Pope Francis reiterated his opposition to abortion, likening it to hiring a “hit man to solve a problem.”
Francis said he respected the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade but said in an interview with Reuters he could not comment on the case because he did not “understand it from a technical point of view.”
The pope said that science shows a fetus is a human life.
“Is it legitimate, is it right, to eliminate a human life to resolve a problem?” Francis said in the interview, published on Monday. “It’s a human life — that’s science. The moral question is whether it is right to take a human life to solve a problem.”
“Indeed, is it right to hire a hit man to solve a problem?” he asked.
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The pope previously made the comparison while speaking at an anti-abortion conference in 2019, saying: “Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem? Is it licit to hire a hit man to resolve a problem?”
With church leadership divided on whether politicians who support abortion should receive Holy Communion, Francis emphasized the significance of a pastoral approach to Catholic politicians.
“When the Church loses its pastoral nature, when a bishop loses his pastoral nature, it causes a political problem,” Francis said. “That’s all I can say.”
In May, California Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone announced that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) should not present herself to a priest for Communion at Mass because of her stance on abortion and her recent calls to protect access to it at the federal level.
Despite a growing number of bishops coming together to support Cordileone’s barring of Pelosi, the House speaker received the Eucharist at a Catholic church in Washington, D.C., in May and while visiting the Vatican last week.
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The pope also denied resignation rumors despite health concerns and canceled trips amid the cardinal induction ceremony set for August, calling them “coincidences” and saying resigning “never entered my mind. For the moment, no, for the moment, no. Really!”
