During a recent speech in Vatican City on Monday, the Pope shared his thoughts on the practice of surrogacy, calling the practice “deplorable” and saying it should be banned.
“I deem deplorable 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,” Pope Francis said during the speech. “A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract.”
The Pope went on to say he hopes that efforts are made internationally to “prohibit this practice universally.”
“At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended,” he added.
The comments from the Pope are nothing new to the Catholic Church, as it has long opposed surrogacy as well as in vitro fertilization.
The church says the practice depersonalizes conception and disposes of some embryos, a practice it says is on the same grounds as abortion.
In Italy and several other countries, surrogacy is illegal, while in other countries, it’s legal but restricted, and commercial surrogacy is outlawed.
In the United States, laws vary from state to state.
Surrogacy is used as one option for parents who struggle to conceive children on their own, same-sex couples, and individuals who are unable to conceive.
Pope Francis has never shied away from taking a stance opposite of the more traditionalist wing of the church, like when he permitted Roman Catholic priests to bless same-sex couples last month or when he shared his support for migrants and the climate crisis.
However, when it comes to abortion, he has taken a strong stance against it, saying that it was like hiring “a hitman to solve a problem,” CNN reported.
On Monday, he also said in his speech that “with regret, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly and the sick.”