Cardinal Trip to the Scotland Office.

Cardinal O'Brien's meeting with Parliamentarians at Scotland Office


During a reception at the Scotland Office, Cardinal O'Brien took the opportunity to point out the coherence of the Catholic Church's pro-life stance, linking concern about nuclear weapons and the environment to the defence of unborn children.

He said: "My message has basically been a pro-life message in the widest sense of those words: A call to give life to those many thousands dying each day through lack of food and drink; by joining in the anti-nuclear campaign and also the campaign for a greater awareness of climate change; by entering into the debate with regard to our present abortion laws and the great moral issues coming to the fore recently with regard to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill."

The cardinal went on to outline the Church's proper role in political debate: "We can offer a reminder of the foundational values on which any just society must be built, values which uphold the dignity of all human life, which assert the necessity of supporting family life, of recognising the limits of subsidiarity and the demands of solidarity."

Quoting Pope Benedict XVI he told parliamentarians: "The Church cannot and must not take upon herself the political battle to bring about the most just society possible. She cannot and must not replace the State. Yet at the same time the Church cannot and must not remain on the sidelines in the fight for justice. She has to play her part through rational argument, she has to re-awaken the spiritual energy without which justice, which always demands sacrifice, cannot prevail and prosper. A just society must be the achievement of politics, not of the Church. Yet the promotion of justice through efforts to bring about openness of mind and will to the demands of the common good is something which concerns the Church deeply".