Pope Leo XIV on Friday said peaceful societies can be achieved if governments invested in families “founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman” in his first address to the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See.
Welcoming more than 100 ambassadors to an audience held inside the Vatican’s Clementine Hall, the Holy Father stated that resolving global inequalities as well as deep divisions between “continents, countries, and individual societies” starts in the home.
“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,’” he added, citing Rerum Novarum.
“Indeed, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding,” he remarked.
In his May 16 audience with the diplomatic corps, the Holy Father said peace, justice, and truth are the “three essential words” and pillars of the Church’s evangelical mission and outreach and “the aim of the Holy See’s diplomacy” with states and sovereignties.
“The first word is peace,” he said. “All too often we consider it a ‘negative’ word, indicative only of the absence of war and conflict, since opposition is a perennial part of human nature, frequently leading us to live in a constant ‘state of conflict’ at home, at work, and in society.”
Reiterating his message of peace on the day of his May 8 election, the Holy Father told the ambassadors present at the gathering that peace, “the first gift of Christ,” is an “active and demanding gift” necessary for building relationships.
“I believe that religions and interreligious dialogue can make a fundamental contribution to fostering a climate of peace,” he said. “This naturally requires full respect for religious freedom in every country, since religious experience is an essential dimension of the human person.”
On justice, the Holy Father said working for peace first and foremost “requires acting justly.”
He reminded government leaders about their responsibility to “build harmonious and peaceful civil societies” that uphold the dignity of every person.
“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,” he continued.
The need for truth in a world faced with several multilayered crises, Pope Leo XIV — who identified himself as a “a citizen, the descendant of immigrants, who in turn chose to emigrate” — said every person needs and yearns for the truth that “can never be separated from charity.”
“Truth, then, does not create division but rather enables us to confront all the more resolutely the challenges of our time, such as migration, the ethical use of artificial intelligence, and the protection of our beloved planet Earth,” he added.
Commenting on Pope Leo XIV’s remarks on migration, European Union ambassador to the Holy See Martin Selmayr told EWTN News reporter Valentina Di Donato that the decision to put “emigration and immigration in the one context” clearly revealed the underlying Christian worldview of the Catholic Church’s “truly global pope” on such issues.
“He spoke about the dignity of everybody in society, in particular the more vulnerable ones,” Selmayr said. I think his name [Leo] and from what we saw today is that this is a pope — it’s my impression — who wants to play a role internationally.”
Toward the end of his speech, the Holy Father particularly expressed his hope for peace, justice, and truth to start in “places that suffer most grievously,” specifically in Ukraine and the Holy Land.
Following the papal audience, Russian ambassador to the Holy See Ivan Soltanovsky told Di Donato that the Vatican is a significant player in world affairs.
“The Vatican is certainly a very important international actor who has moral, political, psychological — I should say — power,” he said. “This is respected everywhere, including Russia.”
“We respect the role of the Holy See in offering its mediation facilities and in resolving humanitarian aspects,” he added.
This article was originally published on Catholic News Agency.
