Pope Francis calls for global ban on surrogacy, calling it a ‘grave violation’

Pope Francis has called for a universal ban on surrogate motherhood, labelling it “despicable” and a “grave violation of the dignity of women and children”.

In his annual foreign policy speech to diplomats in the Vatican on Monday, the pope denounced the “commercialisation of pregnancy” through surrogacy arrangements, according to Reuters.

He added that an unborn child must not be “turned into an object of trafficking” and that no child should ever be “the basis of a commercial contract”.

The Catholic Church has long opposed surrogacy. Francis has gone further by appealing for a global ban, however.

He stated: “I deem deplorable the practice of so-called surrogate motherhood, which 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.”

Commercial surrogacy already banned in some countries

Several European countries, including Italy, Spain and France, have already outlawed commercial surrogacy. The UK allows certain forms of altruistic surrogacy, while countries like Ukraine, Russia and Belarus permit paid surrogacy.

In his speech, Francis also condemned Russia’s war on Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza conflict, climate change and nuclear proliferation.

Last month, the Vatican ruled it had approved blessings for same-sex couples under certain circumstances. However, Vatican doctrine still firmly opposes homosexuality and gender ideology.

In 2023, the Vatican ruled that transgender people can be baptised and serve as godparents. And in 2022, Francis told parents to never condemn their LGBTQ+ children.

However, the Pope has wavered in his stance at times. Despite his famous 2013 comment asking “Who am I to judge gay people?“, he later said that gay men should not be priests and that gay bishops should leave the priesthood. The Vatican also once erased his comments telling parents to seek psychiatric help for gay children.