Pope: Contraception OK against Zika virus
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis insisted Thursday that abortion was always a crime but hinted that the Church could exceptionally relax its ban on contraception for women at risk of contracting the Zika virus.
“Abortion is not a lesser evil. It is a crime,” Francis said in response to a question about how best to combat the outbreak across Latin America of a virus linked to birth defects.
But he added, “Avoiding a pregnancy is not an absolute evil.”
The Argentine pontiff, speaking to reporters as he flew back to Rome from a visit to Mexico, categorically ruled out abortion as a response to Zika, comparing the practice to a Mafia killing.
The health crisis has put pressure on Church teachings, particularly in Latin America, where abortion is now being debated more openly even in some conservative countries.
The 79- year- old Francis recalled that one of his predecessors, Paul VI (1963-1978), had authorized nuns working in Africa to use contraceptives in light of a high risk of them being raped by soldiers.
“We must not confuse the evil consisting of avoiding a pregnancy with abortion,” Francis said.
“Abortion is not a theological problem. It is a human problem, medical. One person is killed to save another. It is what the Mafia does,” he
said in the freewheeling, post- trip news conference that has become a trademark of his papacy.
“It is evil in itself, it is not a religious evil, it is a human evil.
“On the contrary, avoiding a pregnancy and, in the cases of Paul VI which I have cited, it was clear.”
Francis did not say exactly when his predecessor made the exception, but it was believed to be in the 1960s in what was then the Belgian Congo. Little is known of the episode, which was not publicized at the time.
The 1.2 billion- member Church teaches that abortion is a crime because life begins at the moment of conception. The Church teaches that contraception is wrong because nothing should block the possible transmission of life.
Paul VI confirmed the Roman Catholic ban on artificial birth control in his major 1968 encyclical “Humanae Vitae” (On Human Life), which ran into strong opposition in some parts of the Church.
Francis urged the medical and scientific communities to do everything possible to find out more about the disease.
“I would also like to exhort doctors to do everything to find vaccines against the mosquitoes that bear this illness. We have to work on that,” he said.
The United Nations and aid organizations have urged countries hit by the virus to ensure women have access to contraception to reduce the risk of infection and the right to abortion should they decide to terminate a pregnancy.
Many Latin American countries outlaw abortion or allow it only if the mother’s life is in danger.
After initially saying little about the outbreak, Catholic leaders in the region have recently begun to assert the Church’s opposition to what it terms “artificial” birth control and abortion.
Instead of using condoms or the contraceptive pill, Church officials have been recommending abstinence or what they term natural family planning – scheduling sexual relations for the least fertile periods of a woman’s menstrual cycle.
Many scientists believe Zika, a mosquito-borne disease that is currently sweeping through the Americas, may be a risk factor for microcephaly in newborns -a condition in which babies are born with abnormally small heads.
Francis was also questioned about the recent revelation that another of his predecessors, John- Paul II, had an “intense” 30- year friendship with a married woman.
The current pope said he had been aware of his Polish predecessor’s friendship with philosopher and writer Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka.
“A man lacks something if he does not know how to have a good rapport with a woman,” he said, adding for good measure that, “sexists are sick.”
Every priest should seek out the feelings of women on different subjects, he said.
“I like to receive advice from women. A friendship with a woman is not a sin – a love affair, on the contrary, is.”
Although he has given no indication of a change in current Church teaching on the question, Francis has said that the requirement of celibacy for Catholic priests is not set in stone and could be reviewed.