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In his 2026 inaugural State of the World address, Pope Leo XIV has admonished those who promote abortion, war fever, and wokeness.

While the pro-life speech spoke to the dangers of hyper-nationalism, he saved his big white Papal boot for the far left.

Appearing to address revisionist Marxian-Woke deconstructionism and its war on language, the Western Christian tradition and civil liberties, Pope Leo said,

“It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking.”

“A new Orwellian-style language is developing,” he asserted.

Conformity vs Conscience

The “attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fuelling it.”

“Unfortunately, this leads to other consequences that end up restricting fundamental human rights, starting with the freedom of conscience,” Pope Leo lamented.

Mounting a freedom of speech defence of conscientious objection, he stated that,

“In this regard, conscientious objection allows individuals to refuse legal or professional obligations that conflict with moral, ethical or religious principles deeply rooted in their personal lives.”

“Conscientious objection is not rebellion, it’s an act of faith.”

Whether this relates to forced service in the military, or “the refusal on the part of doctors and healthcare professionals to engage in practices such as abortion or euthanasia.”

“At this moment in history, freedom of conscience seems increasingly to be questioned by States, even those that claim to be based on democracy and human rights.”

“A truly free society,” he affirmed, “does not impose uniformity but protects the diversity of consciences, preventing authoritarian tendencies and promoting an ethical dialogue that enriches the social fabric.”

Such as, I’ll add, the United Kingdom’s Labour Party and the Australian Labor Party, colluding to ban Elon Musk’s X under the guise of public safety.

Religious Persecution

Citing the Islamic jihadist bloodshed in Nigeria and Mozambique, Pope Leo asserted,

“The persecution of Christians remains one of the most widespread human rights crises today, affecting over 380 million believers worldwide.”

“They suffer high or extreme levels of discrimination, violence and oppression because of their faith.”

“Sadly, all of this demonstrates that religious freedom is considered in many contexts more as a ‘privilege’ or concession than a fundamental human right.”

Smashing the slow downgrade of religious freedom in the European Union and the Americas, he added,

“We must not forget a subtle form of religious discrimination against Christians, which is spreading even in countries where they are in the majority, such as in Europe or the Americas.”

“Christians are sometimes restricted in their ability to proclaim the truths of the Gospel for political or ideological reasons.”

“Especially when they defend the dignity of the weakest, the unborn, refugees and migrants, or promote the family.”

Life and Family

Slipping a bit with a somewhat obligatory salute to so-called “climate change” induced migration, Pope Leo redeemed the address with a total smackdown of abortion and surrogacy.

This coincided with a subtle criticism of the continuing neo-pagan push to normalise same-sex marriage.

Strongly affirming the Catholic Church’s view that all three are anti-family, and therefore anti-life, Pope Leo said,

“The institution of the family faces two crucial – external and internal – challenges today.”

First, is the international trend marginalising the mum, dad, and child family unit’s “fundamental social role.”

The second challenge is “the painful reality of fragile, broken and suffering families, afflicted by internal difficulties and disturbing phenomena, including domestic violence.”

For fully functioning societies, “the exclusive and indissoluble union between a woman and a man is an ethical imperative.

“Life is a priceless gift that develops within a committed relationship based on mutual self-giving and service.”

The family unit, he remarked, is life’s “responsible guardian.”

In other words, protecting the family unit protects life.

Therefore, “we categorically reject any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development.”

Such as abortion.

“Abortion cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life,” Pope Leo argued.

Here, he expressed “deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called “right to safe abortion.”

“It’s deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families.”

“The primary objective must,” Pope Leo determined, “remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life.”

“Likewise, the practice of surrogacy.”

Turning kids into a commodity and “exploiting the mother’s womb” distorts the “original calling of the family.”

This also “violates” the dignity of both the mother and her child.

War and Peace

Notably, before his recommitment to “cherishing life, vis-à-vis the Imago Dei,”  Pope Leo slapped down the trending obsession with war fever.

This, he argued, presented real problems for peace because, like the downgrade of freedoms, war fever compromised avenues for multilateral conflict resolution.

Put simply, once dialogue dies, the pathway for diplomacy withers on the vine.

To carry his point home, the unapologetic Leo XIV invoked the wisdom of Augustine’s City of God.

Christians are to be involved in politics, not ignorant of it, he effectively declared.

Additionally, “Augustine’s City of God warns of grave dangers to political life arising from false representations of history, excessive nationalism and the distortion of the ideal of the political leader.”

“As Augustine reminds us, peace is the aim of our good, to which we aspire,” he concluded.

“In the Christian life, we see these virtues reflected at Christmas, when Truth, the eternal Word of God, becomes humble flesh.”

We see this again “at Easter, when the condemned Righteous One forgives his persecutors and grants them his life as the Risen One.”

A second standout quality is that he was addressing foreign diplomats and dignitaries posted to Vatican City.

The unexpected content is a somewhat prophetic take-down of the Marxian Woke hegemony, as much as it is a heartfelt “heart-check” for the “red-pilled” dissident Right.