"The Pontifical Academy for Life reiterates that precisely in the era of universal human rights, there cannot be a ‘right' to take a human life," the academy wrote in a March 4 statement released by the Bishops' Conference of France following the historic vote.

The Pontifical Academy for Life went on to appeal to "all governments and all religious traditions to do their best so that in this phase of history, the protection of life becomes an absolute priority, with concrete steps in favour of peace and social justice, with effective measures for universal access to resources, education, and health."

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"We are facing a real social question! It's as if we didn't know how to approach it, and so, in order not to discuss it, to debate it, we put it in the Constitution," the archbishop told Vatican News on October 30, a day after Macron made his comments.

"This appears to be an admission of weakness in our ability to calmly debate the subject of abortion," added the 70-year-old d'Ornellas, who has been archbishop of Rennes since 2006.

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