Pope Francis has once again condemned abortion after the US Supreme Court's decision on abortion.
"I ask: Is it legitimate, is it right to take a human life to solve a problem," the head of the Catholic Church said in an interview with Reuters news agency published on Monday.
The 85-year-old Argentinian compared abortion to "hiring a hitman".
He respects the decision of the US court, but cannot speak about it from a legal point of view.
Pope Francis has described abortion as "murder" in the past.
"Anyone who aborts kills," he said in September 2021 on the return flight from Slovakia.
Francis said at the time that a fetus should be considered human life a few weeks after conception and that this must be respected.
In late June, the mostly conservative US court overturned a 1973 ruling known as Roe v. Wade, which previously guaranteed the right to an abortion.
It paved the way for stricter abortion laws.
The decision sparked outrage.
From the Vatican, the Pontifical Academy for Life reacted first.
"After 50 years, it is important to start an ideology-free debate again about the importance of protecting life in civil society, to ask us what kind of coexistence and society we want to build." The Catholic bishops in the US welcomed the court decision.