Pope Francis calls for universal ban on 'despicable' surrogacy

Francis has previously voiced the Catholic Church’s opposition to what he has called “uterus for rent”, and some European countries prohibit the practice, including Spain and Italy

Pope Francis spoke out against the ‘commercialisation’ of pregnancy (AP)

The Pope has called for a universal ban on the “despicable” practice of surrogate motherhood, as he included the “commercialisation” of pregnancy in an annual speech listing threats to global peace and human dignity.

In a foreign policy address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Francis lamented that 2024 had dawned at a time in history in which peace is “increasingly threatened, weakened and in some part lost”.