Francis hosts pro-abortion WHO director general in private Vatican meeting

Pope Francis received the director general of the pro-abortion World Health Organization (WHO) in a private audience at the Vatican this morning.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the current director general of the WHO, met with Pope Francis in private audience July 24, in a meeting which was only announced afterwards in the Holy See’s daily bulletin...

Tedros and Francis spoke about 'healthcare,' Tedros’ definition of the term is different to the Catholic understanding of the word, since he strongly advocates for abortion. Following the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade and rolled back the advances of the U.S. abortion industry, Tedros criticized the decision.

'Restricting [abortion] drives women and girls toward unsafe abortions resulting in complications, even death,' he declared during a press briefing following the Supreme Court ruling. Describing the reversal of Roe v. Wade as a step 'backwards,' Tedros argued that abortion should be understood as healthcare, the Associated Press reported.

'The global impact is also a concern,' Tedros added. 'This is about the life of mother. If safe abortion is illegal, then women will definitely resort to unsafe ways of doing it. And that means it could cost them their lives.'

He had previously told Reuters on the day of the infamous pro-abortion ruling’s overturning that 'I am very disappointed, because women’s rights must be protected. And I would have expected America to protect such rights.'

Both Pope Francis and Tedros share similar outlooks with regard to COVID-19 issues, with even the Pope famously advocating for people to receive doses of the abortion-tainted injections which were promoted globally by the WHO.

While Francis has increased his links to the WHO and other global organizations such as the U.N. and the World Economic Forum, the WHO has come under fire for its attempts to secure even more global power via the new amendments in the WHO’s International Health Regulations. Proposed by the Biden administration, the new amendments would 'empower the WHO’s Director-General to declare health emergencies or crises in any nation and to do so unilaterally and against the opposition of the target nation.'

Tedros, during a 2021 special session of the World Health Assembly, revealed his desire for the WHO to gain control over international actions. 'The world needs a strengthened, empowered and sustainably financed WHO, at the centre of the global health architecture,' he said. 'The widening mismatch between the expectations of WHO and its resources is well-known. COVID-19 must be the catalyst to rectify it.'

He called on WHO members to support moves for 'sustainable financing,' – a topic about which LifeSite has already highlighted the international concerns – and stated that: 'One of the greatest risks to global health security now is to further weaken WHO or to further fragment the global health architecture.'

Pope Francis has echoed Tedros’ arguments on numerous occasions. In a 2021 address to the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, he called for 'global governance' in light of COVID-19, strongly advocating for universal vaccines, and bemoaned the 'ecological debt' which is owed to 'nature itself.'