Pope Francis has compared abortion to 'hiring a hitman' during a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference.

Abortion can never be condoned, even when the fetus is gravely sick or malformed, Pope Francis said during a pro-life conference held in the Vatican this morning.

He urged doctors and priests to support families to carry all pregnancies to term - even where death is the result.

The Pope spoke out during an audience at a Vatican-sponsored anti-abortion conference

The Pope claimed his opposition to abortion was not for religious issues, but for human ones.

He said: 'Is it licit to throw away a life to resolve a problem?

'Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?'

Francis disagreed with abortions done on grounds of prenatal testing which reveals problems with the fetus.

He said a human being is 'never incompatible with life'.

He compared abortion to 'hiring a hitman' and said: 'Is it licit to hire a hitman to resolve a problem?'. Pictured at the conference

Even if a baby is so unwell it will die in the womb or shortly after birth Francis says they should be looked after for as long as possible.

'Taking care of these children helps parents to grieve and not only think of it as a loss, but as a step on a path taken together,' Francis said.

The conference was organised by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, and the 'Heart in a Drop' Foundation, which works to welcome 'children born in conditions of extreme fragility'.

He told the crowd every child is 'a gift that changes the history of a family…and this child needs to be welcomed, loved and cared for'.

He said often the 'mere suspicion of disease can change the experience of pregnancy,' and even risk 'throwing women and couples' into a 'deep despair'.

But 'the evolution of every disease is always subjective and often not even doctors know how it will manifest itself in the individual', according to the Pope.

Francis has spoken out strongly against abortion, although he has also expressed sympathy for women who have had them and made it easier for them to be forgiven.

Francis disagreed with abortions done on grounds of prenatal testing which reveals problems with the fetus. He said a human being is 'never incompatible with life'.

In 2015 he wrote a letter to the Vatican saying priests could use their discretion to formally forgive women who had an abortion and wanted absolution.

At the time Joe O'Brien, writing for Catholics for Choice, said: 'The very narrowness of Francis' idea of a particular "year of mercy" suggests that he still has a blind spot when it comes to women and what they need or want.

'In all the talk about abortion and women, Francis also fails to mention men—a sin of omission I have no doubt—considering that men are just as involved in the baby-making process, as well as often part of family planning decisions.'

But in June 2018 the Pope likened abortion to Nazi eugenics - saying parents should accept the children God gives them.

At a meeting of an Italian family association he told those gathered that as a child he was horrified to hear stories from his teacher about children 'thrown from the mountain' if they were born with malformations.

'Today we do the same thing,' he said. 'Last century, the whole world was scandalised by what the Nazis did to purify the race. Today, we do the same thing but with white gloves.'