In a new interview, Pope Francis included abortion in a condemnation of a culture of waste in which “people who are not useful are discarded.”

Speaking to Italian television channel Tg5 in an interview that aired Sunday night, Francis said even children “are discarded if they have some disease or if they are unwanted, as are the elderly, the sick and migrants”.

Speaking of abortion, he said it is a problem of human ethics, where religion enters later, and one “that even the atheist must resolve in their conscience.”

Whenever the issue of abortion comes up, the pope said a question comes to mind: “Do I have the right to do this?” the scientific answer to which, he said, is that “in the third week, almost the fourth, there are all the organs of the new human being in the womb of the mother, it’s a human life.”

“Is it right to eliminate a human life to solve a problem, any problem? No, it’s not right. Is it okay to hire a hitman solve a problem? Someone who kills human life? This is the problem of abortion. Scientifically and humanly,” he said.