Human life under attack in Peru, cardinal warns

Lima, Peru, Mar 25, 2010 / 16:01 pm

The Archbishop of Lima, Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, warned this week that human life from the moment of conception is under attack in Peru through the country's "actions and policies such as abortion and artificial contraception, which are massively promoted as a health policy.”  However in reality, he explained, they “attack the dignity of the human person.”

The cardinal’s comments came in reference to a decision by Peru’s Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte, to allow the distribution of the morning-after pill despite a ruling to the contrary by the country’s Constitutional Court.

“It is a very grave sin to manipulate the beginning of life, to prevent the implantation of a human embryo, or to interrupt the life of a child in any stage before birth. It is to kill a human being, in whom the image of God is present,” the cardinal said.

Any healthy culture recognizes the fundamental principle of the value and dignity of human life, which is protected by the precept, “Thou shalt not kill,” he continued. 

Cardinal Cipriani addressed parents as well and invited them to welcome their children “not only as a great gift from God,” but also as “a new way of receiving Christ himself into the family. 

“In the experience of the transmission of life that all fathers and mothers experience, the fundamental fact of our existence is illuminated: they become aware of a specific relationship, a communion with God, and the sacred value of human life,” the cardinal stated.