This weekend in Rome, Leo XIV will celebrate a Mass for the Jubilee of Families. From the beginning of his pontificate, in one of his first public speeches, he affirmed that the family is “founded on the stable union between a man and a woman,” and he recalled the dignity of the unborn child and the elderly, showing himself to be a staunch defender of traditional Church doctrine.
In just a few days, he has also repeatedly expressed compassion for the suffering endured by families, whether due to “emotional instability” or conflict.
The family as the basis of society
On May 16, one week after his election, the new pope received — as is customary — the ambassadors of the 184 countries that have relations with the Holy See. Before them, he called on world leaders to “build harmonious and peaceful civil societies.”
Following in the footsteps of his predecessors, he immediately defined the basis of such societies: the family, “a small but genuine society, no doubt, and prior to all civil society.”
These words were a direct reference to the encyclical Rerum novarum, signed 134 years earlier by Leo XIII, whose name the current pope took. In this document, the father of the Church’s social doctrine attributed to the family “rights and duties peculiar to itself which are quite independent of the State.”
He recognized it as “antecedent, as well in idea as in fact” to civil society and condemned any interference by civil power in the sanctuary of the family.
These were the premises of a line of thinking that would develop with the Second Vatican Council (Gaudium et Spes), then John Paul II (Familiaris consortio) and subsequent popes.
A traditional perspective
Clearly defending this traditional vision of the Catholic Church before the ambassadors, Leo XIV urged politicians to invest “in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman.” This statement did not go unnoticed.
“Pope Leo XIV defends the family and traditional marriage,” read some headlines in the English-language press after the new pope’s words.
In the same speech to diplomats — traditionally considered indicative of the broad outlines of a pontificate — Leo XIV also called for the protection of “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.”
Once again, this reference was highlighted by observers as a clear stance on sensitive social issues —abortion, euthanasia, immigration — that are increasingly causing division in nations.
The day before, on May 15, Leo XIV had mentioned the family and its essential educational role when receiving the brothers of the Christian Schools. He insisted on “the involvement of families in the school curriculum, according to the principle of the ‘educational triangle.’”
Suffering families
In his remarks, the 267th pope, whose concern for families was well known when he was bishop of Chiclayo in Peru, also mentioned various realities of suffering experienced by families. Speaking to the Lasallian religious, he described the shortcomings of the current social context, which is not conducive to the fulfillment of families.
He lamented “the isolation caused by rampant relational models increasingly marked by superficiality, individualism and emotional instability.” He denounced “the prevalence of rhythms and lifestyles in which there is not enough room for listening, reflection and dialogue, at school, in the family, and sometimes among peers themselves, with consequent loneliness.”
During the general audience on May 28, Leo XIV expressed his sadness at the plight of the people of Gaza, where “the cry of mothers, of fathers who clutch the lifeless bodies of children and who are continually forced to move in search of a little food and safer shelter from bombing, rises ever more intensely to the sky.” He renewed his appeal for a ceasefire and humanitarian aid.
During his first Regina Cæli on May 11, three days after his election, the head of the Catholic Church emphasized the spiritual bond that exists within families even after death. On Mother’s Day in Italy, he sent “a fond greeting to all mothers, with a prayer for them, and for those who are already in Heaven,” triggering thunderous applause.
“He has always been very attentive to families, their formation and their integration into society as its fundamental nucleus. I believe that what he will seek as pope is a Church in Christ, the unity of all, and the promotion of the fundamental role of the family,” Edinson Delgado, director of the Saint Turibe de Mogrovejo Catholic Diocesan School in Chiclayo, told ACI Prensa.
The great family of God
More broadly, the Pontiff has repeatedly referred to the Church as a family, “the family of God.” This is a reality that embraces “the rich variety of our languages, cultures, and experiences,” he said to the Pontifical Mission Societies.
Addressing the people of Rome from the Basilica of Saint Mary Major last Sunday, the pope called on the faithful “to walk together in the Church, united as the one family of God.”
During the Mass inaugurating his pontificate, the successor of Peter also presented himself under the auspices of the family. “I was chosen, without any merit of my own, and now, with fear and trembling, I come to you as a brother, who desires to be the servant of your faith and your joy, walking with you on the path of God’s love, for he wants us all to be united in one family,” he said.
And he urged: “Listen to his offer of love and become his one family: in the one Christ, we are one.”
