Pope urges prayers for unborn children under threat

Pope Francis on Sunday urged the faithful to pray for unborn children threatened by "the termination of pregnancy" in a throwaway culture marked by falling birthrates. "Let us pray together for children threatened by the termination of pregnancy and also for people at the end of their lives," he said during his weekly Angelus prayer in Saint Peter's Square. Since his election, the pope has expressed concern over the demographic decline in Europe and particularly in Italy, which the Catholic Church believes is fuelled in part by abortion -- a practice which Francis, like his predecessors, fiercely opposes.