Spain: Bishops willing to 'take to the streets' in support of human life

Madrid, Spain, Jan 7, 2009 / 19:29 pm

The spokesman for the Bishops’ Conference of Spain, Bishop Juan Antonio Martinez Camino, said this week the bishops of that country are willing to support new public protests if the current  government continues to insist on liberalizing abortion laws that are being debated in Parliament.

 

“We want to support whatever we can so that lawmakers know that Catholics do not want this,” Bishop Martinez Camino explained during an interview with Europa Press. “Promoting laws that give license to kill contradicts human and Christian consciences,” he added.

 

He also warned that guilt for abortion falls not only on women who choose to have them, but also on “those who do not support them, those who pressure them or mistreat them.” 

Lawmakers didn’t escape the bishop’s warning either, especially those who are believers. Those politicians who promote “these kinds of laws” should be aware that the punishment of excommunication “is not only for the women, but also for all those whose direct collaboration was necessary to carry out an abortion,” he said.

 

Bishop Martinez Camino stressed also that abortion “is not a right,” and called on lawmakers to provide greater assistance and thereby ensure that there is never an excuse for taking the life of another person.

 

“If we have the right to take the lives of our children, we have lost all sense of what rights mean,” he added.

 

The liberalization of the law on abortion would “subtlety and absurdly” justify this practice as a “right,” he continued, and undermine all other personal rights. The license to kill children is “contrary to the concept of rights,” the bishop said.