In his January 9 “State of the World” address to the diplomatic corps, Pope Leo XIV issued his strongest pro-life appeal to date, calling for a global rejection of abortion and surrogacy and urging governments to protect unborn life and support mothers and families.
“Among these is abortion, which cuts short a growing life and refuses to welcome the gift of life,” the pope said, warning of efforts to finance cross-border travel to access what he described as the so-called “right to safe abortion.” He added that it is “deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families.”
Pope Leo also condemned surrogacy, saying it turns pregnancy into a transaction and “violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process.”
Emphasizing that the right to life is the foundation of all human rights, the pope said society can only truly progress when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and provides “effective and concrete support” to every woman facing pregnancy.
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