“The right to religious freedom is not optional but essential,” Leo XIV told a delegation from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that he received at the Vatican on October 10, 2025. Later this month in Rome, the organization will publish its biannual report on religious freedom around the globe.
Speaking to a charity that does only global, non-governmental study on religious freedom across all countries and faith communities, Pope Leo said religious freedom is essential cornerstone.
“As one family in Christ, we do not abandon our persecuted brothers and sisters,” the Pope told the group, lamenting the persistence of “rising hostility and violence” in the world towards “those who hold different convictions, including many Christians.”
Founded in 1947, ACN is an international foundation of pontifical right dedicated to supporting persecuted Christian communities.
Published every two years since 1999, ACN’s report remains the only global, non-governmental study that examines religious freedom across all countries and faith communities.
During the audience, ACN presented the Holy Father with the first advance copy of its forthcoming report, covering 196 countries and extending to more than 1,000 pages.
The pontiff praised the way in which the organization gives “a voice to the Church wherever she is in need, wherever she is threatened, wherever she suffers.”
Religious freedom: “The cornerstone of any just society”
“You strengthen the life of the Church, as well as the spiritual and moral fabric of society,” said Leo XIV, citing the many projects funded by ACN.
He noted how their support for Catholic minority communities in countries such as Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, and Mozambique, enables Christians in these nations to be “a living sign of social harmony and fraternity, showing their neighbors that a different world is possible.”
The Pope paid tribute to the Religious Freedom Report that ACN publishes, “a powerful tool for raising awareness.”
This report “gives a voice to the voiceless, and reveals the hidden suffering of many.”
“Our world continues to witness rising hostility and violence against those who hold different convictions, including many Christians,” he said with alarm.
Citing the Second Vatican Council's declaration Dignitatis humanae (1965), the Pope recalled that religious freedom is a right that “must be recognized in the legal and institutional life of every nation.”
“For this reason, the right to religious freedom is not optional but essential,” he insisted, describing it as “the cornerstone of any just society.”
Religious freedom, Leo XIV emphasized, “safeguards the moral space in which conscience may be formed and exercised.”
Denying it not only deprives human beings “of the capacity to respond freely to the call of truth,” but also leads to a “slow disintegration of the ethical and spiritual bonds that sustain communities.”
