Pope Francis made several bold statements about abortion, including that going to a doctor for an abortion, could be compared to hiring a hitman, during a Disney+ special in Rome with a group of young adults.
The series titled “The Pope: Answers” dropped on Disney+ and Hulu Wednesday during Holy Week featuring an intimate conversation with a group of young adults in their 20s who were eager to ask the Catholic Church leader about several controversial topics, according to the trailer. One young woman named Milagros described her life as a Catholic and a feminist and asked Francis why the church seems to shun women who have had an abortion, who simply want the right to choose. (RELATED: ‘We Can Help You’: Pro-Lifers Call For Abortion Workers To Leave The Abortion Industry)
Francis explained that one must “be addressed scientifically” and pointed out that a baby that is just one month past conception has its own DNA structure.
“It is therefore not just a bunch of cells put together, but a systematized human life. So the question that should be submitted when talking about the morality of this…Is it valid to eliminate a human life to solve a problem? You’d go to a doctor, so is it valid to pay a hitman to eliminate a human life to solve a problem?”
Pope Francis engages in conversation in Spanish with ten young people, most far from the Church, answering questions on a host of modern-day issues such as sexual identity, feminism, abortion, migration, abuse, loss of faith, the role of women, and more.https://t.co/P8G8rqdQhQ
— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) April 5, 2023
Francis also noted that “abortion leaves such a deep mark in a woman” and explained that he always encourages priests to be kind and compassionate when a woman who has had an abortion and is struggling “with a guilty conscience” comes to the church.
Several of the women expressed frustration with this view, but one, María, echoed the pope’s sentiment on the subject, saying that she had never seen a woman who regretted saving her child.
“On Saturdays, I go to abortion clinics, stay at the door, and talk to the girls who are going in,” María said. “I ask them what they need or why they have made that decision. Many times they do it out of fear…if you can find a solution for the problem that made them get there, they don’t have the abortion. For Christians, life is a gift, and for atheists, if you don’t believe in eternal life, how can you take that child’s only life?”
Francis concluded the discussion by restating that women who have had an abortion should never be left alone, but that the Church should come alongside them, but emphasized that “staying by her side is one thing, but justifying the act is something else.”
The Vatican did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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