The Tablet, a Catholic newspaper in the UK, reports this month that the leaders of Latvia’s four traditional faiths (Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox are the three main) celebrated the country’s National Day in Riga’s Dome Church, but in a protest against the Government they took no formal part in the proceedings. Archbishop Janis Vanags, head of the Latvian Lutheran Church, explained in an open letter to the President, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, that he and his colleagues from other faiths had taken this stand due to their “sadness and shame” over the stance of the Latvian state on matters of morality during the past year – particularly abortion. https://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin
The first-ever joint assembly of French-speaking and English-speaking Bishops’ Conferences of West Africa noted that one of the biggest “challenges” is “to prepare the people to be wary of dangers: the invasion of the media which undermines morals, foreign cultural models contrary to African solidarity; certain organizations which promote abortion and the birth control.” The bishops met in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso, from 16 – 19 November. 114 Bishops from 16 countries, represented 119 dioceses and almost twenty million Catholics, that is 19,111,936 (or 10 percent) out of the 191,374,527 people who live in West Africa. (Fides, Nov 24, 2000)
London’s Daily Telegraph reported yesterday that the British government is urging pregnant teens to abort their babies. In a new scheme, “pregnancy advisers”, appointed by the Government, will tell girls how to proceed when pregnant, “putting them in touch with GPs, social services and family planning clinics. They will even be accompanied to hospital if they choose to have an abortion.” https://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=003864436460684&rtmo=wetof0Qb&atmo=rrrrrrrq&pg=/et/00/11/26/nabor26.html