All events of the day›2026-08-27›Audience with participants in the meeting on situations of addiction in Latin America
11:30
Apostolic Palace, Hall of the Consistory
🤝 Audience
Audience with participants in the meeting on situations of addiction in Latin America
📍 Apostolic Palace, Hall of the Consistory
In the morning Pope Leo XIV receives in audience the participants in the meeting promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America — together with CELAM (the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council), the Organization of American States (OAS) and the Pontifical Academy for Life — on the theme "A faith-based response to drugs and to the criminal recruitment of young people: a dialogue from Latin America and the Caribbean toward the world," held in Rome from August 25 to 27. In his address, delivered in Spanish, the Pope calls addictions "a complex phenomenon that reveals the failure of a dehumanized world" and asks for integral responses: community prevention, scientific care, justice "with a human face," and close pastoral accompaniment. He points to four "bridges" of collaboration — between the Church and international bodies, between science and faith, among the Churches of the various continents, and in the ecumenical sphere — and dwells on the family, the "domestic church," stating that "there is no better prevention against drugs than a good family." He closes with the image of the Good Samaritan: to build "a Church that stops, draws near, is moved with compassion, anoints wounds, feeds and becomes a home."
🎥 Videos
Pope: Church must help broken families heal from drug abuse (Vatican News)
📰 Articles
Vatican.vaOfficial
Address to participants in the Pontifical Commission for Latin America meeting on situations of addiction (August 27, 2026)
The full text of the papal address (in Spanish) published on the Holy See website.
Holy See Press OfficeOfficial
Audience with Participants in the Meeting promoted by the Pontifical Commission for Latin America on situations of addiction in Latin America
Official Press Office communiqué on the audience of August 27, 2026.
Vatican NewsArticle
Desde el Vaticano, América Latina abre un diálogo sobre las drogas
The dialogue among CELAM, the OAS and the Holy See on the pastoral response to addiction in Latin America.
📜 Speech text
Address to the Pontifical Commission for Latin America meeting on addiction
En el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo. La paz esté con ustedes. ¡Buenos días a todos y bienvenidos! Saludo con afecto fraterno a cada uno de ustedes. Agradezco de modo particular al Consejo Episcopal Latinoamericano y Caribeño (CELAM) y a la Organización de los Estados Americanos (OEA) por haber propiciado este encuentro…