Cardinal Canizares slams Spanish abortion law

Aranjuez, Spain, Jul 21, 2009 / 16:14 pm

The prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and Discipline of the Sacraments, Cardinal Antonio Canizares, asserted on Monday that Spain’s laws, which “must protect the defenseless, are being used today to eliminate those who are weak, innocent and defenseless.”
 
During remarks at King Juan Carlos University, Cardinal Canizares said, “Medicine must be for curing and not for killing.  Laws must serve to protect the defenseless but they are being used to kill these human beings.  The present situation reminds us precisely of the gravity of abortion, a reality that reflects so many things. 

“Without a doubt nothing else more clearly manifests the crisis of humanity we are suffering,” he said.
 
Abortion is a “very grave” problem, he said, and humanity needs to be aware that the greatest crisis we are suffering is the “47 million legal abortions” that, according to the World Organization of Health, take place each year. “This is something unprecedented in the history of humanity,” the cardinal noted.
 
Regarding the question of the excommunication of health care workers who perform abortions, Cardinal Canizares reminded that there is such a thing as “immediate excommunication.”  “This practice is a crime, the killing of a human life, an innocent, weak and defenseless human being.  Is there any other greater atrocity?” he asked.