Pope warns of paradox on individual freedom in the West

Speaking to bishops associated with the Focolare Movement on September 9, the Pontiff warned of the effects of individualism in the West, “where the once-stable networks of family, friendship and community are giving way to greater fragmentation”.

In this context, he said, freedom “is increasingly presented as absolute autonomy – the ability to pursue happiness without any moral, natural or even human limits”, as the Pope noted in his recent encyclical Magnifica Humanitas.

“And yet we observe a paradox,” he continued. “For all the emphasis on individual freedom, people today frequently feel less free to be their genuine selves or follow their highest ideals out of a hidden fear of being judged or of not fitting in.”

During his address, the Pope called for a renewed commitment to unity as a response to the divisions afflicting the contemporary world.

Highlighting the contribution of the movement founded by Chiara Lubich, he said that “in an age sadly marked by increasing polarisation, Our Lord enabled her to give witness to both the sense and service of unity, thus becoming a sign for her own and for future generations”.

Pope Leo said a loss of openness to others “exacerbates a sense of disunity” and ultimately deprives people “of the happiness for which we were created, since we are made in the image of the Triune God, who is himself a communion of persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit”.

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Pope Leo XIV warns of Western ‘paradox’ on individual freedom (By Victoria Cardiel/EWTN News)