The recent laws considered--and passed--in several states that would reduce barriers on late-term abortions were, Gomez said, an "extreme example" of society's "moral confusion about the status of a human person."
This moral confusion, the archbishop suggested, could be behind the prevalence of identity politics and racism in American society, and the "widespread confusion about gender and human sexuality."
"I would even argue that this crisis underlies the opioid epidemic and the alarming rates of mental illness, loneliness, and suicide in our country," he said.
Perhaps, Gomez posited, the world has still yet to heal from the "spiritual wounds" that were inflicted during World War II and the subsequent decades that saw atheistic dictators attempt to strip religious faith from their societies and dehumanize whole peoples.
Today, Gomez said there is still a "project of the global leadership class" that seeks to create a world without the influence of God and "transform the human person according to political and economic dictates."
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
"This is why U.S. bishops have made defending religious liberty a key priority," Gomez said, as he cited recent lawsuits against religious companies and individuals, and the rise of religious-test questions being put to candidates for office.
"If we are not free to order our lives and institutions according to God's Word, then we are not free to live a truly human life."
Gomez warned of a "hidden despair" that lurks beneath what he called the "shiny surfaces of consumer culture." Despite appearing to be happy, "people know something is missing," he said.