In the framework of the International Day against Drugs, Pope Leo XIV delivered a powerful message this Wednesday from the Courtyard of San Damaso in the Vatican. Before dozens of participants, many of them marked by the experience of addiction, the Pontiff urged society to stop criminalizing victims and focus on dismantling the criminal networks that profit from despair.

“It is easier to persecute the victims than to fight those responsible,” the Pope denounced. “Too often, in the name of security, a war is waged against the poor, filling prisons with the weakest links in the drug trafficking chain.”

Freedom from the invisible prison

Leo XIV emphasized the value of the freedom many of those present had gained after years of slavery to drugs or alcohol. He asserted that addiction is an “invisible prison” from which one can only escape together, with healthy bonds and a community that does not marginalize but embraces.

Inspired by  Pope Francis’s Evangelii Gaudium  , he reiterated that cities must be cleansed not of marginalized people, but of marginalization itself. “Our cities must be freed not of the desperate, but of despair,” he affirmed.

A call to build hope

The papal message is framed within the Jubilee Year, “a year of grace,” he recalled, in which the dignity of every person is recognized, even when it is obscured by addiction. Leo XIV called for increasing spaces for encounter, education, and healing, “pastoral paths and social policies that emerge from the streets and leave no one for lost.”

“The Church needs you. Society needs your witness. Politics and education need you too. Only together can we ensure that the infinite dignity of every person prevails over any degrading dependency,” the Pope proclaimed.

Addictions: a cultural challenge

Also speaking at the event was Alfredo Mantovano, Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers of Italy, who warned about the profoundly human and cultural nature of the drug phenomenon. “Substances promise power, but they leave slavery and lies. Hope cannot be bought or replaced by addiction,” he stated, conveying the greetings of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Testimonies of rebirth

One of the most moving moments of the meeting was the testimony of Paola Clericuzio, a member of the San Patrignano therapeutic community. At 18, she fell into cocaine addiction, pushed by her surroundings. After a night of extreme hardship, she was welcomed into the community, where, she says, she began to recover her smile, her passion for studying, and, above all, her self-esteem.

“True love begins with loving yourself,” she said emotionally before the Pope.

With firm but hopeful words, Leo XIV concluded his address by emphasizing that no one is irremediably lost. “The most divine call is to advance together toward freedom and peace. Do not give up, for you are witnesses of hope.”