On Christmas Day, Pope Francis addressed many thousands of Roman Catholics in St. Peter’s Square. His papal address condemned abortion and compared it to the Slaughter of the Innocents, instigated by King Herod, in Bethlehem during the Nativity.
“How many innocents are being slaughtered in our world!” said Pope Francis. “In their mothers’ wombs, in odysseys undertaken in desperation and in search of hope, in the lives of all those little ones whose childhood has been devastated by war. They are the little Jesuses of today.”
This is not the first time that Pope Francis has spoken out against abortion. Earlier in 2023, he warned that human life is being placed “at risk by utilitarian drifts that use and discard it”, particularly abortion and assisted suicide.
“I think of so many unborn children and elderly people abandoned to themselves”, the Pope continued.
Pope Francis has repeatedly spoken out against the “throwaway culture” of abortion. Recently, he also lamented low birth rates. “The birth of children, in fact, is the main indicator for measuring the hope of a people”, he pointed out.
“If few are born it means there is little hope. And this not only has repercussions from an economic and social point of view but also undermines confidence in the future.”
Abortion reached unprecedented levels in the UK in 2022, surging by 17% in the first half of the year in England and Wales, and by 19% in Scotland over the full year, while birth rates fell to a two-decade low.
SPUC comment
A SPUC spokesperson said: “The societal indifference to the lives killed by abortion across the world is ongoing and as disturbing as ever. Nevertheless, as we enter a new year, 2024, we must all work towards a world where abortion is unthinkable.
“While this task may seem immense, the birth of Christ shows how a culture may be transformed by just one individual. We can all make a difference, one life at a time.”
