Pope in South Korea makes silent statement about abortion

SEOUL, South Korea - Pope Francis has generally avoided hot-button "culture war" issues like abortion, arguing that the church's doctrine on the sanctity of life is well-known and that he'd rather emphasize other aspects of church teaching.

But he made a strong, albeit silent anti-abortion statement Saturday during his visit to South Korea, stopping to pray at a monument for aborted babies in a community dedicated to caring for people with the sort of severe genetic disabilities that are often used to justify abortions.

Francis bowed his head in prayer before the monument - a garden strewed with simple white wooden crosses - and spoke with an anti-abortion activist with no arms and no legs.

He also spent an hour blessing and caressing dozens of disabled Koreans who live in the Kkottongnae community.