Dominican Cardinal Slams President Obama's Abortion Policy

"In our country there are many institutions dedicated to promoting abortion and killing children" that will now receive American dollars.

SANTO DOMINGO (CNA) - Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) called the decision by President Barack Obama to lift the prohibition against giving federal funds to organizations that promote abortion overseas "embarrassing for the United States."

The cardinal said it was a "political contradiction" that the new American president "would decide to leave Iraq, where so many people have died, and now give an incentive to death in the United States and the world."

"Mr. Barack Obama is radically mistaken, so I hope he has the time and the chance to reflect that this is not the way to begin the moral reconstruction of the United States," he added.

"The United States," the Archbishop of Santo Domingo said, "is not going to benefit at all from this measure, what he (Obama) is doing is bringing down the country's morality even more."

The cardinal said the decision would have "dramatic consequences" for the Dominican Republic, because "in our country there are many institutions dedicated to promoting abortion and killing children" that will now receive American dollars.

He called on Dominicans to work "to provide our children with healthy environments, a place where they can live in peace and that they can be welcomed by a society that can educate them."

Organizations that promote abortion in the Dominican Republic such as "Profamilia" and "Mujer y Salud" said last week they would be requesting funding from the U.S. agencies that provide overseas assistance.

---

Founded in continued response to Pope John Paul II’s call for a “New Evangelization,” the Catholic News Agency (CNA) has been, since 2004, one of the fastest growing Catholic news providers to the English speaking world.