Pope Leo: Investment in the Family is Key to Achieving a Harmonious and Peaceful Society

In his first address to the Diplomatic Corps in Rome, Pope Leo XIV has called on governments to invest in “the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman”, declaring that such an investment is key to building a harmonious and peaceful civil society.

The family, described by Pope Leo as “a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society”, is, according to Catholic Social Teaching, the ‘first and vital cell of society’. The family must be given priority over society and over the State, and public authorities may not take away from the family tasks which it can accomplish well by itself. On the other hand, public authorities have the duty to sustain the family, ensuring that it has all the assistance that it needs to fulfil properly its responsibilities. 

Elsewhere in his speech, the Pope focused on three pillars of the Church’s missionary activity (peace, justice and truth), speaking powerfully about respect for the dignity of every person, “especially the most frail and vulnerable, from the unborn to the elderly, from the sick to the unemployed, citizens and immigrants alike.”

He urged people to eliminate pride and vindictiveness in the pursuit of true peace, pointing out that “words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill.”

As the world faces the threat of increasing conflict, the Pope urged leaders to give “new life to multilateral diplomacy” and to resolve to halt the production of instruments of destruction and death, pointing to the words of Pope Francis who said that “no peace is possible without true disarmament.”

To read the full address, click this link: https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250516-corpo-diplomatico.html