Pope New Year's first Mass message is "Anti-abortion...Respect for life".

Pope Francis repeatedly urged all believers to refuse abortions in his first Mass of the New Year.

"I pray that everyone can learn to take care of every child born to a woman," the pope said in a Mass on the feast of St. Peter's at the Vatican.

"I urge a firm will to respect life from pregnancy to natural death," he said, adding, "Only then can each person cherish their lives and look to the future."

Pope Francis is considered the most reformative pope of all time, but maintains a conservative view on abortion.

In particular, when he visited Belgium in September last year, he visited the tomb of the Belgian king, who refused to approve the abortion law, calling it a "murderous law."

In a meeting with the Vatican's press corps, he strongly criticized, "The doctor who performs abortion surgery is a murder contractor."

Since then, a campaign to cancel baptism has been staged in Belgium to protest the pope's remarks, and about 500 Catholics have joined the cancellation.