ROME — Pope Francis received Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock in a private audience Saturday, the Vatican Press Office reported.
Warnock, senior pastor of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church, said he deeply admires the pontiff’s efforts “to center humanity in public life — from addressing poverty and hunger, to fighting the climate crisis, to promoting peace.”
The 54-year-old senator, who has come under fire for using Sacred Scripture to justify the practice of abortion as well as for praising the controversial Rev. Jeremiah Wright, said he hoped to hear from the pope “how he uses his Christian faith to build bridges amid the growing divisions in our society.”
In 2020, the Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List), a national pro-life organization, said Warnock’s radicalism is “deeply disturbing.”
Raphael Warnock has “attempted to use scripture to defend his extreme position in support of abortion on demand, up until the moment of birth, for any reason,” the group noted. “His radicalism is deeply disturbing and far outside the American mainstream.”
Warnock, who was endorsed by abortion giant Planned Parenthood, has publicly stated that abortion is consistent with his role as “a Christian minister.”
For her part, Staci Fox, President & CEO of Planned Parenthood Southeast Advocates, said she was “thrilled” with Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s endorsement of Warnock, whom she called a “dedicated champion” of reproductive rights.
Despite Pope Francis’ vocal criticism of abortion as murder, akin to hiring a hit man to take out a child, he has sent mixed messages in his dealings with abortion advocates.
As one example, in February 2016 Francis praised abortion icon Emma Bonino as one of Italy’s “forgotten greats,” comparing her to important historical figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman. One local newspaper ran a headline suggesting that Bonino had been inducted into “the pope’s Pantheon.”
According to her own boasts, Bonino performed over 10,000 illegal abortions during her career, devising an abortion machine from a bicycle pump and a pickle jar. Bonino founded the Center for Information on Sterilization and Abortion (CISA) and agitated for the legalization of abortion in Italy, which came about in 1975.
A protégée of George Soros, Bonino built a career as a parliamentarian for the Radical Party, and later became a European Commissioner and Italy’s foreign minister. Throughout her career, she has promoted mass migration, European federalism, and the abolition of national borders.
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