Brazilian Bishop says that use and distribution of abortion pill cause for excommunication

"This policy is wicked and immoral, and in this case, both those who use it and those who incite its use are committing a crime punishable by excommunication," Archbishop Cardoso said.

BRASILIA (CNA) - Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho of Olinda e Recife, Brazil strongly criticized a plan by local officials to widely distribute the morning-after pill during the upcoming Carnival festival and warned that those who use the pill are subject to excommunication.

The archbishop took note that because of widespread "casual sex" that occurs during Carnival--the festival that precedes Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent--the morning-after pill will be widely distributed, in addition to thousands of condoms.

On Thursday Archbishop Cardoso said the distribution of the pill which is an abortifacient "is aberrant and illegal," since in Brazil abortion is illegal.

He said the archdiocese intends to ask the courts to block the plan and warned that those who use the pill are subject to excommunication. "This policy is wicked and immoral, and in this case, both those who use it and those who incite its use are committing a crime punishable by excommunication," Archbishop Cardoso said.

He also said he would provide guidance to priests in the archdiocese regarding how to address the issue from the pulpit.

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