Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Lisbon (Agenzia Fides) - The Catholic Bishops of Portugal will hold a special meeting 16 February to analyse the results of the referendum on the abortion on Sunday February 11. Abortion won but it will not be binding since the necessary quorum of voters was not reached. Only 43.6 per cent of the country’s eligible voters went to the polls. And of these 59.25 per cent voted yes for abortion while the remaining 40.75 per cent said no. Despite the massive abstention the prime minister José Sócrates, whose government as an absolute majority in Parliament, said "abortion will cease to be a crime in the first ten weeks of pregnancy thanks to the victory of yes in the referendum”.
The president of the Bishops’ Conference Archbishop Jorge Ortiga of Braga diocese in press statements said the referendum result should be carefully analysed. "The result is not decisive and the Church is of the opinion that the question of human life should not be treated with a referendum, because a majority vote cannot turn what is evil into good. The Church will continue to be a channel of prophetic denouncement and active solidarity".
Bishop José Pedreira of Viana do Castelo, suggested a revision of the penal code which regulates these matters. Since the final result “is not binding” revision of the law should be the path to follow, he said. For Bishop Serafim Ferreira da Silva emeritus of Leira-Fátima, the result of the Referendum on the legalisation of Abortion "is by no means the end of the battle for respect for human life". (RG) (Agenzia Fides 14/2/2007; righe 20, parole 291)
