'Abortion cannot be a human right'

Pope Benedict XVI takes a swipe at Amnesty International's controversial new abortion policy during a three-day visit to Austrian Marian shrine
BY MARK GREAVES
POPE BENEDICT XVI declared on the first day of his trip to Austria that abortion could never be considered a human right.
His statement has been seen as a criticism of Amnesty International, which announced in August that it would defend abortion rights in certain situations.
"The fundamental human right, the presupposition of every other right, is the right to life itself," Benedict XVI told diplomats, government ministers and representatives of international organisations last Friday.
"This is true of life from the moment of conception until its natural end. Abortion, consequently, cannot be a human right it is the very opposite. It is a deep wound in society."
Last month Amnesty's International Council voted to support the decriminalisation of abortion and to defend women's access to abortion "when their health or human rights are in danger".
Bishop Michael Evans of East Anglia and Cardinal Keith O'Brien have both quit the organisation in response to its decision.
The Pope, in his address at the former imperial Hofburg Palace, Vienna, said that he was speaking on behalf of unborn children "who• have no voice".
"I do not close my eyes to the difficulties and the conflicts which many women are experiencing, and I realise that the credibility of what we say also depends on what the Church herself is doing to help women in trouble," Benedict XVI said.
The Pontiff also called on political leaders assembled in the palace's reception hall to protect people against the growing threat of euthanasia.
He said he feared that "at some point the gravely ill or elderly will be subjected to tacit or even explicit pressure to request death or to administer it to themselves".
The Pope added that defending life should not be dismissed as just a Catholic issue.
The Church is not expressing "a specifically ecclesial concern" but is advocating "a profoundly human need", he said. Abortion is available in Austria during the first three months of pregnancy and later in pregnancy under more restricted circumstances.
The Catholic Church runs a network of homes for unwed mothers, as well as for the dying.
In his speech Benedict XVI warned politicians not only about abortion and euthanasia but also about the state of Europe itself.
He said: "Europe cannot and must not deny her Christian roots. These represent a dynamic component of our civilisation as we move forward into the third millennium."
In a theme he touched on repeatedly during his three-day tour of Austria, the Pope said that Europe must not "give up on itself'.
He argued that although Europe was ageing demographically it should not become "old in spirit".
The Pontiff appealed to politicians not to allow children to be considered "as a form of illness" and to do everything possible to make Europe more welcoming to new life to consider it a gift rather than a burden.
The following day the Pope gave the same warning to 30,000 people at the Marian shrine of Mariazell.
He said: "Europe has become child-poor. We want everything for ourselves and place little trust in the future."
The Pope arrived at Vienna's airport early on Friday and was met by Austria's President Heinz Fischer and Cardinal Cristoph Schonbom of Vienna.
He was then driven to the Am Hof plaza where the "Mariensaule", a bronze column dedicated to Mary, was placed in 1667 to commemorate the defeat of an invading Muslim army. Cardinal Schonbom joined him again for a prayer vigil and Eucharistic adoration.
Benedict XVI continued on to the nearby Judenplatz, the site of a monument dedicated to the memory of Austrian Jews who died in the Holocaust. He prayed there for several minutes with the Chief Rabbi Paul Chaim Eisenberg.
On Saturday the Pope travelled to the Marian shrine of Mariazell in order to celebrate its 850th anniversary.
The shrine, which draws a million pilgrims every year, houses a small wooden statue of Mary that was brought to the town in the 12th century by a Benedic tine monk. Benedict XVI told reporters that the trip to Austria was merely a pilgrimage to Mariazell and not a "political visit".
On Sunday the Pope celebrated Mass in Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral, and urged Catholics to protect Sunday as a day of spiritual focus.
He also told a gathering of Austrian volunteers that Christian charity "shatters the rules of a market economy". He said that volunteer work went beyond "a culture which would calculate the
cost of everything-. Catholic commentators have hailed the Pope's visit as a success, albeit a low-key one with small crowds and no stadium events.
John Thavis, writing for the Catholic News Service in America, said: "Although the Pope's events during the visit were lowkey, his message was not.
"To diverse audiences of Catholic faithful, politicians, Church ministers and volunteers, he argued that Europe risks adopting a godless vision that will inevitably lead to a spiritual, social and demographic dead-end."
John Allen, the influential columnist for the American journal National Catholic Reporter, praised Benedict XVI's "more nuanced presentation".
He said the Pope had managed to avoid the controversy he created during his trips to Germany and Brazil, when he caused anger among Muslims and some South American indigenous groups.
It seemed, he suggested, that the Pope had "learned a key lesson from negative public reaction to his earlier addresses— better to insert the caveats now, rather than waiting for the heartache that will otherwise surely follow".
But Michael Walsh, a former librarian at Heythrop College in London, said that Benedict XVI "did not seem to be fazed by divisive topics".
He said that his prayer at the Mariensaule appeared to be a rather pointed gesture.