Pope Leo's Embrace of the Disabled as a Rebuke to Secular Europe's 'Culture of Death'
Source: John Daniel Davidson. "In France, Pope Leo Rebukes Secular Europe." September 30, 2026. thefederalist.com
The Gist
The author argues that Pope Leo's kindness toward disabled people during his France trip exposes how secular European society has come to see disabled and severely ill people as less than fully human—citing a Dutch law that allowed doctors to euthanize a disabled toddler. He claims that only Christian faith, which teaches everyone is made in God's image, can stop society from sliding into what he calls 'pagan barbarism,' and that there's no middle ground between full Christian belief and this dangerous devaluation of vulnerable lives.
Conclusion
Only the Christian doctrine of inherent human dignity (imago Dei) can prevent society from treating disabled people as expendable; secular, de-Christianized Europe is reverting to a 'pagan barbarism' that kills the disabled, and there is no third alternative between Christian faith and this barbarism.
Premises
- Pope Leo publicly honored disabled people during his France visit—blessing a severely disabled girl, choosing boys with Down Syndrome as altar servers, and condemning euthanasia and abortion of the disabled.
- Secular European institutions increasingly eliminate disabled people: France recently passed an 'aid in dying' (assisted suicide) law, and prenatal genetic testing/abortion is systematically reducing the population of people with Down Syndrome.
- The Netherlands' 2024 rule change permitting euthanasia of children under 12 led to the killing of a non-terminally-ill two-year-old disabled boy, judged by an official government committee based on his 'motor skills, behavior, and personality.'
- This official Dutch justification reveals a worldview in which human dignity/humanity is contingent on measurable capacities rather than inherent and immutable.
- A Catholic family (the Noëls) adopted multiple severely disabled children specifically because their faith holds that every person, regardless of ability, is made in God's image and possesses inherent worth.
- A French commentator observed that outside devout Catholics, 'no one adopts disabled children,' suggesting secular society has no comparable motivation to value and care for the disabled.
- Christianity introduced and has historically been the sole barrier against practices (like child sacrifice) that treat some human lives as less worthy of protection.
Assumptions
- Inherent, unconditional human dignity can only be philosophically or practically sustained through Christian theological doctrine (imago Dei).
- Secular ethical frameworks necessarily collapse into utilitarian calculations about whose life is 'worth living.'
- The Dutch euthanasia case and France's assisted-dying law are representative of a broader, inevitable trajectory of all de-Christianized/secular societies, not isolated or exceptional policy choices.
- There are only two possible societal outcomes regarding treatment of the vulnerable: a Christian-grounded society that protects the disabled, or a 'pagan' society that kills them—no secular humanist, non-Christian religious, or other moral framework can adequately ground human dignity.
- Legal permission for euthanasia/assisted suicide is morally equivalent to historical child sacrifice.
- Individual anecdotes (one Dutch case, one adoptive family) are sufficient evidence of a civilization-wide moral trend.