On Wednesday at Vatican City Pope Francis compared abortion to hiring a hitman to “take out a human life to solve a problem”.
Pope Francis said some people justify abortion as respecting others’ rights. But he asked: “Is it right to ‘take out’ a human life to solve a problem? What do you think? Is it right? Is it right or not?”
Francis asked again: “How can an act that suppresses innocent and defenceless life as it blossoms be therapeutic, civil or simply human?”
After the crowd responded “No,” the pope continued: “Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? It is not right to kill a human being, regardless of how small it is to solve a problem.”
The pope comment is in line with his last remarks on abortion, which he made in June. He denounced abortion at the time, and likened it to the “white glove” equivalent to Nazi-era eugenics practices.
Pope Francis has refreshed both abortion and euthanasia as part of what he calls today’s “throw-away culture” where the sick, the poor, the elderly and the unborn are considered unworthy of protection and dignity by a society that prizes instead individual prowess and success.
“Last century, the whole world was scandalized by what the Nazis did to purify the race. Today, we do the same thing but with white gloves,” Francis said, adding that families should accept children “as God gives them to us.”
Pope Francis has acknowledged that women sometimes are driven by circumstance to abortion and he has extended the ability of ordinary priests — and not just bishops — to absolve them of the sin of abortion if they repent.
The pope’s comments came during a three-week meeting of bishops from around the world on young people, where sexuality, including premarital sex, is among the topics of discussion.
Lately Catholic teaching on abortion has been in the headlines, including during the divisive confirmation process of US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Jesuit-educated Catholic whose vote could overturn legalised abortion in the US.
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