Cardinal Rouco warns doctors cannot be forced to perform abortions

Madrid, Spain, Jun 4, 2009 / 14:28 pm

Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid warned the government of Spain this week it cannot force doctors to perform abortions or to distribute the morning-after pill.

During the closing of a course on ethics and the future of democracy at the University of San Pablo, the cardinal said that in the case of judges who deny marriage to a homosexual couple, “the situation is different.”

The case of doctors and pharmacists, he said, is “very clear.” Catholic politicians “cannot be active subjects in the drafting of a law” such as the law on abortion or homosexual marriage, the cardinal added.

As regional elections approach this Sunday, Cardinal Rouco called on voters to prudently cast their ballots. “No party completely represents the Gospel,” he pointed out.

He went on to note that today’s society is undergoing “a moral crisis” that is mainly affecting the right to life and marriage. Some laws are questioning and even destroying the conscience, he said. The State has no right to make itself “the creator and shaper” of the family,” the cardinal warned.