The Coadjutor Archbishop of Armagh and next
Catholic primate of all Ireland, Eamon Martin, has asked politicians how
they can “legislate for something which will interfere with the
inviolable right to life of every human person”.
He
continued: “We call on each public representative to search into their
hearts and find there the good news about life which is at the centre of
our gospel.”
He said: “In many ways what we have
been served up the last month or two is a mantra that ‘this is
restrictive, this is about saving lives and we’re not going to talk
about it anymore’.”
He described as “spin” much commentary
surrounding the Government’s proposed abortion legislation which he said
claims it is “about saving lives, that it is restrictive and that it
represents no change”.
He added: “We [bishops] say
that any legislation that is proposing for the first time in this
country the deliberate and intentional killing of an unborn child
represents a radical change for all of us in this country.”
Make views known
He said the bishops were calling on people to make their views widely known to their public representatives.
Bishop
of Limerick Brendan Leahy said: “Abortion is never a solution. There
are other ways and we feel that this short statement . . . we’d like to
promote it, that people would read it.”
Both men
were speaking to media at Maynooth following publication of a
Catholic bishops’ statement on abortion which they hope will be read out
in parishes this weekend.
Archbishop Martin said he “finds it strange
that excommunication, which happens so rarely in the church, has become a
major issue on the front pages of the newspapers. We feel it’s a
distraction.”
‘Not a church issue’
Asked if other churches in Ireland and the non-Christian religions that believe abortion should be allowed in certain instances were wrong, he responded: “It is not even a church issue. It is an issue for every human being. Abortion is wrong if there was no other church, no Catholic Church, no other Christian churches.”
Where a
free vote in the Dáil on the proposed abortion legislation was
concerned, he said: “We believe conscience is a fundamental foundational
right and that everyone should be allowed express their conscience in
this matter. What we’re trying to do is inform conscience.”
Asked
whether the church had a credibility issue when taking a stance on
conscience, considering its silencing of priests who in good conscience
had spoken against church teaching on mandatory celibacy, homosexuality
and women priests, he agreed.
“The church has a
credibility issue on this and we have to let people be entitled to do
that. I think it would be incredible for the church not to speak the
gospel of life . . . and not to point out to all people . . . that this
is a very critical issue.”