Pope Warns France
Pope Leo XIV warns France against assisted dying and surrogacy during visit.
Anonymous
During his visit to France, Pope Leo XIV warned that science and technology must be guided by ethics and the common good, not profit, citing genetic manipulation, surrogacy, organ trafficking and assisted dying as concerns. He argued that protecting the right to life and human dignity is foundational, and said legal permission does not necessarily make an act morally right. At Lourdes, he urged people to reject assisted death even when framed as compassion and affirmed the dignity of people living with severe pain. He also cautioned that technology and artificial intelligence could diminish humanity without stronger ethical discernment, and called for a form of secularism that leaves room for dialogue between religion and the state.
Key Points
1
France’s parliament passed legislation in June establishing a right to assisted dying for some adults with incurable conditions, setting the political context for the Pope’s warnings.
2
The visit drew large crowds: about 800,000 people attended Leo’s Mass at Paris’s Place de la Concorde, and roughly 150,000 attended his Mass at Lourdes.
3
The Holy See’s programme for the France trip included a visit to UNESCO headquarters, vespers at Notre-Dame de Paris and a vigil with young people at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.
4
At Lourdes, Leo visited a care centre for sick people after celebrating Mass, encouraging those living with severe pain by affirming that no law or algorithm can eliminate their inherent dignity.
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