News

By John-Henry Westen
 
OTTAWA, March 26, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Development & Peace, the development arm of the Canadian bishops conference, is refusing to answer questions regarding allegations that it is funding a pro-abortion group in Bolivia. 

An independent investigation by the US National Catholic Register discovered that D&P was funding a Bolivian group described by the nation’s most prominent pro-life attorney as “one of the most militant, radical and active” of the pro-abortion organizations that lobbied the Bolivian government in 2004-2005 to pass a law legalizing abortion in the predominantly Catholic South American country.
 
Although a D&P spokesman did speak with LifeSiteNews.com about reports of funding pro-abortion groups in Mexico, the subsequent request for answers by the Register regarding the Bolivian group (Centro de Promoción y Salud Integral) were denied 
 
Development and Peace communications official Eleanore Fournier-Tombs told the Register, “We don’t have anything to add on the article that was published about Bolivia.” 
 
After Development and Peace said it wouldn’t provide any comment regarding its funding of the Bolivian group, the Register submitted the same questions to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops (CCCB) for comment.
 
“After having read the questions you had sent, it has been decided that the CCCB cannot respond to the questions posed, as the Conference does not have the necessary specific details,” CCCB communications official Francine Garneau replied to the Register via email. “It is the responsibility of Development and Peace to respond if it is necessary.”
 
See the article published in the National Catholic Register:
https://www.ncregister.com/daily/development_and_peace_questions/