He is denouncing the practice.
Pope Francis has gained recognition beyond the Catholic community for his recent advocacy of a global ban on surrogacy. Addressing the Diplomatic Corps Accredited to the Holy See, the pontiff emphasized the sanctity of human life, starting with the unborn child in the mother’s womb. He strongly criticized surrogate motherhood, describing it as an exploitative practice that reduces the conception and birth of a child to a commercial transaction. Pope Francis called for a universal prohibition on surrogacy, asserting that children should never be treated as commodities.
Surrogacy involves artificially inseminating a woman to carry a baby for nine months, only to surrender the child to a third party upon delivery. While it is sought by same-sex male couples and heterosexual couples facing fertility challenges, critics argue it exploits vulnerable women and undermines the sacredness of the marital act. Notably, Allie Beth Stuckey, host of the “Relatable” podcast, commended the Pope for his stance against surrogacy, emphasizing the commercialization of reproduction and the commodification of bodies inherent in the practice.
The Catholic Church has a historical opposition to surrogate motherhood, with Pope Francis echoing sentiments expressed in a 1987 Instruction on Respect for Human Life and the Dignity of Procreation. The document, authored by the Church’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, emphasized the contravention of marital unity and procreation dignity in surrogacy. The Catechism of the Catholic Church also deems techniques that dissociate husband and wife, including surrogate uterus, as gravely immoral, infringing upon the child’s right to be born within the marital bond.
The legal status of surrogacy varies globally, with Pope Francis’s call for a universal ban aligning with the Catholic Church’s teachings on the sanctity of life, marriage, and the family. The ongoing debate on surrogacy continues, with different countries and states adopting diverse regulations, ranging from complete bans to varying degrees of permissibility.
Pope Francis has said that the church is against the Abotion of a child. We must as Catholics should
heed to all the Laws of the Catholic Church or the Commandments of God. God does not like taking,
any life because a child is most important. The mother and father are responsible for the raising of their children. A child relies on the parents that they know and love their mother and their father, and the child expects the parents to love and take care of their child. If a parent cannot ignore a child and must raise that child. If they find that they cannot take care of the child they offer it up to adoption, and there are many families that are willing to adopt these innocent children.