Italian politicians have responded quickly to comments in which Pope Benedict XVI said that abortion had caused damage in suffering in Italian society since the procedure was legalized in 1978, the ANSA news service reports.When he met on May 12 with members of the Movement for Life, the Holy Father said that legal abortion had "opened another wound in our societies."
Maurizio Lupi, the deputy speaker of the Italian parliament, said that the Pope's words "should not fall on deaf ears."
A colleague in the ruling People of Freedom party, Isabella Bertolini, agreed that the country should "protect the innocents from this massacre."
But health minister Livia Turco disagreed, saying that the Pope's argument "is not out by the facts."
Marco Pannella of the Radical party went further, charging that the Pope's strong words were "an offense against Italian democracy."
Meanwhile the country's incoming prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has promised that his government will address the root causes of abortion.
Berlusconi promised that his government will seek to resolve Italy's demographic decline and support a "culture of life." +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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