Manila Philippines - The Church has failed to educate the faithful about artificial methods of family planning and population control, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said on Tuesday.
Archbishop Fernando Capalla of Davao, the CBCP president, said the Church’s failure is borne out by the tendency of some poor people to resort to abortion.
“In that sense, we have failed in some way to educate our people about the issues of abortion and population. I know some people are tempted to abort because of economic reasons, but they are misinformed and weak in their moral conscience to say no to the temptation,” Capalla said on his weekly radio program.
He noted that the sin of abortion can be absolved only by a bishop or a deputized priest because the Church wants to emphasize the gravity of the offense.
“To me the murder in abortion is graver than the murder of an adult,” Capalla said.
The Philippines has a population of 81 million, growing at the rate of 2.4 percent annually.
The government has long pointed to the high population growth rate as one of the reasons for the country’s economic problems. Efforts to rein in the growth rate have fallen short.
Following the introduction of a House bill espousing responsible parenthood and population management, the Church has sponsored seminars and workshops and given press conferences explaining the health implications of population control.
The Church believes that House Bill 3773, or the Responsible Parenthood and Population Management Act of 2005, principally authored by Rep. Edcel Lagman, legalizes abortion.
Not true, said Lagman. The bill in fact condemns abortion as a criminal act punishable under the law, he said, and challenged the bishops to a debate.
Capalla and the other bishops declined Lagman’s challenge, saying that instead of daring the Church to a debate, lawmakers should do some soul-searching.
“Some of these people think that after conception, you can abort the fetus to get rid of that human life. That we say is not correct. It is really murder,” Capalla said.
He scored some provisions in the bill defining ways of “inducing” abortion, saying they violate the natural law.
Capalla’s call came after Malacañang announced it would carry out its “Ligtas-Buntis” program meant to deal with the population problem.
The Lagman bill, he said, uses the language of “pro-abortion” delegates to the world conferences in Egypt and China in the mid-1990s.
Because of this, the bill appears to enjoy financial support from foreign agencies, Capalla said.
“Again, they think that development and progress can be done by cutting the population. But look at countries that have now zero population. They have no manpower, they have no more people,” he said.
Capalla reiterated his request to lawmakers to scrutinize the Church’s position on the issue, which he said is based on natural law and the experience of other countries that have zero population growth.