New Book Exposes Vatican Battle With UN, EU, On Life Issues

Hat tip: Catholic World News

For the UN and the European Union, the Enfant Terible Is in Rome
The anti-Catholic ideologies of two international organizations has a name: "reproductive rights." A book lays it all bare. And the Vatican is leading resistance against it

by Sandro Magister

ROMA, July 7, 2005 – The Organization of the United Nations turned 60 years old at the end of June. But the administration of George W. Bush celebrated this in its own way: for the fourth year in a row, it denied payment of the 34 million dollars previously given to the UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.

The reason: the anti-life policies that the UNFPA finances in China, supporting male and female sterilization and forced abortion for handicapped and excess children. With the 34 million dollars that it has saved, the Bush administration will finance medical assistance programs for poor women and children, and contribute to the fight against sexual trafficking in Asia.

During those same days, the UN gathered before the general assembly a meeting of representatives from the 13,000 non-governmental organizations connected to it. But not one of the 200 NGO's selected was pro-life or pro-family. Instead, there were the groups most active in opposing procreation, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO). The latter of these circulated a motion against the "cultural and religious forms of fundamentalism" that impede "reproductive rights."

Also during those same days, on the other side of the Atlantic, the parliament of the European Union approved – with a vote of 360 in favor, 272 opposed, and 20 abstentions – a "Resolution on the protection of minorities and on policies against discrimination." In it, religious liberty is indicated as a potential threat against the "free circulation of married or legally recognized homosexual couples within the European Union." One of the votes in favor of the resolution came from deputy Vittorio Prodi, brother of Romano Prodi, a progressivist Catholic and head of the Italian government from 1996 to 1998, as well as president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004.

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The Holy See has its own representatives at both the EU and the UN. It enjoys the status of permanent observer at the Glass Palace, which was confirmed and reinforced by a resolution on July 1, 2004. But it does not enjoy an easy life in either of these two great international organizations.

On the contrary, the Catholic Church is frequently treated as enemy number one. This is because it is a monotheistic religion, and so is held to be a source of intolerance. And it is so above all because it is an antagonist – together with the current American administration – of the philosophy of "reproductive rights" that is the unquestionable position of the UN and the EU in matters of family and procreation.

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A book has been published in Italy that brings to light for the first time in a direct and detailed way this anti-Catholic aversion of the UN and the EU. The title is explicit: “Contro il cristianesimo. L'ONU e l'Unione Europea come nuova ideologia [Against Christianity: The UN and the European Union as a New Ideology].”

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My Comments:
So then, why is the Vatican so supportive of these international organizations?