The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) has maintained the church’s stand against policies that tend to degrade human dignity and urged governments at different levels to support its position.
The President of CBCN, the Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, said this in Abuja on Thursday at the opening of an international conference on promoting family and pro-Life.
Kaigama said that the Federal Government, private organisations and individuals must resist all overtures from foreign organisations and governments to indulge in practices that would degrade the human life.
The cleric said that insurgency and other forms of criminality in the society could be reduced, if stakeholders in Nigeria supported policies that promote human dignity.
“The Catholic Church has always promoted life, has always taught its faithful that life is a gift from God and that the dignity of every human person is not diminished by biological, socio-economic or political circumstances.
“The church has maintained that to take one’s life or the life of another person is a mortal sin.
“This includes the use of contraceptives, induced abortion, infanticide, homicide and all forms of murder, many of which are taking place in Nigeria.
“In both theory and practice, the Catholic Church is pro-life, pro-family and pro-faith.’’
Kaigama called for more action by catholic faithfuls, Christians and Nigerians in general for the promotion of pro-life, pro-family and pro-faith.
He said that parents and guardians must create time for their families, to help check the activities of their children and wards in order to reduce their tendencies to indulge in practices that were against the Church.
Kaigama said that the family and pro-life conference was conceived to promote the ideals and practice of pro-life in society and restate the church’s stand on issues of abortion and same sex union, among other practices.
In his presentation, the Catholic Archbishop of Owerri, the Most Rev. Anthony Obinna, said there was the need for the church to scale up pro-life activism in Nigeria.
He said that pressures from Europe and other parts of the world must not be underestimated by both the government and other stakeholders.
Obinna urged the civil society, church societies and other pro-life groups to launch a national project to ensure a robust public enlightenment campaign and to take the message to the grassroots.
He called for concerted efforts by all and sundry to protect the dignity of human life in Nigeria and to propagate the teachings of the church.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Catholic bishops and other clergymen joined by the faithful went round the National Christian Centre, in a procession to mark the beginning of the three-day conference.
NAN reports that several papers on scaling up pro-life activities in Nigeria were presented at the opening of the conference by resource persons from within and outside Nigeria.
A march/rally to further sensitise the public on pro- life issues is scheduled to hold from the National Christian Centre to the Catholic Pro-Cathedral in Area 3 on Saturday.
