Rome: Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with a renewed call for the faithful to reject abortion, emphasizing the need for a “firm commitment” to protect and respect life from conception to natural death. His appeal came as part of a broader message on the sanctity of life.
The 88-year-old pope celebrated a New Year’s Day Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday, which was dedicated to Mary, the mother of Jesus. During his homily, he prayed that everyone would learn to care for “every child born of a woman” and protect “the precious gift of life.”
He further urged the congregation to honor life in all its stages—”life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying.” He concluded with a plea for a “firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death,” calling for people to cherish their own lives and look to the future with hope.
In recent years, the Argentine Jesuit has been speaking out more emphatically about abortion than he did at the start of his pontificate. After two doctrinaire popes, Francis complained in the first months of his papacy in 2013 that the church had become obsessed by “small-minded rules” about 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 he wanted to beatify Belgium’s late king who abdicated for a day rather than approve legislation legalizing the procedure. The Vatican recently announced that the beatification process is under way for King Baudouin, who died in 1993.
The morning Mass marked the final big event of Francis’ busy Christmas schedule. For the pope, who suffers from recurrent respiratory problems, this year’s season was even more challenging with the start of the Vatican’s big Holy Year, a once-every-quarter-century celebration of the faith that is expected to bring 32 million pilgrims to Rome during 2025.
(with agency inputs)
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