_WORLD WATCH______________________________
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Prelate slams contraceptives
Separate statements against family-planning efforts
Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala of Kampala has called on Christians to reject the abortifacient “morning-after” pill being introduced by the Ugandan government.
In his Easter homily, the cardinal pointed out that the “morning-after” pill kills an unborn child. “What the Ministry of Health gave to the women of Uganda on that day [March 8, when the drug became legally available] was this pill which gives them the liberty to terminate human life in its most defenseless form,” he said.
Cardinal Wamala charged that the government was undermining its own efforts to establish peace and public order by engaging in an aggressive family-planning campaign. “This is a lifestyle of contradiction,” he said. “How can you condemn killing yet you allow mothers to kill a life conceived after sexual intercourse—or condemn adultery yet you want to legalize prostitution?”
The cardinal went on to suggest that while the people of Uganda have seen enormous positive changes in economic and social conditions, they should not leap to the conclusion that modern society has improved in all areas. “There is a change in transport, communication, improvement in science and technology, and all these changes that modernity has brought should be embraced by Christians,” he said. But Christians should also recognize the pitfalls of modern society, he continued. For example, he observed, “mothers today give birth to children and then abandon them.”
The fundamental lesson for Christians, the cardinal concluded, is that while embracing the goods of the earth and rejoicing at the progress of technology, they should “reject a lifestyle that is not compatible with the way Christ lived.”
Two weeks later, Cardinal Wamala returned to the same theme in a public address in which he characterized the proponents of contraception as enemies of the Church and called on Catholics to shun their efforts.
The cardinal, who was attending a ceremony in which he baptized over 40 children, said international family planning agencies had declared war on fertility and the family. He went on:
The enemy has attacked several fronts. It has attacked health where the gospel of death is being preached. Abortion and contraceptives are preached daily. The clinics doing this are here. You know them and they all speak the same language. Their duty is to terminate life. Sensitivity seminars—with catchy names like reproductive health, family planning, safe motherhood, and others—have been organized for you. The words are very persuasive, but what is contained inside is the gospel of death.