{"id":52947,"date":"2025-07-21T00:39:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T00:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/?p=52947"},"modified":"2025-07-21T00:39:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T00:39:19","slug":"pope-leo-xiv-urges-law-enforcement-to-target-drug-traffickers-not-addicts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ja\/learn\/pope-leo-xiv-urges-law-enforcement-to-target-drug-traffickers-not-addicts\/","title":{"rendered":"\u30ec\u30aa14\u4e16\u6559\u7687\u3001\u6cd5\u57f7\u884c\u6a5f\u95a2\u306b\u5bfe\u3057\u3001\u4e2d\u6bd2\u8005\u3067\u306f\u306a\u304f\u9ebb\u85ac\u5bc6\u58f2\u4eba\u3092\u6a19\u7684\u306b\u3059\u308b\u3088\u3046\u4fc3\u3059"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n Pope Leo XIV speaks to an anti-drug advocate at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Thursday, June 26, 2025 \/ Credit: Vatican Media<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

Vatican City, Jun 26, 2025 \/ 09:23 am (CNA).<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on governments and law enforcement agencies to focus their efforts on dismantling criminal organizations that profit from drug trafficking rather than punishing addicts. <\/p>\n

Speaking to anti-drug campaigners in a courtyard of the Apostolic Palace on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, the pope issued a sharp rebuke of drug policy that targets the poor while powerful traffickers go unpunished.<\/p>\n

\"Anti-drug
Anti-drug advocates listen to Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Thursday, June 26, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThere are enormous concentrations of interest and ramified criminal organizations that states have the duty to dismantle,\u201d Pope Leo XIV said. \u201cIt is easier to fight their victims. Too often, in the name of security, war has been waged and is waged against the poor, filling the prisons with those who are only the last link in a chain of death. Those who hold the chain in their hands, on the other hand, manage to have influence and impunity.\u201d <\/p>\n

The pope\u2019s remarks came as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime released its 2025 World Drug Report<\/a>, which revealed sharp increases in cocaine production worldwide as well as the deadly toll of synthetic opioids like fentanyl.<\/p>\n

According to the report, fentanyl was responsible for an estimated 48,422 deaths in the United States in 2024. Although overdose deaths in the U.S. have started to decline<\/a>, fentanyl continues to dominate the North American opioid crisis. Global fentanyl seizures reached 19.5 tons in 2023 with 99% occurring in North America.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, brothers and sisters, we are engaged in a struggle that cannot be abandoned as long as, around us, someone is still imprisoned in the various forms of addiction,\u201d Pope Leo XIV said. <\/p>\n

\"Pope
Pope Leo XIV speaks with an anti-drug advocate at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Thursday, June 26, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOur fight is against those who make drugs and any other addiction \u2014 think of alcohol or gambling \u2014 their immense business.\u201d <\/p>\n

The U.N. report also flagged record levels of methamphetamine seizures and highlighted how the synthetic drug market, dominated by amphetamine-type stimulants, is expanding globally. Cocaine, meanwhile, has become the world\u2019s fastest-growing illicit drug market, with production rising by nearly 34% in 2023, primarily due to increased coca bush cultivation in Colombia. <\/p>\n

Violence tied to cocaine trafficking has also surged, particularly in the Americas. In Ecuador, the homicide rate soared from 7.8 per 100,000 people in 2020 to 45.7 in 2023. The report noted that similar patterns of violence, once confined to Latin America, are now spreading to Western Europe and other regions as criminal groups fight for control of lucrative new markets. <\/p>\n

\"Pope
Pope Leo XIV is shown anti-drug material by an anti-drug advocate at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Thursday, June 26, 2025. Credit: Vatican Media<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cDrugs and addictions are an invisible prison that you, in different ways, have known and fought, but we are all called to freedom,\u201d the pope said. \u201cMeeting you, I think of the abyss of my heart and of every human heart. It is a psalm, that is, the Bible, that calls the mystery that dwells within us an \u2018abyss\u2019 (see Psalm 63:7).\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Augustine confessed that only in Christ did the restlessness of his heart find peace,\u201d he added. \u201cWe seek peace and joy, we thirst for them. And many deceptions can disappoint us and even imprison us in this search.\u201d <\/p>\n

The theme of this year\u2019s international day \u2014 \u201cBreak the cycle. #StopOrganizedCrime\u201d \u2014 calls for long-term solutions to break the cycle of organized drug crime, including investment in education, prevention, and social services. Pope Leo XIV echoed those goals, emphasizing the need to uplift the dignity of each person and build communities of hope. <\/p>\n

\u201cDear young people, you are not spectators of the renewal that our Earth needs so much \u2026 The Church needs you. Humanity needs you,\u201d Leo said. \u201cTogether, over every degrading dependence, we will make the infinite dignity imprinted in each one of us prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this dignity sometimes shines only when it is almost completely lost. Then a jolt comes and it becomes clear that getting up is a matter of life or death,\u201d he added. \u201cWell, today all of society needs that jolt, it needs your testimony and the great work you are doing. We all have, in fact, the vocation to be freer and to be human, the vocation to peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLet us move forward together, then, multiplying the places of healing, of encounter, and of education: pastoral paths and social policies that begin on the street and never give anyone up for lost.\u201d<\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/265013\/pope-leo-xiv-urges-law-enforcement-to-target-drug-traffickers-not-addicts<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo XIV speaks to an anti-drug advocate at the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City, Thursday, June 26, 2025 \/ Credit: Vatican Media Vatican City, Jun 26, 2025 \/ 09:23 am (CNA). Pope Leo XIV on Thursday called on governments and law enforcement agencies to focus their efforts on dismantling criminal organizations that profit from drug trafficking rather than punishing addicts.\u00a0 Speaking to anti-drug campaigners in a courtyard of the Apostolic Palace on the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking on June 26, the pope issued a sharp rebuke of drug policy that targets the poor while powerful traffickers go unpunished. Anti-drug advocates listen to Pope Leo XIV [\u2026]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":57707,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[100],"tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-52947","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-christian-news"],"mb":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/christianpure.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Pope-Leo-XIV-urges-law-enforcement-to-target-drug-traffickers-not-addicts.webp?fit=800%2C533&quality=75&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":77149,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ja\/learn\/pope-leo-xiv-peace-begins-with-dignity-not-weapons\/","url_meta":{"origin":52947,"position":0},"title":"Pope Leo XIV: Peace begins with dignity, not weapons","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"4\u6708 9, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"As the Church marks the 12th World Day of Prayer and Awareness against Human Trafficking, Pope Leo XIV renewed what he called the Church\u2019s \u201curgent call\u201d to end a crime that \u201cgravely wounds human dignity\u201d and undermines authentic peace.The annual day of prayer is observed on Feb. 8, the feast\u2026","rel":"","context":"Christian News","block_context":{"text":"Christian News","link":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ja\/learn\/category\/christian-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":68363,"url":"https:\/\/christianpure.com\/ja\/learn\/pope-leo-xiv-urges-dialogue-on-venezuela-tensions\/","url_meta":{"origin":52947,"position":1},"title":"Pope Leo XIV urges dialogue on Venezuela tensions","author":"Christian Pure Team","date":"11\u6708 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Pope Leo answers questions from journalists as he leaves Castel Gandolfo to return to the Vatican on Nov. 4, 2025. \/ Credit: EWTN News Rome Newsroom, Nov 4, 2025 \/ 17:17 pm (CNA). 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