Mexico City, Mexico, Aug 27, 2004 / 12:00 am (CNA).- The President of the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, said this week in Mexico that those promote abortion have no place in the Church.

In a clear reference to so-called “Catholic” groups such as “Catholics for a Free Choice,” the Cardinal said, “Those who encourage abortion, those who obtain abortions, those who perform them, are outside the Church.”

Likewise he said that abortion would never be a “lawful alternative” in the Church.  “The Fifth Commandment says, thou shall not kill.  Abortion kills, therefore it is murder, and the worst part is that it’s the mother who kills her own, defenseless child,” he said.

As President of the Mexican Theological Society, Cardinal Lozano is participating in a Pastoral Health Care conference organized by the Archdiocese of Morelia.

“Abortion is when someone intentionally and knowingly does it.  Natural miscarriages occur, of course, that is normal.  Our Lord is not dumb,” he pointed out.

He also underscored the abortifacient nature of the morning after pill and that the best way to prevent AIDS is not through the use of condoms but through conjugal fidelity.

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