The Vatican opposed, Wednesday February 7, through its official media, the inclusion in the French Constitution of “guaranteed freedom” for women to have recourse to voluntary termination of pregnancy (IVG), which must to be debated soon in the Senate.
“How is it possible to juxtapose in the fundamental charter of a State the law which protects the person and that which sanctions their death? », writes Massimiliano Menichetti, responsible for the Vatican Radio and Vatican News titles. If the Holy See has not officially commented on the process underway in France, this article represents an unofficial position taken by the Vatican while the Catholic Church is firmly opposed to abortion.
At the end of January, the National Assembly adopted by an overwhelming majority the bill which provides for a constitutional reform, before its arrival on February 28 in the Senate, where the chosen formulation arouses much more reluctance.
During his visit to Marseille in September, Pope Francis deplored the fate of “unborn children, rejected in the name of a false right to progress, which is on the contrary a regression of the individual”.
“It is a strong message of hope, light and commitment that Francis delivered in France. However, at the end of January, the National Assembly in Paris approved the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Constitution,” laments Vatican News. Echoing the Pope’s words, the media denounces “the drama of the rejection of human life which takes different forms, from the rejected life of migrants to that of unborn children.”
In October, the Conference of Bishops of France expressed its “concern at the idea that the freedom to abort could be enshrined in the Constitution”.