ROME (AP) Pope Francis called Monday for a universal ban on the despicable practice of surrogate motherhood, as he included the commercialization of pregnancy in an annual speech listing threats to global peace and human dignity.

In a foreign policy address to ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, Francis lamented that 2024 had dawned at a time in history in which peace is increasingly threatened, weakened and in some part lost.

Citing Russias war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas war, migration, climate crises and the immoral production of nuclear and conventional weapons, Francis delivered a lengthy laundry list of the ills afflicting humanity and the increasing violation of international humanitarian law that allows them.

But Francis also listed smaller-scale issues that he said were threats to peace and human dignity, including surrogacy. Francis said the life of the unborn child must be protected and not suppressed or turned into an object of trafficking.