Small Is Beautiful

Andorra, nestled in the Pyrenees Mountains between France and Spain, is home to 80,000 citizens, most of whom are Catholic. It is the world’s only co-principality, presided over by the Bishop of Urgell and the President of France. From December to mid-April, it is a popular ski resort; by summer, its attractions shift to hiking and mountain biking, bringing in roughly 10 million tourists per year.

It is the sixth smallest state in Europe, with an area of 468 square kilometers. It has a high gross domestic product per capita, a very high standard of living, low income and business taxes, one of the lowest crime rates, and low poverty. Andorrans enjoy a high life expectancy and quality medical care. One can say, with E.F. Schumacher, that the title of his popular book Small Is Beautiful well applies to Andorra. It is the closest thing on earth to the mythical Brigadoon.

According to Europe Correspondent for The Interim Mary Zwicker, Andorra is the only European country (besides the Vatican) where abortion remains entirely illegal, even in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the life of the mother. Its pro-life values were inscribed in the principality’s 1993 Constitution. Article 8 reads as follows: “The Constitution recognizes the right to life and fully protects it in its different phases.” The Constitution also states that “all persons have the right to physical and moral integrity.” Andorra’s penal code declares that “whoever causes the abortion of a woman with her consent must be punished with a prison sentence of three months to three years and disqualification from practising any health profession for a period of up to five years.”

In recent years, however, the United Nations and the European Union have been pressuring Andorra to decriminalize abortion. One might reasonably regard their pressure as bullying Andorra to confirm to the zeitgeist. Andorra has drafted, but not passed, a bill that would decriminalize abortion. In the meantime, the Andorran government has been involved in “discreet” discussions with the Vatican.

Andorra’s Prime Minister, Xavier Espot Zamora, has suggested an amendment to the law that would preserve the country’s ban on abortion but allow women, at the country’s expense, to procure an abortion in France or Spain. He regards this as a compromise that preserves the country’s pro-life tradition while resisting secularization. The amendment, however, warrants scrutiny.

Politics loves compromise, morality does not. Politics is willing to make concessions; morality demands integrity. To pay for out of state abortions is to approve abortion, although on a limited scale. The issue is not geographical, however; it is moral.

Moral rectitude may sometimes seem severe, but, on a higher level, it is unwaveringly just. Justice may be tempered by mercy, but that is because mercy is another virtue. Abortion knows no such compromise. A child is aborted or it is not. There is no middle ground. Where the child is aborted does not change its status.

It would not appear that the “discreet” discussions with the Vatican will lead to the pope giving his blessing to the prime minister’s proposal. In his address to the Spanish parliament on June 8, 2026, Pope Leo XIV told his audience that “The defense of human life is neither a partisan issue nor a confessional interest: it is a goal of civilization.” The pontiff is making a most important point that is often missed: a person does not oppose abortion primarily because he is Catholic but primarily because he is a human being and understands that abortion is a violation of the most basic of human norms, which is “thou shall not kill.”

A Catholic, being human as all human beings are human, adopts this norm. A Catholic in no way separates himself from his humanity. Catholicism is not built on thin air. It is firmly grounded in human rights.

The Catholic tradition in Andorra is also humanitarian. It has one of the lowest crime rates in the world; and violent crimes, each year, are close to zero. The Andorran government should not want to risk losing its status as a high civilization. 

As Pope Leo continued,

Every human life must be recognized and safeguarded from conception to its natural end, in every circumstance of its existence. When this certainty is obscured, the most vulnerable, and the law loses its deepest meaning: to serve and protect every person. For this reason, the moral greatness of a nation is manifested, above all, in its capacity to accompany, protect and love those lives that are most fragile. 

The pontiff’s thoughts can also extend to euthanasia. In several countries, the legalization of abortion has led to the legalization of euthanasia. The pope warns how the law can lose “its deepest meaning.”

“Greatness,” if we are to apply the Holy Father’s words, has little attraction for those who set policy for the United Nations and the European Union. They seem content to remain at the level of mediocrity. Their respect for being “united” is merely word play and not action. They do not believe that all human beings, from the moment of conception, are united in the human family. They are politicians, but that is a poor excuse for not being thoroughly humanitarian. 

The pope cannot decide for Andorra on this contentious matter. His influence, however, may be strong and convincing. One hopes and prays that this beautiful country will remain beautiful in every way—and, at the same time, retain its “greatness.”