The secretary general of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops
of Brazil, Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa, and the spokesman for the
Brazilian president, Gilberto Carvalho, are denying reports that
President Lula da Silva threatened to revise the accords with the
Vatican if Church leaders continued to question Workers’ Party candidate
Dilma Rousseff’s stance on abortion.
In an article published by the newspaper O Globo, Carvalho denied a
report several weeks ago by the Italian news agency ANSA that claimed the president had made the statements.
According to O Globo, Bishop Dimas Lara said, “I have received
nothing on this. I was surprised by the news. There was no threat.”
“That would be the last thing somebody would say during the middle of the presidential campaign,” he added.
The newspaper noted that the accords between Brazil and the Holy See
“were signed by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Pope Benedict
XVI in 2008 and govern legal aspects of the Catholic Church in the
country, including tax-exemption, freedom of religion and religious
education in public schools.”
ANSA had reported that the Brazilian government threatened to
reassess the accords if Church leaders continued to question Workers’
Party presidential candidate Dilma Rousseff’s stance on abortion.
It
cited the Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico as the source of the
story.
Dilma Rousseff has voiced her support for legalized abortion on
various occasions. Her position cost her some seven million votes in the
first round of Brazil’s 2010 presidential elections.
As part of her
strategy for the Oct. 31 run-off vote, she said she was “personally
opposed to abortion” and promised that if she is elected, she would not
sent proposals to legalize the practice to Congress.
Her change in
stance has not convinced Brazilian pro-lifers.
SIC: CNA/INT'L