In message, Pope thanks Italian pro-life movement for defending unborn children (Vatican Press Office)

“A just society is not built by eliminating unwanted unborn children, the elderly who are no longer independent, or the incurably ill,” Pope Francis wrote in a message to Italy’s Movement for Life as it commemorated its 50th anniversary.

“The unborn child represents, par excellence, every man and woman who does not count, who has no voice,” the Pope continued in his message, which he signed in Gemelli Hospital. “To place oneself on his or her side means standing in solidarity with all the world’s discarded.”

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Pope’s Secretary of State, read aloud the message as he celebrated Mass for members of the movement in St. Peter’s Basilica (video). Catholic News Service reported that “members of the movement staff 350 assistance centers across the country, run a 24-hour hotline, staff homes for pregnant women in difficulty and for new mothers and their babies and have helped establish 64 ‘baby hatches’ at public hospitals where mothers in difficulty can leave their newborns.”