Archbishop says government officials who support abortion are negligent in their duties

Madrid, Spain, Mar 27, 2006 / 22:00 pm

In his weekly pastoral letter, Archbishop Braulio Rodriguez Plaza of Valladolid, Spain, has denounced Spanish governmental officials who support abortion, saying their negligence has prevented thousands of citizens from being born.

In his letter, the archbishop recalled the “chilling number of 85,000 abortions in Spain in 2004,” which he blamed on the State for failing “to protect and look after the physical integrity of its citizens.”

Christians reject abortion, he said, not only for religious reasons, but also because “logically it is incomprehensible.”  He rejected the idea that acceptance of abortion is a sign of social progress.  “It’s not a question of legality, or of social progress, but of respect for life,” he added.

Archbishop Rodriguez Plaza also reached out to women who have had abortions because of “pressure from society or a lack of alternatives,” saying he wished to convey to them a “message of hope,” and he expressed his support for crisis pregnancy centers that “provide pregnant women with alternatives.”

Likewise, the archbishop criticized a newly passed law in Spain on assisted reproduction, which he said “shows no respect whatsoever for the embryo, and even goes so far as to employ the unscientific concept of pre-embryo.”  Echoing the words of Pope Benedict XVI to the members of the Pontifical Academy of Life, he said, “The Bible expresses love for each human being, even before he is formed in his mother’s womb.”

“The love of God for all human beings is already present at the beginning of the life of the embryo before it is implanted in the womb of its mother,” the archbishop stated.