Pope Francis may have made waves with his announcement that priests would be allowed to bless same-sex couples, an extraordinarily liberal view for the leader of the Catholic Church, but his latest comments on surrogacy are drawing some criticism for being unnecessarily restrictive.
During an address on Monday, Francis said surrogacy turns children into “an object of [human] trafficking.” Calling for a worldwide ban on the practice, Francis added that surrogacy was “deplorable” and “represents a grave violation of the dignity of the woman and the child, based on the exploitation of situations of the mother’s material needs.”
Francis also called surrogacy the basis of a “commercial contract,” which is in line with a common criticism of the practice — it exploits people financially.
The Catholic Church has traditionally turned against surrogacy due to religious law, but Francis appears to be taking the stance that it violates human rights.
Source: The potential consequences of Pope Francis’ call for a ban on surrogacy