Pope Francis was was ‘passionately' against abortion say pro-life campaigners
Pro-life campaigners have remembered Pope Francis as being "passionately" against abortion - a fact they said was not widely emphasised by the media.
There has been global reaction to the death of the popular pontiff, who was in office from 2013 until he passed away this week. He was the first pope from the Americas and the first from the Southern hemisphere, originally hailing from Argentina.
Dawn McAvoy, lead with pro-life group Both Lives UK, applauded his legacy.
“Pope Francis called every Christian to be faithful witnesses to the Gospel of Christ, a message that always speaks life over death," she said.
"He was clear that abortion was a grave sin because it terminates unborn life and harms women, but that it’s also a moral tragedy, contributing to social and relational breakdown.
"In his death we mark his passing by remembering his teachings on abortion. In particular his appeal that in Christ's name we live out the good news of Jesus and commit to 'protect life courageously and lovingly in all its phases'.”
Breda O'Brien, spokeswoman for the Iona Institute, an all Ireland interdenominational pro family organization, said the media did not give much attention to his stance on abortion.
"Pope Francis was passionately pro life, and that aspect of his pontificate was not emphasized by the media," she said.
"He saw his role as pontiff to protect all human life from the very earliest stage in of development in the womb to old age - and to protect all of creation. And he saw that all these things absolutely worked together seamlessly. "He spoke about abortion far more than people realize, and spoke about it in very trenchant terms."
She also affirmed that he took much more proactive stance towards women who had had abortions than previous popes.
He relaxed rules on them confessing abortions in the confessional and his approach was "very much in terms of understanding why women would want to have abortions, and making conditions better that drove women to abortion".
He called on leaders in society to improve the living conditions for women who might free pressured into having abortions, she added.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK also applauded his stance against abortion.
"Pope Francis ushered in the New Year with 'a firm commitment to respect the dignity of human life from conception to natural death' and specifically mentioned his hope that we will care for 'life in the womb' as well as 'the elderly, the lonely and the dying',” she said.
"Pope Francis also urged us to support women who are pregnant or considering abortion and said that women should be freed 'from the pressures that push them not to give birth to their child'. He rightly emphasised the importance of both the unborn child and its mother".
"It should be an encouragement for pro-lifers across the world that such a prominent figure continued to speak about the importance of respect for human life at all stages through his pontificate".
Meanwhile, a priest who helped organise his historic 2018 visit to the island of Ireland the prospect of him visiting Northern Ireland remained “live and open” right up until shortly before his death,
Belfast-based Father Tim Bartlett said Irish bishops had extended an “ongoing invitation” to the pontiff to come to the region after an initial proposal to journey north of the border seven years ago was shelved because of time pressures. Fr Bartlett was one of the main co-ordinators of the World Meetings of Families that Francis attended in Dublin in August 2018.
It had not been possible for him to visit NI in 2018, he said. “(But) the question of him coming back remained very live and very open.” He said the Irish bishops had extended “an ongoing invitation to the Holy Father to make a visit to this part of the island”.