Manila, Philippines (LifeNews.com) -- The Catholic bishops in the Philippines are continuing their speaking out on behalf of the pro-life position. Now, they are opposing a bill in Congress to spend tax money on birth control and last week they said pro-abortion Catholic politicians are not eligible to receive communion.

Pampanga archbishop Paciano Aniceto blasted a measure in the nation's Congress that would force taxpayers to fund birth control.

He said Catholic families shouldn't be forced to fund something that fundamentally violates their religious views. Most of the Filipino nation is Catholic.

"That's why we are so concerned about this and (we want) to make sure this money will not be used against Catholic families," Aniceto said in a statement on the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines web site Tuesday.

"We are not condemning anybody here because we are only against the bill," he said.

Aniceto also complained that some Catholics are buying into pro-abortion and pro-birth control philosophies and turning their back on Catholic teaching.

He urged these faithful who are supporting "reproductive health" measures to stick with their Catholic beliefs.

"Behave like a Catholic, otherwise you are not what you profess," he said.

The comments come after Archbishop Jesus Dosado of Ozamiz city released a pastoral letter saying that Catholic politicians there who promote overturning the nation's pro-life laws against abortions should not receive communion.

The letter instructs parish priests to deny the sacrament to the pro-abortion politicians until they reverse their position favoring abortion.

It also featured comments from another Filipino archbishop Oscar Cruz, who said that the nation's archbishops haven't come together on a collective policy but he affirmed Catholic teachings allow Dosado to prohibit communion.

The Philippines has been under constant pressure from abortion advocates and the United Nations to legalize abortion and both have claimed that women are dying from the illegal abortions that occur there.

 

 

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