(Rome) Pope Francis ushered in the new year with a renewed appeal to the faithful to reject abortion, calling for a “firm commitment” to protect and respect life, from conception to natural death.
Posted at 7:51 a.m.
Nicole Winfield
Associated Press
Pope Francis, 88, celebrated a New Year’s Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus.
In his homily, he prayed that everyone would learn to care for “every child born of woman” and to protect “the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the life of children, the life of suffering people, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying.”
“I call for a firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life, from conception to natural death, so that everyone can cherish their own life and all can look to the future with hope,” he said , using the terminology of the Church’s opposition to abortion and assisted dying.
In recent years, the Argentine Jesuit has spoken more insistently on abortion than at the start of his pontificate. After two doctrinaire popes, Pope Francis complained in the early months of his pontificate in 2013 that the Church had become obsessed with “petty rules” on hot-button issues, such as abortion.
The pope now regularly refers to having an abortion as “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.” He recently sparked outrage in Belgium by criticizing the abortion law, which he called “homicidal”, and announcing that he wanted to beatify the late Belgian king, who abdicated for a day, rather than approving a law legalizing the procedure.
The Vatican recently announced that the beatification process was underway for King Baudouin, who died in 1993.
The morning Mass marked the last big event in Francis’ busy Christmas schedule. For the pope, who suffers from recurring respiratory problems, this year’s time has been even more difficult with the start of the Vatican’s great Holy Year, a celebration of the faith that takes place once every quarter of a century and is expected attract 32 million pilgrims to Rome in 2025.
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