Several popes have visited Spain, but not one of them has ever met with Spain\u2019s lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies, until now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pope Leo XIV made the historic visit during his fourth apostolic journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lawmakers in Spain\u2019s 350-seat lower house welcomed the pontiff to the congressional chamber, which shares legislative power with the Senate. After greeting members of the different political parties, he addressed both the parliament and the Spanish people, focusing his message on human dignity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
POPE LEO XIV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Spain views the human person as more than just a cog in the social, economic or political machinery: it has recognised them as a being open to the truth, endowed with freedom and driven by a thirst for eternity that no temporal reality can quench POPE LEO XIV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If life is no longer recognized as a fundamental value, what future can our societies have? Can a community truly call itself just if it casts into the shadows the unborn child, the elderly, the sick, those who suffer in silence, or those who depend entirely on the care of others?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The pope also pushed back against what he described as a culture of death. Both abortion and euthanasia are legal under Spanish law. The pope reiterated that human life must be protected \u201cfrom conception to natural death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Migration, conflict, war, and violence also featured prominently in his speech. Pope Leo described rearmament as a false solution and argued that lasting peace can only grow out of dialogue and justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before concluding his remarks, the pope reminded congress that the state has a responsibility to safeguard religious freedom, which he described as fundamental to human life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n POPE LEO XIV<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The freedom upon which the modern state is founded, if it is genuine, recognizes the religious dimension of the human person, respects it, and protects it under the law. It also ensures that no one is forced to forgo contributing to the society in which they live because of their faith.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, Pope Leo XIV stressed that political and religious authority should remain separate. He added that freedom of conscience is deeply \u201crooted in the Christian tradition\u201d and argued that laws are judged not by their passage, but by their ability to uphold human dignity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Several popes have visited Spain, but not one of them has ever met with Spain\u2019s lower house of parliament, the Congress of Deputies, until now. Pope Leo XIV made the historic visit during his fourth apostolic journey. Lawmakers in Spain\u2019s 350-seat lower house welcomed the pontiff to the congressional chamber, which shares legislative power with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":758,"featured_media":91060,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"acf":{"video":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/cpDCcHW4jaY","video_descarga":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/b07discorsocongressoeng.mp4","international_url":"https:\/\/attuale.romereports.com\/news\/b07discorsocongressoint.mp4","type":"bn","newsletter":"si"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91059"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/758"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91059"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91064,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91059\/revisions\/91064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91060"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.romereports.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
<\/em>In Spain, citizens are represented through their elected members of parliament. During his speech, Pope Leo took the opportunity to remind congress that one cannot govern without recognizing the inherent dignity of every human person.<\/p>\n\n\n\n