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Thursday January 10, 2008


Historic Agreement between Irish Protestants and Catholics Sees Unity on Pro-Life Issue

By John Connolly

BELFAST, January 10, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It was recently revealed to the public that Ian Paisley, first minister of Northern Ireland, and the Irish Catholic episcopate are united in their opposition abortion. This significant agreement is considered by some to be common ground that could be used for leverage to heal the rift between the two portions of Ireland.

Opposition to abortion was agreed as central common ground by Paisley and Archbishop Sean Brady at their historic meeting in October.

The October meeting was heralded as a huge step toward healing the rift between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic, a religiously fueled conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Paisley, a staunch Protestant who has balked at meeting with leaders of the Catholic Church in previous years, said to the press that the meeting had been productive.

Paisley, 81, is the leader of the Presbyterian Church of Ulster, a strongly anti-Catholic denomination that he founded in 1951. Although he agrees with many of the Catholic Church’s tough lines on moral issues, Paisley has been heretofore uncompromising in his condemnation of the hierarchy that four million Irish citizens are under.

The newly established common ground between Paisley and the Catholic Church, however, could make all the difference in talks for a power-sharing agreement between Northern Ireland and Sinn Fein, the political party of the Irish Republic.

Using their mutual opposition to abortion as a foundation, Paisley hoped to work closer to gaining concessions from Catholics in the south of Ireland concerning unrelated matters, such as Northern Ireland’s right to an independent police force.

Abortion was also discussed by Church officials at their autumn meeting in October. In November, Catholic priests were ordered by Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin to reiterate the Church’s opposition to all forms of abortion, including the morning-after pill. The instruction to speak out in sermons on “the defense of the value and worth of human life in the womb” was given in a document by Archbishop Martin entitled “Blessed is the Fruit of Your Womb.”

The letter underscored the sacredness of human life at all stages of development, reiterating the Church’s stances against abortion and euthanasia.

“The Church is opposed to all direct attacks against innocent human life such as abortion, abortifacient pills and devices, the abortion pill and the morning-after pill, destructive embryo and embryonic stem cell research, genetic engineering, euthanasia, because it believes that every life has purpose, meaning and inherent value,” the pastoral letter said.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

British Government to Lower Northern Ireland Age of Sexual Consent
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/nov/07112008.html

Amnesty International Ireland Says It Has Not Opted Out of Organization’s Abortion Advocacy Contrary to Reports
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07082106.html

Largest Pro-life Rally in Ireland in Fifteen Years Expected Saturday
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jul/07070508.html


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