(CNS News) -- When asked if he agreed with Pope Francis’ statement that abortion is “truly murder,” Senator Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) said, “every life should be protected from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.”
At the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, CNS News asked the senator, “Pope Francis recently said that abortion is ‘truly murder,’ do you agree with him?”
Cruz replied, “I would not purport to speak for the Pope on matters of the Catholic faith, but I certainly believe that every life should be protected from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death.”
On September 27, Pope Francis addressed the participants in the plenary assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, an academic and scientific organization dedication to the defense of life and the dignity of the person.
“Today [abortion] has become a ‘normal’ thing, a habit that is very bad; it is truly murder,” Francis said. “Is it right to eliminate, to end a human life to solve a problem? Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem? Abortion is this.”
Because of the Catholic Church’s immutable teaching on abortion, when a Catholic politician, especially President Joe Biden, publicly endorses and votes for pro-abortion legislation, it causes widespread scandal in the church and among the faithful.
During a press conference on a flight back from Hungary, Pope Francis addressed the argument that Catholics who publicly support abortion should be denied communion.
“I have never refused the Eucharist to anyone,” Francis said. “The second problem, that of abortion: it’s more than a problem, it’s homicide, whoever has an abortion, kills."
The Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, encouraged Catholics to pray the rosary for the conversion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a pro-abortion Catholic, who is seeking to codify Roe v. Wade in federal law.
“A conversion of heart of the majority of our congressional representatives is needed on this issue, beginning with the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” Cordileone said.
Pelosi previously disagreed with the archbishop at a press conference, arguing that, as a Catholic, she believes God has given her free will and the ability to choose for herself.
“The archbishop of the city — of that area, of San Francisco — and I have a disagreement about who should decide this,” Pelosi told reporters at her weekly news conference. “I believe that God has given us a free will to honor our responsibilities.”
The Catholic Church teaches that all humans have free will, but they are not free to murder people.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches, “Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law. … Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.”