AFRICA/NIGERIA - The Bishops in Ibadan: "We are concerned about the violation regarding the sanctity of life"

Tuesday, 14 April 2015

Abuja (Agenzia Fides) - "The present situation of continual bloodshed due to wanton killing, terrorism, inter ethnic conflicts, ritual killing, armed robbery, murders, traffic accidents and suicide in Nigeria seriously calls to question our identity as Africans and our civility as a nation", say the Bishops of Ibadan Ecclesiastical Province, in southern Nigeria, during the International Conference dedicated to family and to life, which opened in Ibadan yesterday, April 13, and will end on the 15th.
The document, sent to Agenzia Fides, highlights that God is the giver of all human life and "therefore begins at the moment of conception, and must be protected until natural death". "Nigerians - underline the Bishops - love life, they welcome children as precious gifts, celebrate motherhood and uphold marriage as a union between man and woman. Every child deserves a home and the love and care of a father and a mother".
This is the reason why, the Bishops "condemn the relentless promotion by some international organizations of Western style “sexuality and reproductive rights”, a euphemism for abortion, artificial family planning and a culture of contraception, as deceptive and unacceptable".
Finally, what is stressed is that "the entire human person belongs to God. This means that neither the human person nor his body parts can be reduced to commodity for commercial purposes. Therefore, we strongly condemn human trafficking, the sex trade, human egg trafficking, embryo manipulations and organ poaching or harvesting". (L.M.) (Agenzia Fides 14/04/2015)


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