The following comes from a Jan. 13 story on LifeSiteNews.com.

In Pope Francis first ‘State of the World’ address, given annually to the ambassadors to the Vatican, the pope said “it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day.”

Speaking Sunday to some 180 foreign diplomats, Pope Francis began by saying that peace is “threatened by every denial of human dignity, firstly the lack of access to adequate nutrition.”  In the midst of great hunger, food is often wasted in “the throwaway culture,” he said.

“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary’,” said the Holy Father.

“Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as ‘unnecessary’,” added the Holy Father. “For example, it is frightful even to think there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day; children being used as soldiers, abused and killed in armed conflicts; and children being bought and sold in that terrible form of modern slavery which is human trafficking, which is a crime against humanity.”

In his address to the diplomatic corps last year, Pope Benedict XVI called on the world’s governments to promote peace based on “the protection of human beings and their fundamental rights. “Foremost” among which, he said, is “respect for human life at every stage.” In 2008, Benedict used the annual address to warn the governments of the world against attacking the family based on the marriage of “one man and one woman.”

Pope John Paul II used the State of the World address to highlight attacks on children in the womb.  In 2002, Pope John Paul compiled a list of eight “great challenges lying before us.”  Topping the list were “the defence of the sacredness of human life in all circumstances, especially in relation to the challenges posed by genetic manipulation” and “the promotion of the family, the basic unit of society.”

To read the entire story, click here.