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Pope Francis called for the protection of life at Wednesday’s New Year’s Mass, offering an apparently anti-abortion message.
“We entrust this new year to Mary, Mother of God,” Francis said in his homily at St. Peter’s Basilica. “That we learn, like her, to discover the greatness of God in the little things of life.”
“That we learn to care for each child born of a woman, especially protecting, like Mary, the precious gift of life: life in the womb, the life of children, the life of those who suffer, the poor, the elderly, the lonely and dying,” he continued.
“I ask for a firm commitment to respecting the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that everyone can love their own life and everyone can look with hope to the future,” added Francesc.
The Pope, who has spoken out more strongly against abortion in recent years, criticized Vice President Harris in the midst of her presidential bid earlier this year over her abortion policies. In the same statement, he also took aim at President-elect Trump’s immigration policies.
“Both are against life, whether it’s the one that expels migrants or the one that kills babies,” Francis said in September, urging American Catholics to choose who they believed was the “lesser evil.”
The new year begins jubileea special year in the church in which Catholics make a pilgrimage to Rome. The tradition occurs once every 25 years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
