The President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference After the Adoption of the Matić Report: Ideology Prevails Over Reason

fot. Oscar Castillo z Pixabay

“I am deeply saddened by the Europarliament’s resolution calling for the possibility to kill unborn children,” wrote Archbishop Stanisław Gądecki, the President of the Polish Bishops’ Conference, on Twitter. This is in response to the decision of the European Parliament to approve the “Matić Report.”

The Metropolitan Archbishop of Poznan stressed that “the culture of life that the EU Founding Fathers had in mind is turning into a culture of death and exclusion, and ideology is prevailing over reason.”

The Matić Report establishes universal access to abortion. The resolution calls on all EU member states to ensure “universal access to safe and legal abortion.” It also encourages ensuring that “abortion on demand is legal in the early stages of pregnancy,” as well as later, “if the health of the pregnant woman is at risk.”

Archbishop Stanislaw Gądecki addressed a message to MEPs on June 22nd urging them to reject the resolution. At the time, the President of the Polish Episcopate wrote: Abortion is always a violation of the fundamental human right to life, a violation even more abhorrent because it concerns the life of the weakest and completely defenseless human being. It is, therefore, a manifestation of the most unjust discrimination.

Archbishop Gądecki noted that the Matić Report negates not only the right to life, but also the right to freedom of conscience. “It should be underscored that the European Union in the Charter of Fundamental Rights explicitly mentions the right to conscientious objection, which is a special characteristic of this organization. The right to conscientious objection, including for medical workers, is explicitly guaranteed in the constitutions of many member states. The adoption of the resolution could, therefore, also be seen as an attack on the constitutions of many Member States,” noted the President of the episcopate in his statement.