During the general audience on Wednesday, 10 October, Pope Francis “did not mince his words on abortion”. He discussed the subject by reflecting on the commandment, “Thou shalt not kill”: “How can an act that suppresses an innocent and helpless life that is germinating be therapeutic, civil or even simply human? I ask you, is it right to ‘take out’ a human life to solve a problem? One cannot. It is not right to kill a human being, regardless of how small it is, to solve a problem. It is like hiring a hit man to solve a problem”.
The Pope then went on to explain the refusal of life through “fear”: “Welcoming the other is a challenge to individualism. We think, for example, when it is discovered that a nascent life is a bearer of disability, even a serious one. Parents, in these dramatic cases, need real closeness, true solidarity to face reality by overcoming comprehensible fears. Instead they often receive hasty advice to stop the pregnancy, i.e. it is one way of saying: ‘stop the pregnancy’ meaning ‘take someone out’, directly”.
In front of the “26,000 faithful followers who had gathered in Saint Peter’s Square”, the Pope reminded onlookers that “the idols of this world”—money, power, success which “make people think that it’s better to get rid of someone”—are “incorrect parameters to evaluate life”.
Zenit (10/10/2018) ; La Croix (10/10/2018)