By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Warning against increased cases of “cyber-slavery,” Pope Leo XIV said the violence of human trafficking can be overcome only by seeing every individual as a beloved child of God.

A “particularly disturbing” offshoot in the world of trafficking is “the rise of so-called ‘cyber slavery,’ whereby individuals are lured into fraudulent schemes and criminal activities, such as online fraud and drug smuggling,” he said in a written message released by the Vatican Feb. 6. “In such cases, the victim is coerced into assuming the role of perpetrator, exacerbating their spiritual wounds.”

The “logic of dominion and disregard for human life,” geopolitical instability, armed conflicts and the widening gap between the rich and the poor all help fuel the horrors of human trafficking, he wrote for the 12th International Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking.

“These forms of violence are not isolated incidents, but symptoms of a culture that has forgotten how to love as Christ loves,” he wrote.

The world day is observed every Feb. 8, the feast of St. Josephine Bakhita. The saint was kidnapped by slave traders in Sudan in the late 1870s and sold into slavery before she eventually secured her freedom and became a religious sister in Italy.

In the written message, titled “Peace begins with dignity: a global call to end human trafficking,” the pope firmly renewed the Church’s “urgent call to confront and bring an end to this grave crime against humanity.”

“Geopolitical instability and armed conflicts create fertile ground for traffickers to exploit the most vulnerable, especially displaced persons, migrants and refugees,” he wrote. “Within this broken paradigm, women and children are the most impacted by this heinous trade.”

The widening gap between the rich and the poor also leaves many people “susceptible to the deceptive promises of recruiters,” he wrote.

“In the face of these grave challenges, we turn to prayer and awareness,” he wrote.

The “small flame” of prayer provides the strength to resist indifference to injustice while awareness helps identify “the hidden mechanisms of exploitation in our neighborhoods and in digital spaces.”

“Ultimately, the violence of human trafficking can be overcome only through a renewed vision that beholds every individual as a beloved child of God,” he wrote, adding that “true peace begins with the recognition and protection of the God-given dignity of every person.”

Pope Leo thanked everyone who works with victims, including survivors who now advocate on behalf of others.

“May the Lord bless them for their courage, fidelity and tireless commitment,” he wrote.”Let us all join the journey toward a world where peace is not merely the absence of war, but is ‘unarmed and disarming,’ rooted in full respect for the dignity of all.”

The pope reiterated his call after praying the Angelus with those gathered in St. Peter’s Square Feb. 8.

Thanking religious men and women, and all those committed to combating and eliminating current forms of slavery, Pope Leo said, “together with them, I say: peace begins with dignity!”

©2026 Catholic News Service/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops

By Carol Glatz

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Leo XIV praised consecrated men and women for going to the world’s peripheries and refusing to abandon their people, even amid conflict.

“They remain, often stripped of all security, as a living reminder — more eloquent than words — of the inviolable sacredness of life in its most vulnerable conditions,” he said Feb. 2 in his homily for Candlemas — the feast of the Presentation of the Lord — which also marks the Catholic Church’s celebration of World Day for Consecrated Life.

“Even where weapons roar and arrogance, self-interest and violence seem to prevail,” he said, the presence of these consecrated men and women “proclaims the words of Jesus” in his parable of the lost sheep: “See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for … their angels in heaven always look upon the face of my heavenly Father.”

The pope’s Mass began with the pope blessing with holy water the candles used for the entrance procession. Dozens of consecrated men and women led the candlelit procession while the lights in St. Peter’s Basilica remained dimmed, and thousands of people who filled the basilica held lit candles as well.

After the darkened basilica was filled with light, Pope Leo, who joined the Order of St. Augustine as a young man and served as a missionary in Peru for decades, reflected on the mission of religious men and women in the Church and in the world.

“Dear brothers and sisters, the Church asks you to be prophets — messengers who announce the presence of the Lord and prepare the way for him,” he said in his homily. “You are called to this mission above all through the sacrificial offering of your lives, rooted in prayer and in a readiness to be consumed by charity,” he said.

Docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, the founders and foundresses of their religious orders and communities offer “wonderful models of how to fulfil this mandate faithfully and effectively,” he said.

“Living in constant tension between earth and heaven, they allowed themselves to be guided with faith and courage,” he said. Some founders “were led to the silence of the cloister, others to the demands of the apostolate,” but all of them returned “humbly and wisely, to the foot of the cross and to the tabernacle, where they offered everything and discovered in God both the source and the goal of all their actions.”

Pope Leo highlighted those founders who “embarked on perilous undertakings.”

“They became a prayerful presence in hostile or indifferent environments; a generous hand and a friendly shoulder amid degradation and abandonment; and witnesses of peace and reconciliation in situations marked by violence and hatred,” he said. “They were ready to bear the consequences of going against the current, becoming, in Christ, a ‘sign of contradiction,’ sometimes even to the point of martyrdom.”

One way to honor these brothers and sisters, he said, is “by carrying forward their legacy.”

“You are called to bear witness to God’s saving presence in history for all peoples, even within a society in which false and reductive understandings of the human person increasingly widen the gap between faith and life,” he said.

“You are called to testify that the young, the elderly, the poor, the sick and the imprisoned hold a sacred place above all else on God’s altar and in his heart,” he said, and to show how each of the least is “an inviolable sanctuary of God’s presence, before whom we must bend our knee, in order to encounter him, adore him and give him glory.”

Many religious communities have established “outposts of the Gospel … in a wide variety of challenging contexts, even in the midst of conflict,” he said. “These communities do not abandon their people, nor do they flee” as they seek to uphold the sacredness of human life in its most vulnerable conditions.

“Consecrated life, in its serene detachment from all that is passing, reveals the inseparable bond between authentic care for earthly realities and a hope filled with love for what is eternal” and gives meaning to everything else, he said.

Through their promise to follow Christ more closely by professing the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience, consecrated men and women “empty” themselves so that Christ, “the one eternal messenger of the covenant who remains present among humanity today, can melt and purify hearts with his love, grace and mercy,” Pope Leo said.

Through this self-emptying and life in the Spirit, he said, consecrated men and women “can show the world the way to overcome conflict, sowing fraternity through the freedom of those who love and forgive without measure.”

“Dear consecrated men and women, today the Church gives thanks to the Lord and to you for your presence,” he said, encouraging them “to be leaven of peace and signs of hope wherever Providence may lead you.”

©2026 Catholic News Service/United States Conference of Catholic Bishops