Pope reaffirms stand against voluntary assisted dying, abortion

Pope Francis took a swipe at assisted dying campaigners in his new year’s message, calling on people to ‘respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death’.

Pope Francis waves to the crowd from the window of the Apostolic Palace overlooking St. Peter's Square on January 1. Picture: AFP

Pope Francis took a swipe at assisted dying campaigners in his new year’s message while also underlining his opposition to abortion, calling on people to “respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death”.

He called on rich countries to forgive debts owed by poorer nations because developed countries owe an “ecological debt” due to the higher levels of pollution they have created.

Speaking in his homily at New Year’s Day Mass in St Peter’s ­Basilica, the Pope said we should all feel guilt over the parlous state of the world.

“Each of us must feel in some way responsible for the devastation to which the Earth, our common home, has been subjected, beginning with those actions that, albeit only indirectly, fuel the conflicts that presently plague our human family,” the Pope said.

“The inhuman treatment meted out to migrants, environmental decay (and) the confusion wilfully created by disinformation.”

The Pope has spoken out in the past against assisted dying but remained silent in the lead-up to a vote in the British parliament.

It is understood he did not raise the issue with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner when she met him in the Vatican only days before the vote.

In his new year’s message from the Vatican this week, however, the Pope reiterated his opposition with the pointed inclusion of the word “natural” in his remarks about death.

“I also ask for a firm commitment to respect … the dignity of human life, from conception to natural death, so that each person can cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to a future of prosperity and happiness for themselves and for their children,” he said.

He also called for “the elimination of the death penalty in all ­nations”.

The Pope has become more outspoken in his opposition to abortion in recent years. He has referred to abortion as “hiring a hitman to solve a problem”, called Belgium’s abortion laws “homicidal” and said he would consider the beatification of Belgium’s King Baudouin, who died in 1993 and opposed abortion.

The Times