Pope Leo XIV has spoken against surrogacy as a means of childbirth, saying it undermines and distorts the original relational purpose of the family.
The pontiff made the remarks on Friday while addressing members of the diplomatic corps accredited to the Holy See, stressing the Catholic Church’s opposition to “any practice that denies or exploits the origin of life and its development”.
He identified surrogacy as one of such practices. Surrogacy refers to an arrangement in which a woman carries and gives birth to a child for another person or couple who are unable to conceive.
In many cases, intended parents engage agencies that facilitate matching, medical screening, and legal agreements establishing parentage, often with financial compensation involved.
Surrogacy has grown increasingly common worldwide in recent years, fuelled by higher infertility rates, advances in in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), and changing societal views on alternative paths to family formation.
“Life, in fact, is a priceless gift that develops within a committed relationship based on mutual self-giving and service,” the pope said.
“By transforming gestation into a negotiable service, this violates the dignity both of the child, who is reduced to a ‘product,’ and of the mother, exploiting her body and the generative process, and distorting the original relational calling of the family.”
He also criticised abortion and euthanasia, describing both as violations of the fundamental right to life.
“In this regard, the Holy See expresses deep concern about projects aimed at financing cross-border mobility for the purpose of accessing the so-called ‘right to safe abortion.’ It also considers it deplorable that public resources are allocated to suppress life, rather than being invested to support mothers and families,” he said.
“The primary objective must remain the protection of every unborn child and the effective and concrete support of every woman so that she is able to welcome life.”
Euthanasia, which involves intentionally ending a person’s life to ease suffering from severe and incurable illness, is often carried out by a physician at the patient’s request or when consent cannot be given.
Legal frameworks permitting euthanasia currently exist in countries such as Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada, Spain, New Zealand, and more recently, Uruguay.
The pope said that when people who are ill or socially isolated struggle to find meaning in continuing to live, governments and civil society have a duty to respond with compassion through tangible support, including access to palliative care, and by promoting genuine solidarity rather than endorsing what he described as “deceptive forms of compassion” such as euthanasia.