Speaking to a meeting on drug addiction in Latin America, the Pope emphasized the role of the family and of cooperation among all those combatting this problem.
On August 27, 2026, Pope Leo XIV addressed the participants in a meeting on “addiction-related situations in Latin America.” “The family [...] is the place where life is nurtured, cared for, and planned,” he pointed out. And while he highlighted the importance of neuroscience and psychiatry in the growing and complex problem of addictions, he also pointed out that “there is no better defense against drugs than a good family.”
However, there are many broken families, and drug addiction is a real problem throughout the world. In the presence of representatives from “faith-based centers for support, preventive intervention, recovery and integration of young people” from “Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas,” the Pope noted that “suffering and hope know no borders.”
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in 2023 there were 64 million people suffering from drug use disorders, an increase of 13% over a decade. An estimated 316 million people worldwide use drugs.
The theme of the meeting was to “reflect, from a faith-based perspective, on the problem of drugs and its impact on our young people.” The Holy Father recognized that “addiction is a complex phenomenon,” and its prominence today “highlights the failure of a dehumanized world.”
This problem calls for “comprehensive responses,” Leo XIV noted, including “community-based prevention, scientific care, justice with a human face, and close pastoral support.” However, not all of this falls directly to the Church as such. “Our contribution must be directed towards care, presence, and the rebuilding of the fabric of the community,” he explained.
Four bridges
“No one can tackle the problem of drugs alone,” the Pope pointed out. Collaboration is key. In his address, he highlighted four “bridges” representing different pathways for collaboration in this fight.
The first bridge he described is between “the Church and international organizations.” The event itself was an example of this; the organizations involved included the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), the Organization of American States (OAS), the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, and the Pontifical Academy for Life.
The second collaborative bridge is “between science and faith.” The Church recognizes that its role in this fight against addiction is not “competing with or taking the place of neuroscience, psychiatry or public health.” Instead, it contributes an “integral understanding of the human person” in the light of the Gospel.
Since the problem is global, the third bridge is “within the Church” around the world, involving international collaboration among the Church’s own institutions and structures.
Lastly, the Holy Father spoke of ecumenism -- or cooperation among religions -- as the fourth bridge. When Christians “accompany and assist young people in their needs and dreams,” they are “practicing concrete love for those who suffer,” using “a very eloquent common language” which is “rooted in faith.”
The Church as a family
Each of these bridges is important, but the institution of the family “cuts across all our work,” the Pope said. It’s “the place where life is nurtured, cared for, and planned. There is no better defense against drugs than a good family.”
Unfortunately, there are many broken families where this defense fails, and in some cases where drug use itself has been a cause of the brokenness. In these cases, a variety of problems can “push people to the margins of society.” But the Church itself is called to be a family, “especially embracing those who suffer,” Leo XIV explains.
He ended his address by expressing his desire that “the Church,” like the Good Samaritan, “may be a family for all those who have been left by the wayside.” We must “build a Church” that doesn’t “pass by,” but instead “stops, draws close, is moved with compassion, binds wounds, nourishes, and becomes a home.”
