In his New Year’s speech, delivered Friday morning from the Benediction Hall, Pope Leo XIV offered his most clearly conservative message to date, eight months into his pontificate.
While reaffirming the Church’s commitment to the dignity of migrants fleeing war and to the pursuit of genuine peace, the Pope directed pointed criticism at international bodies and Western societies.
He urged the United Nations to return to its foundational mission as a guarantor of peace, rather than promoting “ideologies.” The pontiff also sharply condemned restrictions on freedom of speech in Western nations that position themselves as champions of democracy:
It is regrettable to observe that, particularly in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is being increasingly restricted, while a new language with Orwellian overtones is developing, which, in its striving to be ever more inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that inspire it.
Pope Leo XIV drew attention to the severe persecution of Christians in Syria, Bangladesh, Mozambique, and Nigeria, where believers face violence and discrimination. He noted that Christians in the West also encounter forms of repression, often through cultural and institutional marginalization in societies that claim to value tolerance:
At the same time, we must not forget a subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians, which is spreading even in countries where they are in the majority, such as in Europe or the Americas. There, they are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel for political or ideological reasons, especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.
Quoting St. Augustine, the Pope emphasized a universal human desire for peace: “There is no one who does not wish to have peace. For even those who make war desire nothing but victory… And when this is done there is peace… They do not, therefore, wish to have no peace, but only the peace that they desire.”
In a strong section of the address, the Holy Father unequivocally condemned state-supported abortion and the legalization of euthanasia, describing both as direct assaults on the innate dignity of each person “created in the image of God” and on the traditional family, rooted in the marriage of one man and one woman. Without explicitly mentioning it, he criticized the EU’s attempt at financing ‘abortion tourism’ within the bloc, saying,
the Holy See expresses deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called “right to safe abortion.” It also considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families. The primary objective must remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life.
