Pope Leo warns in Spain's Parliament that the world is in deep crisis

Pope Leo

Leão, who has struck a more forceful tone recently against the direction of global leadership, also firmly repeated his opposition to increased European military spending, calling on politicians to instead end the wars ravaging the world and help immigrants.

"The world is experiencing a profound spiritual and cultural crisis, which manifests itself in multiple forms of violence, polarization and mutual distrust," the pope said in the speech, which came hours after Israel and Iran renewed their attacks on each other in the gravest test of a two-month ceasefire.

"Weapons can impose temporary silence, but they can never build authentic and lasting peace," he said.

The Pope also met this Monday with six victims of sexual abuse committed by members of the clergy and told the bishops that they need to offer reparations, seeking to resolve a scandal that has seriously damaged the credibility of the local Church.

A 2023 report from Spain's Human Rights Ombudsman estimated that there were hundreds of thousands of victims of clerical abuse in the country over decades.

Ethical foundations
Delivered in Spanish and received with seven minutes of standing ovation by parliamentarians, Leão's statements marked a rare papal speech to a national legislature and the first by a pope to the Parliament of Spain. The speech is part of a week-long visit to the country, in which the pontiff met with immigrants and the homeless, and called on national leaders to stop dividing their electorates.

The pope, whose visit to Spain will culminate in a meeting with immigrants in the Canary Islands who have braved the dangerous waters of the Atlantic to enter Europe, said the lack of help for the world's immigrants is challenging "the ethical foundation of the international order."

He stated that countries must seek solutions that go beyond "mere management of migration flows" and that address the causes that force people to leave their countries of origin, including wars, poverty and climate change.

He declared to Parliament that "the moral greatness of a nation is manifested above all in its ability to accompany, protect and love the lives that experience the greatest fragility."

More than 3,000 people died in 2025 trying to reach the Canary Islands, off the west coast of Africa, often in improvised boats, according to the NGO Caminando Fronteras.

The government of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez launched a mass amnesty program, allowing around 500,000 immigrants to request regularization of their immigration status.

Warning against dangers of AI
Leão, who published a fervent manifesto last month urging global governments to slow the development of AI systems, on Monday called for "rigorous ethical oversight" over how AI is used in warfare.

For him, the increase in European military spending, which grew last year at the fastest rate since the end of the Cold War amid pressure from United States President Donald Trump, is "worrying".

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez refused to meet Trump's demands that NATO member countries increase defense spending to 5% of GDP. Last month, the Pope called European rearmament a betrayal of diplomacy.

Leão also presented some of his most profound observations to date, addressing the balance in the relationship between Church and State. He defended the protection of religious freedom, stating that faith "cannot be relegated to silence as if it were irrelevant to public life."

The pope also defended the privacy of the secrecy of Catholic confession, which obliges the priest not to reveal any information given to him by penitents.

Several countries, including France, have debated whether to force priests to report sexual abuse revealed in confessions, in the wake of scandals that have shaken the Church internationally.

Protecting the seal, said Leo, preserves "a sacred space of inner freedom, where the believer can open his soul before God."

Who is Robert Prevost, Pope Leo XIV?

Source: CNN