Pope Leo: Health Care Is a Universal Right, Not a Privilege

After his top Middle East envoy denounced the plan as a “colonialist operation,” the Vatican formally declined to participate in Trump’s pay-to-play Gaza “Peace Board.”

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On Monday, Pope Leo XIV decried the “enormous inequalities” in global health and insisted that “healthcare is not a consumer good but a universal right.”

His message comes amid President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans quietly allowing Obamacare subsidies to lapse — a move that threatens coverage for millions of Americans and flies in the face of Catholic teaching that health care is a human right.

Speaking to the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life — meeting under the theme “Health Care for All: Sustainability and Equity” — Pope Leo praised the gathering’s focus and delivered a blistering message.

He highlighted the hypocrisy of leaders who proclaim life and health as universal values while pursuing policies that fuel inequality.

In a world “scarred by conflicts” and overflowing with military spending, Leo XIV stressed the urgent need to redirect “time, people and expertise to safeguarding life and health.”

He condemned wars that destroy hospitals as “the most grave attacks that human hands can make against life and public health.” For good measure, he reiterated that access to health care “cannot be a privilege” for the few.

The first American pope urged a renewed commitment to the common good over special interests, calling for society to focus “not on immediate profit, but on what will be best for everyone.” His words cut through the noise: caring for the sick is not optional, but a moral obligation rooted in our shared human dignity.

A Sharp Contrast at Home

That moral clarity stands in stark contrast to the situation in the United States. The Trump administration’s decision to let Affordable Care Act subsidies expire effectively rations health care by income — exactly what Catholic ethics rejects.

Major Catholic organizations across the country voiced fierce opposition.

In a public statement, Bishop Borys Gudziak, the chair of U.S. bishops’ domestic justice committee, warned political leaders not to use people’s health coverage as a bargaining chip,” saying that to do so would “strike at the heart of human dignity and the fundamental right to health care.”

Likewise, Mercy Sr. Mary Haddad, president of the Catholic Health Association, emphasized that “health care is a basic human right — not something reserved for those who can afford it.”

For years, the American bishops and Catholic charities have pushed to expand access to affordable care, viewing it as part of a consistent pro-life ethic. Letting protections for the poor lapse now runs contrary to that decades-long advocacy.

Faith and the Fight for Health Care

Catholic social teaching has long upheld that society must prioritize care for the vulnerable and ensure basic needs are met. Pope Francis himself — Pope Leo’s predecessor — lamented in 2024 that it is “intolerable” how often the poor and war-torn are denied the “right to care, and thus the right to life.”

This issue isn’t about partisan politics; it’s about fundamental morality and human rights.

Both practicing Catholics and secular progressives can recognize the core truth Pope Leo XIV is proclaiming: A society that abandons its sick betrays its soul.

We are witnessing a moral showdown between an administration willing to let families lose health coverage and a Church that insists every human being deserves care.

The takeaway is clear: Health care must be treated as a right for all, not a privilege for the few. In Pope Leo’s urgent words, we hear an echo of the Gospel call to protect the least among us.

As Letters from Leo has consistently argued, to truly build a culture of life we must ensure that every person — especially the poor, the sick, and the forgotten — can access the care they need. Anything less falls short of both Catholic teaching and basic human decency.

The moral choice before America could not be clearer or more urgent. In this moment, Pope Leo XIV reminds us that health care is a human right, not a privilege, and that ignoring this duty harms the most vulnerable among us.

We are not mere spectators. We are part of the fight for justice, mercy, and the protection of human dignity.

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