Pope urges Spain MPs to support life and family

By CathNews New Zealand

June 12th, 2026

Pope Leo XIV last year (Ben Dance/Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office/Wikimedia Commons)

In the first ever address by a Pope to Spain’s Parliament, Pope Leo XIV called for support for families and stated that life must be protected from conception to natural end. Source: Vatican News.

At the heart of Pope Leo’s discourse in Madrid on June 8 was the assertion that every truly just society must be founded on the recognition of the inviolable dignity of the human person.

Such dignity, he reaffirmed, precedes any concession of the state and cannot be subordinated to changing social consensus or the fluctuations of momentary majorities.

On this basis, Pope Leo said he wished to address a calm and decisive word to those who bear the grave responsibility of legally organising social coexistence, which, he warned, can be threatened by a “throwaway culture”, as Pope Francis repeatedly noted.

Pope Leo questioned the future of societies if life ceases to be recognised as a fundamental value, and if a community leaves in the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence or those entirely dependent on the care of others. He said the defence of human life is neither a matter of private interest nor confessional concern, but a goal of civilisation.

In particular, Pope Leo said that every human life must be recognised and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, he explained, the most vulnerable are the first victims, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person.

The Holy Father suggested that the moral greatness of a nation manifests itself in its capacity to accompany, protect and cherish those lives marked by greater fragility.

When the common good ceases to be a shared horizon, he warned that public action risks fragmenting into partial interests, incapable of safeguarding what belongs to all.

The Pope said the family is of particular importance, also constituting the first human reality and natural foundation of the community. Within the family, Pope Leo recalled, generations intertwine and a living memory is transmitted that gives inner continuity to society.

Where the family is supported, he stated, the spiritual and social stability of nations is also strengthened.

The Pope also warned that the world is experiencing a profound spiritual and cultural crisis, which manifests itself in multiple forms of violence, polarisation and mutual distrust.

In this context, peace presents itself as a political aspiration and, even more, as a genuine moral necessity, he said. The Pope stressed that every war constitutes, ultimately, a painful defeat of the capacity to negotiate and also of that common human consciousness that recognises bonds of justice among nations.

Among the topics the Pope spoke about were freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as the situation of migrants and refugees, and the need for ethical oversight of technologies and artificial intelligence.

The Holy Father’s address was met with more than seven minutes of applause.

FULL STORY

Pope to Spain’s Parliament: A just society defends every human life, peace, freedom (By Deborah Castellano Lubov/Vatican News)

Apostolic Journey to Spain: Meeting with Members of the Spanish Parliament at the Congress of Deputies (Madrid, 8 June 2026) (Holy See)