Pope Francis called for a “universal” ban on gestational surrogacy on Monday, stating that children should never be “the basis of a commercial contract.”
The Pope denounced the practice of hiring a third party to carry and birth a child for the intended parent(s) as a “deplorable” act, according to Wall Street journalist Francis X. Rocca.
.@Pontifex calls for universal ban on the “deplorable … practice of so-called surrogate motherhood … a grave violation of the dignity of the woman & the child, based on exploitation of the mother’s material neediness. A child is … never the basis of a commercial contract.”
— Francis X. Rocca (@FrancisXRocca) January 8, 2024
In an annual speech, the head of the Roman Catholic Church listed surrogacy among other threats to humanity and global peace, according to The Associated Press.
“I consider despicable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs,” Francis said.
The Pope has previously stated babies born to same-sex couples via surrogacy can still be baptized, AP noted. (RELATED: Pope Francis Opens Door For Same-Sex Couples To Receive Certain Blessings)
The pontiff also criticized the “continued spread of a culture of death” in Western countries, according to Forbes.
“The path to peace calls for respect for life, for every human life, starting with the life of the unborn child in the mother’s womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking,” Francis said.