<div dir="ltr"><h1 class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-title">Pro-life leaders from 13 countries accuse Pope Francis of failing to uphold Church teaching</h1>
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<div class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-author">by <b><a href="http://catholicherald.co.uk/author/staff-reporter/" title="Posts by Staff Reporter" rel="author" target="_blank">Staff Reporter</a></b></div>
<div class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-date">posted <time datetime="2017-12-12 09:51:11">Tuesday, 12 Dec 2017</time></div><div class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-date"><time datetime="2017-12-12 09:51:11"><a href="http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/12/12/pro-life-leaders-from-13-countries-accuse-pope-francis-of-failing-to-uphold-church-teaching/" target="_blank">http://catholicherald.co.uk/<wbr>news/2017/12/12/pro-life-<wbr>leaders-from-13-countries-<wbr>accuse-pope-francis-of-<wbr>failing-to-uphold-church-<wbr>teaching/</a><br></time></div>
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<div class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-featured"><img src="http://catholicherald.co.uk/content/uploads/2017/12/GettyImages-886819752-800x500.jpg" class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-featured-image m_-7755189834381954561gmail-wp-post-image" alt="" style="margin-right:0px" width="347" height="216"> <div class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-featured-caption">
Pope Francis speaks during a weekly general audience at the Paul VI audience hall (Getty Images) </div>
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<p class="m_-7755189834381954561gmail-article-standfirst"><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>One signatory accused the Pope and other members of the hierarchy of</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>spreading errors</b></span></p>
<p>Leaders of pro-life organisations from across the world have
signed a letter accusing Church leaders, including Pope Francis, of
undermining their movement through <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>ambiguous statements and actions
contrary to</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>Catholic teaching.</b></span></p>
<p><a href="https://www.fidelitypledge.com/" target="_blank">The letter says</a> that
<span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>over the past 50 years the pro-life movement has “relied in a particular
way on the immutable teaching of the Catholic Church, which affirms the
moral law with the greatest clarity.</b></span>”</p>
<p>However, the signatories say that i<span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>n recent years that teaching has
increasingly been <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)">replaced by “ambiguity, and even by doctrines directly
contrary to</span> the teaching of Christ and the precepts of the natural
law”.</b></span></p>
<p>The letter then lists the concerns of several documents and letters
to Pope Francis over the past couple of years, including the <a href="http://filialappeal.org/" target="_blank">Filial Appeal</a> in September 2015, the ‘Dubia’, the <a href="http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/09/24/sixty-scholars-and-priests-issue-correction-of-pope-francis/" target="_blank">Filial Correction</a> earlier this year, and <a href="http://catholicherald.co.uk/news/2017/11/01/us-theologian-tells-pope-many-are-losing-confidence-in-you/" target="_blank">Fr Thomas Weinandy</a>’s letter last month.</p>
<p>On top of these, the signatories accuse the Pope of <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>statements and
actions which “contradict the Church’s teaching on the intrinsic evil of
contraceptive acts”, “contradict</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the Church’s teaching on the nature of
marriage</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>and the intrinsic evil of sexual acts outside</b></span> <span style="background-color:rgb(255,242,204)"><b>the union of
marriage”.</b></span></p>
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</div><p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>They also criticise<span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"> </span></b></span><a href="http://w2.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/pont-messages/2016/documents/papa-francesco_20160901_messaggio-giornata-cura-creato.html" target="_blank"><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>his </b><b>approval</b></span></a><span style="background-color:rgb(234,209,220)"><b>
of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which they say “effectively
call for member states to achieve universal access to abortion,
contraception and sex education by 2030”.</b></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>Finally, they condemn the “approach adopted towards sex education, particularly in chapter 7 of <i>Amoris Laetitia</i> and in <i>The Meeting Point</i> programme produced by the Pontifical Council for the Family”.</b></span></p>
<p>Signatories from the UK are John Smeaton of the Society for the
Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), Greg Clovis of Family Life
International UK, and Dr Thomas Ward of the National Association of
Catholic Families.</p>
<p>Irish signatories are Patrick Buckley of European Life Network, John
Lacken of Legio Sanctae Familiae and the Lumen Fidei Institute, and
Anthony Murphy of Catholic Voice.</p>
<p>John Smeaton, chief executive of SPUC, issued a statement accusing
Pope Francis of disseminating errors, and urged priests not to follow
them.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>“Over the last couple of years Pope Francis and Vatican authorities
have capitulated to the ‘culture of death’ by supporting the
pro-abortion United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and by
promoting the agenda of the international sex education lobby through
Amoris Laetitia and the Pontifical Council for the Family’s pornographic
sex education programme. This has a direct effect on real children and
real families,” he said.</b></span></p>
<p>“For this reason the pro-life movement cannot bury its head in the
sand and ignore <span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"><b>what’s happening at the highest levels of the church
today</b></span>,” Smeaton added.</p>
<p><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)">“<b>We must ceaselessly demand that our priests and bishops teach the
fullness of the Church’s doctrine and do not</b><b><span style="background-color:rgb(208,224,227)"> collaborate, even for a
moment, in the dissemination of errors that are tragically being sprea</span>d
by His Holiness Pope Francis and by many other senior members of the
hierarchy.</b></span> If we fail to take this stand we will be failing in our duty
to the weak and vulnerable children that we have pledged to protect.</p></div></div></div><div id="m_-7755189834381954561DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2"><br> <table style="border-top:1px solid #d3d4de">
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