ROME — Pope Francis has once again condemned abortion, insisting Thursday that twisting human rights accords to include a supposed “right to abortion” is a form of ideological colonization.
In his yearly address to the diplomatic corps, the pontiff decried “the attempt to manipulate multilateral documents – by changing the meaning of terms or unilaterally reinterpreting the content of human rights treaties – in order to advance divisive ideologies” such as purported abortion or LGBTQ+ rights.
Such efforts “trample on the values and beliefs of peoples” and constitute “a form of genuine ideological colonization that attempts, in accordance with carefully planned agendas, to uproot the traditions, history and religious bonds of peoples,” he said.
It is unacceptable, he declared, “to speak of an alleged ‘right to abortion’ that contradicts human rights, particularly the right to life.”
“All life must be protected, at every moment, from conception to natural death, because no child is a mistake or guilty of existing, just as no elderly or sick person may be deprived of hope and discarded,” he added.
The imposition of abortion may seem like progress, the pope suggested, but it actually represents the opposite.
“This is a mentality that, by claiming to leave behind what are considered to be ‘the dark pages of history,’ opens the door to ‘cancel culture,’” he said.
“It tolerates no differences and focuses on individual rights, to the detriment of duties towards others, especially the weakest and most vulnerable,” he added.
Just last week, Francis appealed for protection of “the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the lives of children, the lives of the suffering, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and the dying.”
For this reason, “I ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person may cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to the future,” he said.
Francis has accused the abortion lobby of following the “code of the mafia,” asserting that abortion is like hiring a hit man to assassinate a person who stands in our way.
He recently criticized Belgium’s abortion law as “homicidal” and moved to beatify Belgium’s late king Baudouin, who had the courage to abdicate for a day rather than approve legislation legalizing abortion.
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