Leo XIV appeals for press freedom, praises anti-abuse advocacy

Pope Leo XIV marked World Press Freedom Day on Sunday, reminding people of the importance of the right to freedom of the press and noting how the right is threatened in different ways.

The pontiff also praised the Meter Association, an Italian research and advocacy organization dedicated to protecting minors from the scourge of sexual abuse and exploitation, especially online exploitation.

“I greet the Meter Association,” Leo said, “which for thirty years has been committed to defending minors from the scourge of abuse, while engaging both ecclesial and civil communities and promoting education aimed at supporting victims and fostering prevention.”

“Thank you for your service!” Leo said.

“[May 3] marks World Press Freedom Day,” the pontiff said on Sunday after praying the Regina Caeli with pilgrims and tourists gathered beneath the window of the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican.

“Unfortunately,” Leo said, “this right is often violated — sometimes blatantly, sometimes in more subtle ways.”

The pope called on all to “remember the many journalists and reporters who have fallen victim to wars and violence.”

Sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), World Press Freedom Day exists to remind governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom.

World Press Freedom Day also supports media facing restraint or suppression of their right to serve the public interest and is a day of remembrance for journalists who have died in pursuit of a story.

It is also a day of reflection among media professionals about issues of press freedom and professional ethics.

The recently published UNESCO global report on Freedom of Expression and Media Development 2022/2025 finds that “freedom of expression is under assault as seldom before.”

The report cites AI-driven misinformation and disinformation, along with weakened governance and hostility towards journalists, among other factors contributing to a significant global decrease in freedom of expression generally over the decade and more.

The report also notes “some positive developments such as the expansion of social media access, growth in collaborative investigative journalism, subscription models, and legal recognition of community media.”

Nevertheless, the report says progress in areas including gender equality “has stalled, and women continuously face discrimination and violence.”

“These trends undermine human rights, media freedom and plurality, and well-informed citizenship,” the report says.

UNESCO’s World Trends Report stresses the urgent need to strengthen international norms and information integrity, and foster “trusted information to protect democracy, promote accountability, and ensure access to information as a public good, particularly for vulnerable populations and youth.”

“Since wars begin in the minds of men and women,” the preamble to the 1945 UNESCO constitution famously states, “it is in the minds of men and women that the defenses of peace must be constructed.”

The new UNESCO report uses the statement as a tag-line to its summary page and features the statement in the report’s front matter.

“[A] peace based exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace which could secure the unanimous, lasting and sincere support of the peoples of the world,” the UNESCO constitution continues.

“[P]eace,” the founding document states, “must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.”

That language is similar to Pope Leo XIV’s frequent – and thoroughly Augustinian – statements and calls for peace, beginning with his firs words to the faithful and the world as pontiff.

“Peace,” Leo told diplomats gathered to hear him on May 17 of last year, “is built in the heart and from the heart, by eliminating pride and vindictiveness and carefully choosing our words.”

In a June 2025 message to the AI For Good summit, the pontiff explicitly invoked “the tranquility of order” that is the famous description of peace first articulated by his spiritual father, St. Augustine of Hippo.

The founding UNESCO member states created the organization as an expression of common commitment to “full and equal opportunities for education for all, in the unrestricted pursuit of objective truth, and in the free exchange of ideas and knowledge[.]”

“Dear friends,” Leo said on Sunday, commenting on the Gospel reading of the day, “in the old world in which we are still journeying, what attracts attention are exclusive places, experiences accessible only to a few and the privilege of entering where others cannot.”

“In the new world into which the risen One leads us,” Leo said, “what is most valuable is within everyone’s reach.”

“Yet,” he said, “this does not make it any less attractive. On the contrary, what is open to all now brings joy.”

“Gratitude takes the place of competition; welcome overcomes exclusion; and abundance no longer entails inequality,” Leo said.

“Above all,” the pontiff said, “no one is mistaken for someone else, and no one is lost.”

“Death threatens to erase one’s name and memory, but in God everyone is fully themselves,” he said.

“Truly,” Leo said, “this is what we spend our whole lives searching for, sometimes willing to do anything just to get a little attention and recognition.”

Leo went on to note how the faith to which Christ calls everyone and makes available to all without distinction brings into sharp focus how “each person already has infinite worth in the mystery of God, which is the true reality.”

“By loving one another as Jesus has loved us,” Leo said, “we impart this awareness to one another.”

“This is the new commandment,” he said.

“In this way, we anticipate heaven on earth and reveal to all that fraternity and peace are our calling,” Leo said.

“Indeed,” the pontiff said, “through love, amidst a multitude of brothers and sisters, each one discovers that they are uniquely made.”