What Democratic Leaders Did Not Say About Pope Francis

Terence P. Jeffrey on Apr 23, 2025

When Pope Francis spoke in St. Peter's Square on Oct. 10, 2018, he was not talking about gangsters when he spoke about a "hit man." He was talking about abortion.

The pope started by citing the Fifth Commandment: "You shall not kill."

"One could say that all the evil carried out in the world can be summed up in this: contempt for life," he said.

"A contradictory approach even permits the termination of human life in the maternal womb, in the name of safeguarding other rights," he said. "But how can an action that ends an innocent and defenceless life in its blossoming stage be therapeutic, civilized or simply human?"

"Is it right to hire a hit man in order to solve a problem? One cannot," he said. "It is not right to 'do away with' a human being, however small, in order to solve a problem.

"It is like hiring a hit man to solve a problem," he said.

Three years later, at an assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, he again likened abortion to hiring a hit man -- and specifically called it murder.

"In his presentation, Msgr. Paglia referred to something: but there is the throwing away of children that we do not want to welcome, with that abortion law that sends them back to their sender and kills them," said the pope. "Today this has become a 'normal' thing, a habit that is very bad; it is truly murder.

"In order to truly grasp this," he said, "perhaps asking ourselves two questions may help: 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."

On Sept. 15, 2021, while on a flight, Pope Francis also told reporters that abortion is murder and like hiring a hit man.

"Abortion is more than an issue. Abortion is murder," he said, according to a Catholic News Agency transcript.

"It's a human life, period," he said. "This human life must be respected. This principle is so clear. And to those who can't understand it I would ask two questions: Is it right, is it fair, to kill a human life to solve a problem? Scientifically it is a human life. Second question: Is it right to hire a hitman to solve a problem?"

This Jan. 1, Pope Francis delivered a homily that defended the unborn.

"For this reason," he said, "'I ask for a firm commitment to respect for the dignity of human life from conception to natural death, so that each person may cherish his or her own life and all may look with hope to the future.'"

When Pope Francis passed away on Monday, some Democratic leaders in Congress issued statements honoring his life -- but not mentioning his passionate commitment to the right to life.

Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin is a Catholic who voted against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and for the Women's Health Protection Act, which did not pass. This bill, according to its summary, would have prohibited "governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services."

In a statement on X, Durbin said: "We have lost the messenger, but we must hold fast to the message of Pope Francis to love and respect one another. In a world of hate and fear, Pope Francis' message of peace and understanding is needed now more than ever."

He did not mention the pope's defense of the unborn.

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is also a Catholic who voted against the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and for the Women's Health Protection Act. She issued a statement of more than 270 words. "His Holiness Pope Francis personified our sacred responsibility in the Gospel of Matthew to honor the spark of divinity in the least of our brethren -- championing the poor, the worker, the refugee and the immigrant," she said.

Like Durbin, she did not mention the pope's defense of the unborn.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries -- who voted for the Women's Health Protection Act -- issued a statement of more than 170 words. He spoke of the pope's defense of "the least" and "the vulnerable" -- but not the unborn.

"Pope Francis dedicated his time on Earth to uplifting the least, the lost and the left behind," said Jeffries.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who chairs the Senate Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and voted for the Women's Health Protection Act, issued a statement recalling when Pope Francis visited Congress a decade ago.

"One moment in particular stood out to me from that day -- as the Pope was getting ready to address thousands of people gathered on the Mall," she said, "one of the security guards plucked a woman out with her baby, who Pope Francis blessed. He understood that faith exists in the moments big and small."

Klobuchar did not mention that Pope Francis would have defended that baby's right to life from the moment of conception. In 2021, however, she suggested on "Meet the Press" that abortion should be legalized nationwide -- as it would be with the Women's Health Protection Act.

"And I think the best way to do it is not a patchwork of state laws, but to codify Roe v. Wade, put it into law," she said.

That would be like giving hit men federal protection to commit murder.

To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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