Pope Leo, in address to government officials, cites natural law, St. Thomas More’s example
June 23, 2025
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CWN Editor's Note: In an address to participants in the Jubilee of Governments, Pope Leo XIV highlighted the importance of the common good, religious freedom and interreligious dialogue, and the “major challenge” of artificial intelligence—and in doing so, emphasized the importance of the natural law.
“An essential reference point is the natural law, written not by human hands, but acknowledged as valid in all times and places, and finding its most plausible and convincing argument in nature itself,” he said in his June 21 address. After quoting from Cicero’s discussion of natural law, the Pope said:
Natural law, which is universally valid apart from and above other more debatable beliefs, constitutes the compass by which to take our bearings in legislating and acting, particularly on the delicate and pressing ethical issues that, today more than in the past, regard personal life and privacy.
Pope Leo also upheld St. Thomas More as “a witness for political leaders to revere and an intercessor under whose protection to place their work ... The courage he showed by his readiness to sacrifice his life rather than betray the truth makes him, also for us today, a martyr for freedom and for the primacy of conscience.”
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