ARCHBISHOP FOLEY ADDRESSES CATHOLIC OBSTETRICIANS

VATICAN CITY, OCT 25, 2002 (VIS) - Archbishop John Foley, president of the Pontifical Council of Social Communications, addressed the Second International Meeting of Catholic Obstetricians today in Rome. He congratulated participants for being "faithful adherents to and indeed apostles of the teaching of the Catholic Church on the sacredness of human life at all stages of its development."

The archbishop said that "as Catholic obstetricians you are more on the front line of media interest than any other Catholic professionals," precisely because of the "issues in which the media have such an intense interest: abortion, contraception, stem cell research, artificial insemination, either by a husband or donor, intrauterine surgery, and indeed a host of others."

He noted that worldwide there "is diminishing respect for motherhood," and that "even in Catholic countries, the birth rate is falling rapidly. ... We must also face the fact that artificial contraception is widely used, even by Catholics apparently without misgivings. Objectively, of course, they are wrong."

"To combat the morally noxious environment in which we live," said Archbishop Foley, "we must promote an environment - especially a media environment - in which human life is respected at every stage of its development" and one "of sexual responsibility and, therefore, of sound family life."

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