Pope Leo XIV's Blunt Message at UNESCO: “Innocent people are being killed in the name of freedom”

Pope Leo XIV criticized the loss of human life and the distortion of truth during a speech at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The pope stated that innocent people are killed in the name of freedom and that language becomes subject to violence and the will of the powerful when truth is absent.

During his address, the pope defended the sanctity of life from conception to natural death. He specifically mentioned children in the womb, people in war zones, individuals with physical or intellectual disabilities, the elderly, and migrants or refugees. He warned that excluding those deemed unproductive reduces human life from a gift to a product.

The pope also addressed modern communication and technology, noting that faster communication does not guarantee more truth. He warned that globalization without fraternity, neocolonialism, and ideological impositions resemble the Tower of Babel by fostering oppression and exploitation. He further noted that justice can become a commodity when people invoke the law only when convenient and ignore it when it acts as a limitation.