Cardinal says Colombian prelate must decide on penalty for abortion

Published: 2006-08-31

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said it is up to the archbishop of Bogota, Colombia, not Vatican authorities, to determine whether those involved in carrying out Colombia's first legalized abortion should be excommunicated. Colombian Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family, spoke with Catholic News Service Aug. 31, a day after news reports showed conflicting versions of his comments concerning the termination of an 11-year-old girl's pregnancy. The girl had been raped by her stepfather, who admitted to sexually abusing her from the time she was 7 years old. While a Colombian television station quoted the cardinal as saying every Catholic who submits to an abortion will be excommunicated, the cardinal told CNS that he was not pointing to a particular case, but merely giving the church's theoretical, moral stance on the issue. Initial news reports cited the cardinal as saying the people involved in the girl's abortion were excommunicated. "I don't aim to judge in this case," he told CNS, adding that the penalty of excommunication was a matter "that belongs to the archbishop of Bogota," Cardinal Pedro Rubiano Saenz.

Copyright (c) 2006 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .