European Catholics Want Rocco Buttiglione Dropped
Paris (ots/PRNewswire)
- Independent Catholics and Catholic Organisations State Opposition to Buttiglione's Proposed Appointment as Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice
More than 140 prominent independent Catholic leaders and organisations submitted a letter last week to European Parliament president Josep Borrell Fontelles in protest against the appointment of Rocco Buttiglione as Commissioner for Freedom, Security and Justice.
"As European Catholics we disagree with Rocco Buttiglione's positions on the family, on homosexuals, on women, as well as on his promotion of camps for asylum seekers at the borders of the EU. Dr. Buttiglione blames the low birth rate in Europe on women with careers. He has called homosexuality a sin. He believes that AIDS is a 'divine punishment for homosexuality and drug use,'" said Elfriede Harth, the European representative of Catholics for a Free Choice. "Our opposition to this appointment is based on Dr. Buttiglione's lack of credentials and his egregious record of discriminatory remarks and actions. There's nothing anti-Catholic about our opposition to Buttiglione; it's anti-bigotry."
Catholics for a Free Choice has developed a fact sheet on Dr. Buttiglione as part of its "Conservative Catholic Influence in Europe" series. (Available at http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/pdf/buttiglione.pdf.)
Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) is a non-governmental organisation with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations. CFFC is accredited as an NGO with the European Parliament and is part of the Catholic international church reform movement, International Movement -- We Are Church, and the European network, Church on the Move. CFFC shapes and advances sexual and reproductive ethics that are based on justice, reflect a commitment to women's well-being and respect and affirm the moral capacity of women and men to make sound decisions about their lives. Through discourse, education and advocacy, CFFC works in the United States and internationally to infuse these values into public policy, community life, feminist analysis and Catholic social thinking and teaching.
Web site: http://www.cath4choice.org
Contact:
In France: Elfriede Harth, +33-1-39-02-7890, or in US: Michelle
Ringuette, +1-202-986-6093 or +1-202-550-1321, both of Catholics for
a Free Choice