June 22, 2026
On the occasion of the centennial of the birth of Professor Jérôme Lejeune (1926–1994), a delegation from the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation was received in audience today by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. The Holy Father honored the memory of Professor Lejeune and encouraged the Foundation to “continue its commitment to the defense of life and human dignity”.
The Pope paid a profound tribute to the memory of Jérôme Lejeune, who was declared Venerable by Pope Francis in 2021. He presented him as a researcher who, “moved by the suffering of children with disabilities, devoted his life to them”; a “man of science and wisdom”, whose words were “prophetic”, and who defended “the life and dignity of the most vulnerable”, even “at the cost of his career”, as well as a Christian sustained by an “tireless dedication to the Church”.
Leo XIV also expressed his hope that the example of Jérôme Lejeune might help “the many young people and professionals who seek coherence” to “bring together reason and faith, words and actions, without rigidity, the absence of judgment toward people and the rejection of falsehood”.
The Holy Father also offered a warm word of encouragement to the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation, expressing “his satisfaction with the work that, as laypeople, you continue to carry out in the charity of truth, following in the footsteps of Venerable Jérôme Lejeune”. In highlighting the work carried out by the Foundation over the past 30 years, he emphasized “the place you hold worldwide in research”, the consultation center of the “Jérôme Lejeune Institute”, the Foundation’s “commitment to the defense of life and human dignity before public authorities”, and the work of the “International Chair of Bioethics”.
The Pope also highlighted the international dimension of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation. The delegation received in audience included representatives of affiliated foundations in Spain, Argentina, and the United States, as well as patients from Portugal and Italy.
In continuity with the message of his encyclical Magnifica humanitas, Leo XIV warned against the misuse of technology, which “can be used against medicine—which by its very nature is at the service of life—as happens when technology escapes all indispensable ethical control and calculations of efficiency, profitability, or utility prevail”.
For this reason, he stated clearly: “No physician should ever allow himself, based on laboratory algorithms, to decide on the life of a particular embryo or of a particular elderly person. Never should medicine become a servant of programmed death!”.
These words resonate with particular significance in the current European political and bioethical context, in which questions concerning the beginning and end of life have once again moved to the forefront of public debate.
Finally, the Holy Father entrusted the Foundation to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, asking her especially “to pour out her tenderness upon all vulnerable people”. During the meeting, he showed particular affection by embracing the eight young people with Down syndrome who were part of the delegation.
“Receiving the Holy Father’s encouragement today is a profound joy. One hundred years after the birth of Jérôme Lejeune, this audience honors a life entirely devoted to science, patients, and the defense of human dignity, as well as the work carried out by the Foundation for the past 31 years. In a world where defending human life is becoming increasingly difficult, his encouragement gives us particular strength to continue our mission with confidence and determination”.
Jean-Marie Le Méné
President of the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation
Media Coverage of the Audience
- Vatican News | León XIV rinde homenaje a Jérôme Lejeune, defensor de la dignidad humana.
- ABC | León XIV: «El médico no debe decidir sobre la vida de un embrión basándose en algoritmos».
- El Debate | «Nunca un médico debería permitirse decidir sobre la vida de un embrión o una persona mayor»: el Papa advierte contra el algoritmo en la medicina.
- La Razón | El Papa León XIV: “Nunca un médico debería permitirse decidir sobre la vida de un embrión o una persona mayor”.
- El Confidencial Digital | El Papa recuerda al venerable Jérôme Lejeune: “¡Jamás la medicina podrá convertirse en servidora de la muerte programada!”.
- Discamedia | León XIV clama que “ningún médico” debería “jamás” decidir “el destino de un embrión o de una persona mayor”.
- Gadium Press | León XIV exalta a Jérôme Lejeune como modelo de defensa de la vida frente al eugenismo.
- Aleteia | La alegre visita de la Fundación Jérôme Lejeune al Vaticano.
- Aciprensa | Papa León XIV advierte: Ningún médico debería permitirse jamás “decidir sobre la vida de un embrión”.
- Infocatólica | “León XIV reivindica a Jérôme Lejeune como modelo de defensa de la vida frente al eugenismo”.
- Vida Nueva | León XIV | “Jamás la medicina podrá hacerse sierva de la muerte programada“.
- Hispanidad | León XIV recuerda las palabras del genetista francés Jérôme Lejeune, descubridor del origen genético del síndrome de Down, denunciando el “racismo cromosómico”.
- Ecclesia | León XIV alerta del peligro de usar algoritmos para decidir sobre la vida humana.
- Religión en Libertad | El grito de León XIV: «¡Jamás la medicina podrá convertirse en servidora de la muerte programada!».
- COPE | León XIV defiende una medicina que proteja la vida y la dignidad humana: “¡Nunca la medicina podrá convertirse en servidora de una muerte programada!”.
- Alfa y Omega | Tajante defensa del Papa al derecho a la vida: «¡Jamás la medicina podrá convertirse en servidora de la muerte!».
