Australian bishops sever ties with Amnesty due to its abortion policy

Published: 2007-10-09

PERTH, Australia (CNS) -- The Australian Catholic Bishops' Conference has severed all ties between Amnesty International and the Catholic Church in Australia because the human rights organization changed its neutral stance on abortion. "It is with much regret that we are now in a position of having to advise that membership of Amnesty International is no longer compatible with Catholic teaching and belief on this important point," Archbishop Philip Wilson of Adelaide, president of the bishops' conference, announced Oct. 3. "After due consideration we now also urge Catholics and all people who believe in the dignity of the human person from natural conception until natural death to seek other avenues of defending human rights," the archbishop said. A statement from the bishops' conference said that by imposing a new policy in favor of abortion, Amnesty effectively had created a human rights organization that excluded Catholic members.

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