Budapest, 28 April, 2023 / 8:00 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis spoke out strongly against abortion and gender ideology Friday, citing both as examples of “ideological colonization” during a speech in Budapest.
The pope’s denunciation came during an address to civil authorities and other dignitaries at a former Carmelite monastery in Hungary’s capital in which he lamented “self-referential forms of populism” and “supranationalism” gaining traction in Europe.
Pope Francis meets civil authorities and other dignitaries at a former a Carmelite monastery in Budapest, Hungary, on April 28, 2023, on the first day of his three-day pilgrimage to the country. Credit: Vatican Media
“This is the baneful path taken by those forms of ‘ideological colonization’ that would cancel differences, as in the case of the so-called gender theory, or that would place before the reality of life reductive concepts of freedom, for example by vaunting as progress a senseless ‘right to abortion,’ which is always a tragic defeat,” said the pope, who is in Budapest for a three-day visit.
“How much better it would be to build a Europe centered on the human person and on its peoples, with effective policies for natality and the family — policies that are pursued attentively in this country — a Europe whose different nations would form a single family that protects the growth and uniqueness of each of its members,” the Holy Father said.
