Defense of family life crucial, says head of Vatican's family council

Published: 2006-03-14

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo spends most of his days behind a desk, but he says he feels like he's "in the eye of the hurricane." As president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, Cardinal Lopez Trujillo has denounced proposals in several countries that would authorize same-sex marriage and adoption. He has helped local churches oppose legislation to legalize abortion or make it easier to obtain and has called promotion of contraceptives a form of "biological colonialism" by drug companies and wealthy nations. He has described drug addiction as a modern "form of slavery that oppresses the whole world." Two years ago, he went on British television to warn that condoms were not an effective barrier against the AIDS virus and suggested condom packets should carry a warning to that effect. Cardinal Lopez Trujillo is convinced that the family risks destruction today and that the church must lead an "evangelical struggle" to defend it. "People don't realize the human tragedy they are preparing," Cardinal Lopez Trujillo said in a recent interview with Catholic News Service. "If you look at Europe or the Americas, there's not a parliament where these issues are not being debated. I think it's providential to have a pope who speaks with courage and clarity -- and to have a curial agency to lend help when needed," he said.

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