By The pontiff’s speech referred to his own recent cancer surgery.
MONTEVIDEO, Uruguay — Pope Leo XIV on Friday opened his first visit to South America as pope with a call to protect life from its beginning in the womb until its natural end and to guarantee healthcare for all members of society.
The pope addressed Uruguay’s President Yamandú Orsi and other dignitaries in the country’s capital on the first day of an 11-day tour of the continent that will also take him to Argentina and Peru.
“The unborn already belong to the human family and to the future of their people. Their absolute dependence on their mother does not diminish the dignity to which they are entitled or the protection they deserve,” Leo said.
Though he did not directly mention euthanasia, which Uruguay legalized last year, the pope stressed the need to preserve life even in the midst of suffering.
“Given the painful reality of suicide, it is clear that adequate healthcare, family ties, and the closeness of the community are inseparable. None should ever feel like a stranger among their own or think that their absence matters less than their presence,” Leo said. “It is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that each person can live with dignity, receive the care they need, and be accompanied until the natural end of his or her life.”
Euthanasia, the intentional ending of a human life in order to relieve suffering, is forbidden by Catholic teaching.
The pope referred to his recent surgery for lung cancer, less than a month before his trip to South America, in his call for universal healthcare.
“Recently I experienced firsthand the limitations imposed by illness and I received care for which I am deeply grateful. That experience makes me think of the many men and women who lack the means to obtain a timely diagnosis or receive the treatments they need. Ensuring that healthcare is accessible to everyone, regardless of their resources, is a duty that confronts every society,” Leo said.
Uruguay is exceptional among Latin American countries for the extent of its state-provided social services. It is also one of the most secular countries in the region, where more than half the population does not identify with organized religion and the official state calendar refers to Holy Week as Tourism Week.
Echoing remarks he made in September in France, whose model of secularism has historically influenced Uruguay, Leo called for religious believers and institutions to take part in public life.
“The secular character of the state involves an obligation to ensure that there is room for believers and nonbelievers to live together in freedom and respect. This neutrality does not require that the religious dimension be confined to the private sphere,” the pope said. “Individuals and religious communities can contribute to the common good while respecting the autonomy of civil institutions.”
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Life is sacred and a precious gift. Health is wealth. May each and every life be blessed with good health of mind and body.
Universal health care promoted by the Left, abhorred by Republicans goes back hundreds of years when religious formed the world’s first hospital care facilities.
Medical care, care in general was provided for all. In fact it was primarily designed to meet the needs of the impoverished. The poor. The rich could afford doctors. We do have a moral obligation to care for the poor. Catholic hospitals used to provide care for all in recent modern times until hospital management was taken over by secular interests.
Pope Leo is absolutely correct in underlining universal medical care for all regardless of the ability to finance that care. Republicans, or perhaps a new Right leaning political party would do well to incorporate universal care in their platform.