Pope Francis warns of civilian killings in Ukraine, Gaza; condemns surrogacy

Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Pope Francis on Monday warned about the indiscriminate killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine and the banning of what he called surrogate motherhood.

Francis made his comments during his regular "State of the World" speech to the Diplomatic Corps at the Vatican. He delved into the violent conflicts happening around the world, including the large number of innocent casualties connected to Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.

The corps is made up of ambassadors from around the globe.

"Modern wars no longer take place only on clearly defined battlefields, nor do they involve soldiers alone," Pope Francis said in his statement. "The events in Ukraine and Gaza are clear proof of this. We must not forget the grave violations of international humanitarian law are war crimes, and that is not sufficient to point them out, but also necessary to prevent them."

Francis said the international community must play a greater role in saving civilian lives and "implement humanitarian law."

"[It] seems to be the only way to ensure the defense of human dignity in situations of warfare."

While Pope Francis sounded familiar themes of the church's position against abortion along with a reference to assisted suicide among the elderly and sick, calling it a "culture of death," he also voiced opposition to surrogate births.

Francis equated surrogate births, where a woman is often paid to carry and deliver a child for a third party to "trafficking" and called for an "effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally."

"The life of the unborn child in the mother's womb, which cannot be suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking," Francis said. "In this regard, 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 the mother's material needs. A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial transaction."