Pope Francis has condemned abortion and the keeping of children by surrogate mothers as grave violations against human dignity.
During a statement today at the Vatican, the head of the Catholic Church also spoke of gender reassignment and "gender theory" as offenses against what he said was the God-given dignity of human beings.
"A human being - whether unborn or not - is always something sacred and inviolable," he said.
"Termination of pregnancy does not mean anything other than the denial of human dignity to the "most vulnerable" beings," added Pope Francis.
He drew a parallel between abortion and surrogacy – when a woman carries a child on someone else's behalf and then gives it away after birth. In this way, the child becomes "just an object" while the woman's dignity is violated for profit reasons.
The Vatican as an institution has taken a clear stance against gender reassignment.
The declaration, called Dignitas infinita (Infinite Dignity), was published after several years of preparation by the Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith under the leadership of Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, who, like the Pope, comes from Argentina.
Pope Francis had previously approved it. Topics covered also include war, poverty, migration, human trafficking and violence against women.