Pope Leo’s address to the Demography Intergroup of the European Parliament
Clementine Hall = Monday, 25 May 2026
The Demography Intergroup at the European Parliament was launched in Brussels on March 20, 2025. On that same day, FAFCE (Families Are Europe’s Treasure) was invited to the Intergroup’s inaugural meeting. Approximately twenty Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from various political groups agreed that the EU should pay closer attention to demographic issues.
Pope Leo’s address Clementine Hall = Monday, 25 May 2026
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.Peace be with you.Good morning everyone and welcomeI am pleased to welcome the members of the European Parliament’s Demography Intergroup, the European Commissioner for the Mediterranean, the Italian Minister for Family, Natality and Equal Opportunities, and the OSCE Special Representative on Demographic Change and Security.
You are all here for the conference on the family and demographics, and I am glad to have you.
As representatives of your respective peoples and reflecting a plurality of political opinions within the European Union’s member states, your focus on the continent’s demographic issues is certainly timely.
This issue signifies an urgent challenge with practical implications for millions of people and their families across the “old continent” — not because of its glorious history, but because of its advancing age.
Pope Francis emphasized this urgent challenge in his address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on May 14, 2021.
The problems resulting from zero-growth demographics are many and complex and include the pandemic of loneliness, among others.
Moreover, demographic data are not merely statistics; they speak of fatherhood, motherhood, and children. Children are the future!
However, speaking of the future requires integral and sustainable development, which is impeded without intergenerational solidarity.
Sadly, Europe currently lacks the intergenerational balance that such solidarity requires.
Furthermore, in recent decades, the rejection of the Christian inspiration of the EU institutions’ founding fathers has led to a time of drastic sterility.
Too many have been deprived of the right to be born, and there has been a failure to pass on the material and cultural tools that young people need to face the future.
Consequently, we often face contradictory claims of family-friendly policies that simultaneously promote discrimination against motherhood, exalt abortion as a right, and undermine the desire to start a family.
Fortunately, there are wonderful exceptions among us today!
Therefore, all of these issues urgently need to be studied and addressed in a coordinated way by a wide range of academic, political, and societal agencies.
The demographic challenge is a pivotal moment for the anthropological, social, and economic future of Europe.
Your involvement, with its cross-party membership, can play a vital role and provide an ideal forum for generating innovative ideas, which Europe and the world desperately need.
This dialogue should include the various European institutions and governments, as well as a full cross-section of civil society, including Christians.
At the heart of these pressing challenges and the key to finding solutions lies the fundamental dignity of all people and the role of the family in society.
As St. John Paul II reminded us in Familiaris Consortio, 43, the family is “the first and irreplaceable school of social life” and is founded on marriage between a man and a woman.
This union of the personal and public dimensions is a reality that must be recognized.
In light of this, your discussions should also foster the shared responsibility and active role of families in social, political, and cultural life.
Only by respecting and promoting the central place of the family and applying the principle of subsidiarity can we avoid the extremes of excessive state intervention and individualism.
Ultimately, this approach is not about reverting to social models of the past.
Rather, it is about providing the men and women of our time with unchanging principles to guide them in answering the fundamental questions of every age:
What is the meaning and value of human life?
What constitutes an authentic human society?
What kind of world do we want to leave to future generations?
National and EU policies must be developed in partnership with civil society.
The Intergroup’s collaboration with the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE) and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) exemplifies how entities with distinct areas of expertise cancollaborate to achieve meaningful change and improve quality of life for all.
Christians are bringing this impetus to the European project so that policies consider human beings in their entirety and always promote their dignity.
In this way, we can open a genuinely human path for resolving the demographic crisis that is oriented toward the common good and the well-being of future generations.
Indeed, only a new springtime for families can thaw the winter chill of our aging populations!
With these reflections in mind, I pray that you will continue your vital efforts to promote families and the dignity of all people.
Offering my heartfelt good wishes to each of you and your loved ones, I invoke an abundance of blessings from the Almighty God upon you.
Thank you.