes the situation in Haiti, the Great Lakes region, Sudan, which has been transformed into a vast battlefield, and South Sudan, “the youngest country in the family of nations, born following a referendum fifteen years ago.”
And then, the situation in East Asia, with the serious situation in Myanmar.
Leo XIV underlines that “democratic paths, to be authentic, must be accompanied by the political will to pursue the common good, to strengthen social cohesion and to promote the integral development of every person”.
The Pope also touches on the issue of disarmament and, in particular, speaks of the New START Treaty on the reduction of nuclear weapons, which expires in February, and which must be followed up, because “the danger is that we are instead dreaming in the race to produce new and increasingly sophisticated weapons, including through the use of artificial intelligence .”
Artificial intelligence, in particular, “is a tool that requires appropriate and ethical management, as well as regulatory frameworks that focus on the protection of human freedom and responsibility.”
Leo XIV, however, considers peace as “ an arduous but possible good ”, which requires “the humility of truth and the courage of forgiveness”, which “in Christian life are represented by Christmas, in which the Truth, the eternal Word of God, becomes humble flesh, and by Easter, in which the condemned Just One forgives his persecutors, giving them his life as the Risen One”.
Among the signs of hope, the Pope looks to the Dayton Accords, “which thirty years ago put an end to the bloody war in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” but also “to the Joint Declaration of Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, signed last August, which hopefully will pave the way for a just and lasting peace in the South Caucasus, resolving the outstanding issues to the satisfaction of both parties,” and then “to the efforts made in recent years by the Vietnamese authorities to improve relations with the Holy See and the conditions in which the Church operates in the country.”
Finally, recalling the eighth centenary of the death of Saint Francis, which will be celebrated next October, the Pope wishes everyone “a humble heart and a builder of peace.”