WASHINGTON – National Right to Life joins with millions of faithful worldwide in mourning the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI who was a staunch defender of life.

“Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was an unwavering voice for the unborn, those with disabilities and the elderly,” said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life. “His stalwart support of the right to life was grounded in compassion and love.”

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI was an advocate of the right to life and followed the footsteps of his predecessor St. John Paul II in keeping the right to life at the forefront of Catholic teaching, once saying that “God’s love does not differentiate between the newly conceived infant still in his or her mother’s womb and the child or young person, or the adult and the elderly person. God does not distinguish between them because he sees an impression of his own image and likeness in each one.”

In 2007, in an address to the participants in the General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI said, “[L]ife is the first good received from God and is fundamental to all others; to guarantee the right to life for all and in an equal manner for all is the duty upon which the future of humanity depends.”

“Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI will be remembered for his dedication to the pro-life cause and for his work in championing the right to life for the most vulnerable among us,” said Tobias.

Founded in 1968, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of affiliates in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia and more than 3,000 local chapters, is the nation’s oldest and largest grassroots pro-life organization. Recognized as the flagship of the pro-life movement, National Right to Life works through legislation and education to protect innocent human life from abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide and euthanasia.