Pope Leo XIV Calls for Peace, Justice, and Truth
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| Pope Leo XIV, previously known as Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, was elected the 267th pope of the Catholic Church on Thursday, May 8. His Mass of Inauguration was held on Sunday, May 18 with international leaders and pilgrims in attendance. Pope Leo is a native of Chicago, Illinois and the first pope from the United States. He is a member of the Augustinian Order and served for many years in Peru. His motto is “In Illo uno unum,” meaning “In Him who is One (Christ), we are One.” Read his full biography here and recent speeches and homilies here.
In his May 15 Address to the Diplomatic Corps, Pope Leo stressed the primacy of peace, justice, and truth:
From a Christian perspective – but also in other religious traditions – peace is first and foremost a gift. It is the first gift of Christ: “My peace I give to you” (Jn 14:27). Yet it is an active and demanding gift. It engages and challenges each of us, regardless of our cultural background or religious affiliation, demanding first of all that we work on ourselves. Peace is built in the heart and from the heart, by eliminating pride and vindictiveness and carefully choosing our words. For words too, not only weapons, can wound and even kill.
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It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies. This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman, “a small but genuine society, and prior to all civil society.” In addition, no one is exempted from striving to ensure respect for 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.
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For her part, the Church can never be exempted from speaking the truth about humanity and the world, resorting whenever necessary to blunt language that may initially create misunderstanding. Yet truth can never be separated from charity, which always has at its root a concern for the life and well-being of every man and woman. Furthermore, from the Christian perspective, truth is not the affirmation of abstract and disembodied principles, but an encounter with the person of Christ himself, alive in the midst of the community of believers. Truth, then, does not create division, but rather enables us to confront all the more resolutely the challenges of our time, such as migration, the ethical use of artificial intelligence and the protection of our beloved planet Earth. These are challenges that require commitment and cooperation on the part of all, since no one can think of facing them alone.
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Legislative Action on WCC Bills of Interest
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| Below is an update on the status of bills that the WCC has taken action on. To see the WCC’s analysis of these bills, read our prior Capitol Updates.
Pelvic Exams ▲ Registered in support
SB 14 (André Jacque, R-De Pere) Written informed consent prior to pelvic exams on unconscious patients.
Status: Passed the Assembly and awaits action from the Governor.
Nudity Depictions ▲ Registered in support
SB 33 (André Jacque, R-De Pere) Representations depicting nudity and providing a penalty.
Status: Unanimously passed the Senate and awaits action in the Assembly.
Palliative Care Council ▼ Testified in opposition
AB 23 (Patrick Snyder, R-Weston) Establishment of a Palliative Care Council.
Status: Passed the Assembly and awaits action in the Senate.
Pharmacists Prescribing Contraceptives ▼ Testified in opposition
AB 43 (Joel Kitchens, R-Sturgeon Bay) Permitting pharmacists to prescribe certain contraceptives.
Status: Passed the Assembly and awaits action in the Senate. |
WCC Public Policy Positions: Participate Justly in the Global Economy
As we did last session, here we continue to elaborate on each of the WCC’s 2025 Public Policy Positions. You can learn more about Catholic Social Teaching on the USCCB website.
Participate justly in the global economy. Participation in the global economy must respect the dignity of all people. Wisconsin must ensure that trade agreements and investment policies respect the human rights of workers and their families, and foster sound stewardship of the earth’s natural resources.
All economies are rooted in the work of individual human persons. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church explains that “Human work is a right upon which the promotion of social justice and civil peace directly depend” (292). States must strive to create “norms that protect the work of men, women, and youth” and ensure proper payment for that work (292). All states and nations need to “promote an effective international cooperation” through “treaties, agreements, and common plans of action that safeguard the right to work” (292).
Every economy, whether local or global, must serve people, not the other way around. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) explains that “Economic life is not meant solely to multiply goods produced and increase profit or power; it is ordered first of all to the services of persons, of the whole man, and of the entire human community” (CCC 2426). Workers must be paid a fair wage and have their rights upheld and respected. The Catechism puts it simply: “Work is for man, not man for work. Everyone should be able to draw from work the means of providing for his life and that of his family, and of serving the human community” (CCC 2428).
Furthermore, “Rich nations have a grave moral responsibility toward those which are unable to ensure the means of their development by themselves or have been prevented from doing so by tragic historical events” (CCC 2439). It is the rich nation’s “duty in solidarity and charity” to help less advanced countries and insist on protecting workers’ rights and proper stewardship of natural resources.
In other words, all aspects of our economic life–both at home and abroad–must be rooted in “the dignity of the human person which requires the pursuit of the common good” (see CCC 1923-1927). |
Updates from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
To take action on the USCCB’s current federal action alerts, click here. |
Legislative Resources
Find your legislators, committee assignments, session schedule, and more:
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