ROME (NEWSnet/AP) — Pope Francis on Monday urged a universal ban on what he called the “despicable” practice of surrogate motherhood.

In an annual speech listing threats to global peace and human dignity, he included the “commercialization” of pregnancy.

In a foreign policy address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Francis lamented that 2024 had dawned at a time in which peace is “increasingly threatened, weakened and in some part lost.”

He cited Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars, migration, climate crises and the “immoral” production of nuclear and conventional weapons.

Francis also listed other threats to peace and human dignity, including surrogacy. He said the life of the unborn child must be protected and not “suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking.”

“I consider despicable 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 situations of the mother’s material needs,” he said.

Saying a child is a gift and “never the basis of a commercial contract,” he called for a global ban on surrogacy “to prohibit this practice universally.”

Francis previously has voiced the Catholic Church’s opposition to what he has called “uterus for rent.” At the same time, however, the Vatican’s doctrine office has made clear that same-sex parents who resort to surrogacy can have their children baptized.

Although commercial surrogacy contracts are common in the United States, including with protection for mothers, guarantees of independent legal representation and medical coverage, they are banned in parts of Europe, including Spain and Italy.

Critics say commercial surrogacy targets women who are poor and live in vulnerable communities. Supporters say surrogacy gives women a chance to provide children to childless couples, and commercial contracts protect both the surrogates and the intended parents.

Francis called for an immediate cease-fire, including in Lebanon, and the liberation of hostages held in Gaza.

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