Pope Leo XIV addressed the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See on January 9^th. He spoke forcefully about the need to defend the truth against manipulations which make language not a means of honestly engaging with our fellow man, but rather a tool to exercise dictatorial control over him:

Today, the meaning of words is ever more fluid, and the concepts they represent are increasingly ambiguous. Language is no longer the preferred means by which human beings come to know and encounter one another. Moreover, in the contortions of semantic ambiguity, language is becoming more and more a weapon with which to deceive, or to strike and offend opponents. We need words once again to express distinct and clear realities unequivocally.

He addressed what the French call la pensée unique, the single permitted way of thinking that characterizes much of Western European elites:

We should also note the paradox that this weakening of language is often invoked in the name of freedom of expression itself.  However, on closer inspection, the opposite is true, for freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed precisely by the certainty of language and the fact that every term is anchored in the truth.  It is painful to see how, especially in the West, the space for genuine freedom of expression is rapidly shrinking.  At the same time, a new Orwellian-style language is developing which, in an attempt to be increasingly inclusive, ends up excluding those who do not conform to the ideologies that are fueling it.

Respect for what is true is the primary defense against violence, chaos and lawlessness. The common possession of the truth allows for the development of just laws and customs in societies in which the promotion of justice is upheld as a common duty that derives from the nature of man as a free and moral creature.

The pro-life movement is an effort to counter and overthrow the “contortions of semantic ambiguity” and “Orwellian-style language” of those who claim that the unborn child is not a human person and does not enjoy an unalienable right to life. The social conditioning fostered by the culture of lying about the humanity of the unborn child leads otherwise peaceful people to embrace without any further thought the monstrous notion that killing a child at an early stage of his or her development is a morally good action.

One of the many good effects of the overturning of Roe v. Wade was the moral awakening in many Americans who, upon being told by the Supreme Court that there is no constitutional right to kill unborn children, now entertained the thought that abortion may not be right after all.

We are called upon by God to be men and women of the truth who fight against falsehoods and what Pope Benedict famously called the “dictatorship of relativism.” It is always an act of great kindness to contradict, with charity yet with steadfastness, what needs to be contradicted.

In this month in which we remember the evil inflicted upon our land by a Supreme Court majority who ignored the truth in order to legalize the crime of abortion, we are called upon to give thanks for all those who have dedicated their efforts to the defense of the truth against falsehood and manipulation.