By Michael Haynes, Catholic Herald. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Pope Leo told the politicians that “mutual respect and the protection of every human life is a duty incumbent upon each and every one of us.”
In the first speech of his apostolic voyage to France, Pope Leo strongly denounced surrogacy and assisted suicide, delivering a firm warning to President Emmanuel Macron about the proper relationship between Church and state.
Fresh from a 50-minute private meeting with Macron, Leo XIV stood at the podium in the Elysée Palace for the first public address of his whistle-stop tour of France. The speech, as is customary in the early stages of a papal voyage, was addressed to the assembled politicians, diplomats and civil authorities. Also present were some of the firemen who tackled the 2019 fire that devastated the Cathedral of Notre-Dame – which Leo will visit at the end of his first day.
From the outset of his speech, it was clear that the Pope was in France on a mission to highlight the sanctity of life and the importance of defending it. As for what he perceived as the threat to the sanctity of life, both the anti-life policies of the state and the radical advances of artificial intelligence came under scrutiny.
The Pope also praised the work of Catholic education, the activity of Aid to the Church in Need’s work for persecuted Christians, the historical contribution Catholics have given to make France a great nation and the manner in which Catholicism only aids a society rather than weakens it.
France, he said, has served as a “cultural, artistic and spiritual beacon” for the entire world: the reason being that many of the brilliant scholars were “faithful Catholics” who were always ultimately concerned “that the world may have life”. This phrase he repeated three times throughout the entire speech, leaving the assembly in no doubt as to his response regarding the recently enacted euthanasia and assisted suicide laws.
The Pontiff hailed France’s “Christian roots”, even turning to the catchphrase of the Revolution which became the national motto “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. These words, said Leo, point to “universal ethical imperatives that also find in the Gospel message an inexhaustible source of inspiration and fulfillment.”