Pope Leo has taken a firm stance against abortion and surrogacy, describing both as grave violations of human dignity in what is widely regarded as his first major intervention on some of the most divisive moral questions facing the world today.
Speaking at the Vatican, the new pontiff delivered a wide-ranging address that covered justice, prisoners’ rights, family life, migration and the protection of vulnerable groups.
At the heart of his message was a strong defence of human life, which he rooted in Christian teaching on creation and love.
“Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God who by calling them into existence out of love has at the same time called them to love,” Pope Leo said, framing his remarks within a broader reflection on human dignity.
He described abortion as a direct rejection of life, declaring that it “cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life,” while cautioning against what he termed “deceptive forms of compassion” increasingly promoted in modern societies.
According to the pontiff, this calling to love finds its most concrete expression within the family, an institution he said is facing growing pressure across the globe. My
“Despite its centrality, the institution of the family faces two crucial challenges today,” he noted, pointing to neglect by the international system and the rise of “fragile, broken, and suffering families afflicted by internal difficulties and disturbing phenomena, including domestic violence.”
Pope Leo stressed that the union between a man and a woman carries a moral responsibility toward unborn children, stating that “the vocation to love and to life… implies a fundamental ethical imperative for enabling families to welcome and fully care for unborn life.”
Condemning abortion in unequivocal terms, he said the Holy See was alarmed by international initiatives aimed at widening access to the procedure.
“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,” he said, describing it as “deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life rather than being invested to support mothers and families.”
He added that “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.”
The Pope also spoke strongly against surrogacy, arguing that it undermines the dignity of both women and children.
“By transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a product, and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process and distorting the original relational calling of the family,” he said.
In the same address, Pope Leo denounced euthanasia, again warning against “deceptive forms of compassion,” and urged governments to prioritise palliative care and genuine solidarity. He also called attention to the rights of prisoners, political detainees and migrants, and renewed the Church’s opposition to capital punishment, describing the death penalty as “a measure that destroys all hope of forgiveness and renewal.”
The speech offers the clearest picture so far of Pope Leo’s moral priorities and signals a continuation and possible intensification, of the Vatican’s opposition to abortion, surrogacy and euthanasia, setting the tone for his papacy on issues that continue to divide states, activists and faith communities worldwide.
