Vatican City, Sep 20, 2013 / 18:03 pm
Speaking to a group of gynecologists and obstetricians at the Vatican, Pope Francis affirmed that all human life has dignity and rejected the discarding of "defenseless" human persons through abortion.
"Every unborn child, although unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of Jesus Christ, the Lord's face," Pope Francis said, adding that like Christ, these aborted children experience the rejection of the world.
The Holy Father asked doctors "who are called to take care of human life in its initial phase" to remind people that "in all its phases and at any age, human life is always sacred."
"This is a commitment to the new evangelization that often requires going against the current," he added in his Sept. 20 address. "The Lord counts on you to spread the 'Gospel of Life.'"
The comments come one day after the publication of an extensive interview with Pope Francis, conducted by the Jesuit-run Italian newspaper La Civiltà Cattolica and translated into English by U.S. Jesuit magazine America.
In the interview, the Pope called Christians to proclaim moral truths in the context of the Gospel and Jesus Christ rather than as "disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently."
"We cannot insist only on issues related to abortion, gay marriage and the use of contraceptive methods. This is not possible," he said. Rather, "when we speak about these issues, we have to talk about them in a context," allowing moral issues to flow from the proclamation of the Gospel.
Several commenters and media outlets interpreted the Pope's remarks as a shift in Church teaching on moral issues. However, the Holy Father – who has spoken out against abortion several times during his papacy – also explained in the interview that the "teaching of the Church, for that matter, is clear and I am a son of the Church."
Speaking today before a meeting sponsored by the International Federation of Associations of Catholic Physicians, Pope Francis emphasized the doctor's role in protecting and promoting all life, which, from the unborn to the elderly, "carries the face of Christ."