VATICAN CITY (LifeSiteNews) — Pope Francis delivered his annual “state of the world” address to the Diplomatic Corps at the Vatican today, condemning abortion, the death penalty, global conflicts, fake news, and Christian persecution across the globe.
Read chiefly by an aide, with Francis citing ill-health, the Pope’s address was framed around the current Jubilee Year as he urged the diplomats to center their work on hope, truth, forgiveness, freedom, and justice. Such themes provided the framework for his text, which ranged from condemning the role “fake news” played in the assassination attempts on Donald Trump, to slating the “alleged ‘right to abortion.’”
He also made brief mention of the Holy See’s own diplomatic record during the past year, saying that the controversial renewal of the Sino-Vatican deal for four years was “a sign of the desire to continue a respectful and constructive dialogue in view of the good of the Catholic Church in the country and of all the Chinese people.”
In his annual State of the World address to diplomats at Holy See, Pope Francis said renewal of Vatican deal w China was “a sign of the desire to continue a respectful & constructive dialogue in view of the good of Catholic Church in the country & of all the Chinese people.” pic.twitter.com/b35r5CxWp9
— Michael Haynes 🇻🇦 (@MLJHaynes) January 9, 2025
The Pope’s lengthy message delivered to the assembled diplomats accredited to the Holy See was – as is customary – a summary of his assessment of various issues and crises across the world, being thus varied and wide-ranging.
Critique of abortion and death penalty
Holding up the work of “diplomacy of hope” and a “diplomacy of truth” as a way to enact positive change, Francis condemned the promotion of abortion as part of a wider set of “divisive ideologies that trample on the values and beliefs of peoples.”
Echoing previous State of the World messages, and referring to attempts “to manipulate multilateral documents” in order to alter the meaning of “human rights treaties,” Francis stated that:
In this regard, it is unacceptable, for example, to speak of an alleged “right to abortion” that contradicts human rights, particularly the right to life. All life must be protected, at every moment, from conception to natural death, because no child is a mistake or guilty of existing, just as no elderly or sick person may be deprived of hope and discarded.
Francis has often linked abortion as “hiring a hitman,” but despite his rhetoric against abortion, his public record of notably favorable treatment to prominent abortion activists has led to questions about a disconnect between words and actions.
READ: Pope Francis makes personal visit to notorious abortionist Emma Bonino
The Pontiff also used his State of the World address to re-iterate his personal opposition to the death penalty.
Citing treatment of prisoners and the forgiveness of debts, Francis commented that “there is no debt that allows anyone, including the State, to demand the life of another. In this regard, I reiterate my call for the death penalty to be eliminated in every nation, since it finds no justification today among the instruments capable of restoring justice.”
Such a call has been one of the recurring themes of Francis’ nearly 12-year pontificate, with his 2018 change to the Catechism of the Catholic Church to state that the death penalty is “inadmissible,” ranking as one of the more controversial moments of his reign.
READ: Pope Francis repeats opposition to death penalty, calls for its ‘abolition’
The change came despite Catholic teaching and Sacred Scripture affirming the moral permissibility of the death penalty, and his change to the Catechism‘s text has subsequently been used by Vatican officials to call for wider change on Catholic teaching.
Prisoners to the earth
Continuing his speech about the need to practice greater clemency to prisoners, Francis issued a call for increased attention to concern over climate issues – something which has also been a leading priority during his papacy.
“In some sense, we are all prisoners, for all of us are debtors: to God, to others, and also to our beloved earth, from which we draw our daily sustenance,” he said.
READ: Pope Francis calls for an ‘end’ to ‘the era of fossil fuel’ in Prayer for Creation message
Drawing from prior messages in which he highlighted a perceived need for climate-related action, Francis opined that “nature itself seems to be rebelling against human action by extreme manifestations of its power.”
A need exists, he said, for richer nations to “forgive” the economic debts of poorer nations, in order to jointly work against the “ecological debt.”
Persecution of Christians
As has become almost a weekly appeal, Francis called for swift resolutions to end various conflicts around the world, including especially those in Africa and Southern America which are often overshadowed by the strife in Gaza and Ukraine.
Francis expressed his closeness to the Catholics of Nicaragua, who have become subject to ever increasing restrictions under the totalitarian regime of President Daniel Ortega. The Holy See, he said, “follows with concern the measures taken against individuals and institutions of the Church and asks that religious freedom and other fundamental rights be adequately guaranteed to all.”
Peace, Francis stated, is not possible “without the guarantee of religious freedom, which entails respect for the conscience of individuals and the possibility of publicly manifesting one’s faith and membership in a community.”
Condemning “the growing expressions of anti-Semitism,” Francis also highlighted “the numerous persecutions against various Christian communities, often perpetrated by terrorist groups especially in Africa and Asia.”
With persecution or crimes against Christianity also on the rise in Europe, Francis condemned what he described as “the more ‘discreet’ forms of restriction on religious freedom that at times are found also in Europe, where legal norms and administrative practices are growing that ‘limit or in fact annul the rights formally recognized by the Constitution for individual believers and religious groups.’”
“Christians,” he said, “are able and desire actively to contribute to the building up of the societies in which they live.”
He also highlighted the cause of Christians in Syria, where the Christian community is tentatively hoping for the new Muslim regime to keep its promise of inclusivity. Syrian Christians must be allowed to be “full citizens and share in the common good of that beloved nation,” urged the Pope.
READ: Syrian nuncio expresses hope for Christianity in nation after meeting with Muslim leader
Role of fake news
Francis has previously condemned the growth of “fake news” when he promoted the COVID-19 injections, and he described as “fake news” the attempts to warn people of the swiftly growing documented health impacts of the injections.
Today he linked the “creation and spread of fake news” to “increasingly polarized societies marked by a general sense of fear and distrust of others and of the future.” Decrying how it conjures up “false images of reality” and fosters “hate,” Francis said that it ultimately leads to events such as the attempted assassinations on Donald Trump and Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico.
“My prayerful hope for this new year,” added the Pontiff, “is that the Jubilee may represent for everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike, an opportunity also to rethink the relationships that bind us to one another, as human beings and political communities.”