At the UN, the Holy See's observer: hatred "prepares the ground for violence"

On 17 September 2026, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the new permanent observer of the Holy See to the organization, Archbishop Christophe-Zakhia El-Kassis, delivered his first address since his appointment by Pope Leo XIV in July. Before a world conference devoted to interreligious dialogue and the fight against hate speech, held within the framework of the United Nations, he declared that such speech contradicts the commandment to love one's neighbor and "too often prepares the ground for violence and persecution."

He recalled that freedom of expression "is a fundamental right that must be protected," but that it "carries corresponding responsibilities": "Speech that deliberately incites hatred or violence cannot claim the protection of freedom." He reaffirmed that every human person, created in the image and likeness of God, possesses an inviolable dignity "that no ideology, no ideology of hatred, nor any expression of contempt can diminish." Reports differ on the pontifical text he is said to have cited in support of these words.

What the Church has always taught

The fifth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," does not forbid murder alone. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that it also proscribes anger, hatred, and injurious words, for "whosoever is angry with his brother, shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matthew V, 22). Saint James says it of the tongue: a small member, it is "a fire, a world of iniquity"; "by it we bless God, and by it we curse men, who are made after the likeness of God" (James III, 6-9). Contempt for man is therefore a sin: not because a conference decrees it, but because every man bears the image of his Creator (Genesis I, 26-27).

The measure

On this point, the address joins constant doctrine: hatred of one's neighbor is an evil, the dignity of man is not up for negotiation, and "true tolerance is neither indifference nor relativism." The Church has never said otherwise, and the refusal of indifferentism deserves to be commended, when so many contemporary discourses make tolerance a synonym for indifference to the truth.

One distinction remains, which tradition holds firmly. When the speaker founds "the freedom of conscience that belongs to each person" upon dignity, one must specify what the Church means and what she has reproved. Leo XIII teaches that there is a true liberty, that of following the law of God and fulfilling one's duty; but he condemned "freedom of conscience" in the liberal sense, which would claim a right to adhere to error or to worship no God. Error has no rights; only truth has them. Charity is owed to every person, even to the one who errs; it is never owed to that which deceives him. To tolerate an evil in order to avoid a worse one is a prudent permission, not a good nor a right founded on dignity.

For the faithful

The Christian holds both halves of the truth, without opposing them. He hates no one: neither the Jew, nor the Muslim, nor the heretic, nor the unbeliever, all created in the image of God and called to salvation through Christ. But he does not confuse this love of persons with approval of their errors. To love one's neighbor is to will his true good, which is truth and salvation. To condemn hatred without ever naming the truth that charity must serve would be to stop halfway. Tradition holds the whole way.

Sources. Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566), explanation of the fifth commandment. Gospel according to Saint Matthew V, 21-22; Epistle of Saint James III, 6-10; Genesis I, 26-27, according to the Vulgate. Gregory XVI, encyclical Mirari vos (1832); Leo XIII, encyclicals Immortale Dei (1885) and Libertas praestantissimum (1888), on freedom of conscience and tolerance.