Sometimes it is more beneficial to reflect on the meaning of a season near its end than at its beginning. Often it seems that well before the season concludes, many people have moved on and have largely forgotten the season’s meaning.
So as July is quickly closing out, I hope this column on Pope Leo’s July prayer, titled “For Respect for Human Life,” will help inspire you and me to deeply pray, learn, teach, serve, and advocate “For Respect for Human Life” all year, and every year!
The Holy Father begins his prayer with “Lord of life, you created us in love and called us to live in fullness. Each person is a sacred gift that reflects your face, from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth”.
Imagine if each one of us, each country, each corporation, each religion – including each Catholic – truly and fully looked upon every single person, all persons “from the first instant of existence to the final breath of their journey on earth” as a sacred gift that reflects the face of God, what a beautiful world it would be!
Nurturing such a loving, beautiful vision towards every single human being would naturally inspire us to end abortion, poverty, starvation, hunger, homelessness, human trafficking, slave labour, unsafe underpaid employment, euthanasia, and the warehousing of the elderly in often unappealing nursing homes.
And such a beautiful vision would also compel us to ensure clean water and sanitation, quality education, full health care, and decent housing for every human being, as well as building welcoming bridges – instead of mean-spirited walls – for poor and persecuted migrants and refugees.
Like Pope Leo, seeing each person as a sacred gift that reflects the face of God would also inspire us to treasure and protect our common earth home from pollution and human-induced global warming for the wellbeing of all of us, as well as for the wellbeing of future generations.
And seeing in every person a reflection of the face of God would naturally compel us to finally outlaw war and war preparation, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy proclaiming that “They shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the sword against another, nor shall they train for war again.”
In his “For Respect for Human Life” July prayer, Pope Leo ends by inviting all of us to join him in praying:
Forgive us, Lord,
when we fall into indifference or the culture of discard,
when we fail to see in others a being worthy of love.
Give us a new heart, always ready to choose life,
and generous hands that protect it through concrete actions.
Make your Church a living witness of the Gospel of life,
an open home where every life is celebrated,
where no one feels unwanted,
and where dignity is always honoured and protected.
Lord Jesus,
may we love life as You love it:
with tenderness, fidelity, and self-giving.
May we proclaim, in words and actions,
that every human life is worth the total gift of ourselves. Amen.
Tony Magliano is an internationally syndicated Catholic social justice and peace columnist. He is available to speak at diocesan or parish gatherings. Tony can be reached at .
- Pope Leo’s July Prayer: ‘For Respect for Human Life’ - July 23, 2026
- Pope pays tribute to Dr Jerome Lejeune – tireless defender of the unborn - June 27, 2026
- Pope Leo’s Magnifica Humanitas Highlights Catholic Social Teaching - May 30, 2026
