Chilean bishops defend unborn from promise of presidential candidate

Santiago, Chile, Mar 18, 2009 / 17:29 pm

With a candidate for the Chilean presidency promising to legalize abortion if elected, the president of the Chilean Bishops’ Conference, Bishop Alejandro Goic Karmelic, issued a statement on Tuesday emphasizing that “the teaching of the Church in support of human life from conception to natural death is well-known by Catholics and the public at large.”

Bishop Goic noted that Pope Benedict XVI “teaches us that the Church must make her message attractive not to make the truth relative but in order to present it in dialogue with the multiple points of view in today’s society.”

He recalled that the Holy Father writes in number 28 of Deus Caritas Est: “The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time she cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper.”

As usual, Bishop Goic pointed out, “during our next Plenary Assembly the bishops will study issues of great concern for us pastors, such as unemployment and the economic crisis, domestic violence, the care of the environment, and the right to life as well.  After the meeting the bishops will probably issue a joint statement on these important issues.”