VATICAN CITY -- Pope John Paul II praised the right to life movement in the United States on Friday, calling it " one of the most positive aspects of American public life."
Speaking before a group of U.S. bishops, the pontiff also denounced partial-birth abortions, which pro-life supporters in the Senate tried unsuccessfully to ban this year.
" The pro-life movement is one of the most positive aspects of American public life, and the support given it by the bishops is a tribute to your pastoral leadership," he told the group.
John Paul decried what he called an " almost unimaginable insensitivity" toward abortion, particularly a late-term abortion procedure that entails the partial, feet-first delivery of a fetus and drainage of its skull.
He also urged U.S. Catholics to open their homes to unwanted children and to support the " inalienable right" to life from conception to natural death.
" The life of a country is much more than its material development and its power in the world," he said. " A nation needs a soul."
Source: The Pro-Life Infonet (http://www.prolife.org/rvw)