Scotland decision on midwives questioned by Catholics
In Scotland, the Court of Session in Edinburgh has ruled that Catholic midwives can
be forced to supervise the carrying out of abortions, a move Archbishop Mario Conti
of Glasgow said ‘contradicted’ Scotland’s ‘most basic freedom.’ On Wednesday, Judge
Lady Smith rejected the case brought by 2 Catholic midwives who claimed that being
made to oversee staff involved in abortions was a breach of their human rights. Archbishop
Conti told Emer McCarthy he views the judgment with ‘deep concern.’
“It is
fundamental to the function of society that all citizens act in accordance with an
informed conscience,” he told Vatican Radio. “And when the State comes in to indicate
to them how far they can so exercise that informed conscience, then we begin to raise
in our minds this whole question of interpreting what the right to religious freedom
means.”
Listen to full interview by Emer McCarthy with Archbishop Conti: