Pope reaffirms Catholic Church’s anti-abortion stand

11 May, 2007: Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed the Catholic Church’s strong opposition to abortion.

Minutes after arriving in Brazil for his first trip to the Latin American region – also the first long trip of his papacy – Pope Benedict expressed confidence that Latin America’s Roman Catholic leaders will take a strong stand against legalizing abortion.

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, had said a day before that he believes abortion is a public health issue.

However, Pope Benedict XVI predicted that, at an upcoming conference, Brazil’s bishops would reinforce “respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death as an integral requirement of human nature.”

Just before the Pope made his comments on abortion on May 10, 2007, at a ceremony hosted by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Sao Paulo’s airport, one of the Cabinet members said a ‘macho’ culture in Brazil prevented a legitimate debate on the subject. “If men got pregnant, I’m sure this question would have been resolved a long time ago,” Health Minister Jose Gomes Temporao, who favors a referendum on the issue, said.

Half of the world’s 1.1 billion Catholics live in Latin America.

Earlier, as he flew to Brazil from the Vatican City, Pope Benedict XVI had caused a commotion with his comments on abortion.

Pope Benedict, addressing 70 journalists on his Alitalia jetliner headed for Brazil – his first full news conference in two years – had initially avoided any controversial remarks.

According to a Sky News report, when an Italian reporter pressed him on whether he agreed that Catholic legislators who voted to legalize abortion in Mexico City should rightfully be considered excommunicated, the Pope’s reply caused a furor that prompted the papal spokesman to try to downplay the pontiff’s response.

“'This excommunication,” Pope Benedict XVI said, “ was not arbitrary.” “There are provisions set in place by Canon law. The killing of an innocent life is simply not compatible with the communion taken in Christ’s name.”

He said the excommunication is nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. “They simply gave light to laws stated in the Church’s doctrine and reminded us of our appreciation of life.”

The Pope’s response aboard his aircraft seemed to give rise to an active debate within the Catholic Church on Canon law. Media dispatches filed from the plane caused some uproar, with some Church scholars challenging the Pope’s stand.

Vatican officials later explained that the Pope might have inferred from the question that Mexican bishops had issued a formal declaration of excommunication for the legislators, something Mexican Cardinal Norberto Rivera has said he has no intention of doing.

Pope Benedict’s spokesman said the Pope was not setting a new policy and did not intend to excommunicate anyone formally, a rare process under Canon law that is separate from the doctrine of self-excommunication.

The spokesman, however, stressed that those politicians who voted in favor of abortion should not receive the sacrament of Holy Communion.

The teaching of the Catholic Church dictates that anyone who has an abortion is automatically excommunicated.

Excommunication, which is the Catholic Church’s harshest sanction, forbids a person from receiving the sacraments and participating in public worship.