Pope Francis calls for worldwide ban on surrogacy

Pope Francis called for a worldwide ban on surrogacy, condemning it during an audience at the Vatican on Monday.

"A child is always a gift and never the basis of a commercial contract. Consequently, I express my hope for an effort by the international community to prohibit this practice universally," he told ambassadors accredited to the Holy See.

"At every moment of its existence, human life must be preserved and defended; yet I note with regret, especially in the West, the continued spread of a culture of death, which in the name of a false compassion discards children, the elderly and the sick," he continued in his denunciation of surrogacy.

The 87-year-old pontiff spoke about recent conflicts and crises, calling for peace during an audience with foreign ambassadors, when he also touched the topic of surrogacy.

"The path to peace calls for respect for human rights, in accordance with the simple yet clear formulation contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, whose 75th anniversary we recently celebrated," the pope said.

The pontiff also described the so-called gender theory as dangerous, which erases differences between people, he said.

Surrogacy involves a woman carrying a child to term for others and handing it to them after birth. Surrogacy in Germany, as in many other countries, is prohibited. Even mediation is a criminal offence in Germany.

In some countries, however, surrogacy is sometimes permitted with certain restrictions.