In a message published Friday ahead
of the World Day for Consecrated Life celebrated on February 2,
the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) said abortion had
wrongfully been perceived as a right, following the approval of
Italy's 194 Law that legalized the practice in 1978.
In a message quoting the Vatican document Dignitas Infinita, CEI
said the law had intended "to eliminate illegal abortions".
However, over time, it had "generated in the conscience of many
the scarce or absent perception of the gravity" of abortion,
"turning it into a 'right'", while a human being is "always
sacred and sacrosanct".
Italian bishops also stigmatized the fact that there are "too
few children and too many domestic animals" in families - a
warning often reiterated by Pope Francis in the past.
CEI then criticized surrogacy, stating that women cannot be
exploited as "containers of someone else's children".
The message spoke about "an increasingly frequent phenomenon -
the desire to become parents at any cost, which affects couples
or singles for whom assisted reproductive technologies offer the
possibility of overcoming any biological limitation to obtain a
child anyway, beyond any moral evaluation".
The Senate last month gave final approval to a bill making
surrogacy a universal crime, even if it is carried out abroad by
Italian citizens.
In Italy, surrogacy has been illegal since 2004.
The measure makes gestation for others punishable by law even if
committed abroad, but only for Italian citizens.
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