Life Issues Must Be Central to Catholics’ Voting Decisions

Sweep Abortion Supporters out of Office says Rio de Janeiro Bishop
Warns “It is no longer possible to straddle the fence.”
By Hilary White

RIO DE JANEIRO, August 30, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In a lengthy interview, an auxiliary Catholic bishop of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, told a Rome news service, Zenit, that the life issues must become central to Catholics’ voting decisions.

With general elections looming in Brazil, Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa, said that abortion and euthanasia are becoming pressing issues for Christians everywhere. “It is no longer possible to straddle the fence.”

Bishop Lara Barbosa had strong words for politicians who have failed to take a strong stand for life or who have used their religious affiliation disingenuously to gain voter support, saying they should be “swept” out of office.

Life issues should be central to all voters' decisions, Catholic or otherwise. It is incoherent for a truly civilized society to allow or promote abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, infanticide, and embryonic stem cell research. A society which permits such evils is committing suicide. In time, that society, after having abandoned the principles of natural law and morality, will be cease to exist or be enslaved by others.