ROME –
Pope Francis began the New Year with a renewed call to the faithful to reject abortion, asking for a “firm commitment” to protect and respect life from conception to natural death.
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 a woman” and to protect “the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the life of children, the life of those who suffer, of the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying.”
“I ask for a firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that everyone values their own life and everyone looks with hope to the future,” he said, using the terminology of the Church’s opposition to abortion and euthanasia.
In recent years, the Argentine Jesuit has spoken more emphatically about abortion than at the beginning of his pontificate. After two doctrinaire popes, Francis complained in the early months of his papacy in 2013 that the Church had become obsessed with “petty rules” on hot-button issues like abortion.
Francis now regularly refers to procuring an abortion as “hiring a hitman to solve a problem.”
He recently sparked outrage in Belgium when he criticized its abortion law as “homicidal” and announced that he wanted to beatify Belgium’s late king, who abdicated for a day rather than pass legislation legalizing the procedure. The Vatican recently announced that the process of beatification of King Baudouin, who died in 1993, is underway.
The morning Mass marked the last major event in Francis’ busy Christmas schedule. For the pope, who suffers from recurring respiratory problems, this year’s season was even more challenging with the start of the Vatican’s great Holy Year, a celebration of faith held once every quarter of a century and expected to draw 32 million pilgrims to Rome. during 2025.
Speaking to pilgrims gathered in sunny St. Peter’s Square, Francis recalled the central message of the Jubilee about the need to forgive debts. He again called on world leaders from rich countries to eliminate or reduce the debts of poorer countries.
Francis urged Christian leaders, in particular, to “set a good example” by taking the initiative to forgive debts.
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