Pope Francis: “The Church Must Never Tire” of Fighting Abortion

International   |   Micaiah Bilger   |   May 22, 2017   |   11:38AM   |   Rome, Italy

Pope Francis sent words of encouragement to pro-life advocates over the weekend as they participated in the March for Life in Rome, Italy.

The sixth annual march took place on Saturday in Rome where thousands of people united in calling for protections “for life without compromise,” CNA reports. Italy has lost more than 6 million unborn babies to abortion since it became legal in 1978, according to the news outlet.

Pope Francis sent a message Saturday to the marchers with his apostolic blessing and his hopes that their witness would help society understand the worth and dignity of every human life.

Breitbart reports more:

In a special message to the organizers of the pro-life March, held on Saturday afternoon in the center of Rome, Francis expressed his wish that the march might “promote adherence to the value of human life and the acceptance of this incommensurable divine gift in all its fascinating richness.”

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The pope also promised his prayers for the success of the event as well as sending his “apostolic blessing” to all participants.

Francis sent a similar message of support in January to the March for Life taking place in Paris, France

“The Church must never tire of being an advocate for life and must not neglect to proclaim that human life is to be protected unconditionally from the moment of conception until natural death,” the Pope’s message said.

Earlier in the week, Pope Francis also promoted the dignity of human life to a group of medical researchers and families suffering from Huntingdon’s disease.

During the meeting Thursday at the Vatican, the pontiff urged the researchers to continue their work seeking relief from and cures for diseases like Huntingdon’s, but he also urged them not to destroy human lives in their attempts to save others’.

“Some branches of research, in fact, utilize human embryos, inevitably causing their destruction,” the pope said. “But we know that no ends, even noble in themselves, such as a predicted utility for science, for other human beings or for society, can justify the destruction of human embryos.”

The pontiff told the group that all human beings, whether sick or healthy, young or old, are “precious in the eyes of God.”

Pope Francis has been a strong advocate against abortion, euthanasia and embryonic stem cell research. Many times, he has chastised modern society by describing it as a “throw-away culture” and drawing attention to how often human lives are disposed of when they should be protected.

“Our faith in God’s word calls us to support families in their mission in society, to accept children as a blessing for our world, and to defend the dignity of each man and woman, for all of us are brothers and sisters in the one human family,” he said in 2015.