Senior Catholic bishops are urging British worshippers to carefully consider candidates' policies toward marriage and abortion when they vote in the looming national election - a move likely to benefit the opposition Conservatives. In a guide to the election, Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols urges voters to back lawmakers who "support marriage as a key building-block of a stable society" and who oppose abortion and euthanasia.
Although Nichols insists the Roman Catholic Church does not endorse any individual party, the document is critical of the record of Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Labour Party, which has held office for 13 years.
The vote has not yet been set, but must be held by June 3.
It is expected to be May 6.
The guide criticizes the "growth of regulations, targets and league tables," in public services and an "excessive emphasis" on individualism. It calls on Britain's next government to put "a new sense of service to others at the heart of our institutions."
A Catholic checklist for voters suggests reviewing candidates' and party stances on abortion, marriage, poverty, religious freedom and migrants.
"The fundamental question we each need to ask ourselves in deciding who to vote for is not who will best serve me, but who will best serve the common good," the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales said in a joint statement accompanying the guide.
Opposition Conservative Party leader David Cameron is most likely to benefit from the church's intervention - he has pledged tax breaks for married couples and previously backed attempts to lower from 24 weeks to 20 weeks the limit in Britain for a fetus to be aborted.
The Catholic election guide also urges volunteer groups and charities to take a greater role in solving social problems, a key plank of the Conservatives' manifesto.
In a video message, Nichols chastised lawmakers over an expenses scandal and bankers over the financial meltdown - but also said Catholic clergy had failed the public over sex abuse cases.
"We know the damage that can be done when trust is betrayed," he said.
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