Pope presses Brazil on abortion

SAO PAULO – Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out against abortion at the start of his five-day visit to Brazil, the world’s most populous Roman Catholic nation.

The visit is his first to Latin America since becoming Pope in April 2005. He is to celebrate a series of open-air Masses before travelling to Aparecida for the main event of the visit, a conference of Latin American bishops.There he is expected to touch on the growing challenge the Catholic Church faces from evangelical groups.Moments after arriving in Sao Paulo, the Pope stressed the need to respect life “from the moment of conception until natural death”.He expressed his confidence that the bishops’ conference would take a strong stand against abortion, which Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently described as a public health issue, not a moral one.Speaking on his flight to Brazil, the Pope was critical of a recent move to legalise abortion in Mexico City.He also said his main concern in the region was the dwindling Church membership.According to a recent study, some 64% of Brazilians are Catholic, but this number represents a 10 percentage point fall compared to 10 years ago and contrasts with an upsurge in converts to evangelical churches.The Pope said the issue of Catholics choosing to join evangelical churches was “our biggest worry”.”We need to find a convincing response,” he said.The Brazilian president greeted the Pope as his plane touched down at Sao Paulo’s international airport.”I extend my greetings to all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the words of the Apostle: ‘Peace to all of you who are in Christ’,” the Pope said, speaking in Portuguese.Crowds waited in the rain to catch a glimpse of the pontiff, who later went to a monastery where he will stay during the visit.The two-week forum will bring together almost 200 bishops and cardinals from across Latin American and the Caribbean to set out the Church’s agenda and policies in the region for the coming years.Brazil has more Catholics than any other country in the world.Nampa-APHe is to celebrate a series of open-air Masses before travelling to Aparecida for the main event of the visit, a conference of Latin American bishops.There he is expected to touch on the growing challenge the Catholic Church faces from evangelical groups.Moments after arriving in Sao Paulo, the Pope stressed the need to respect life “from the moment of conception until natural death”.He expressed his confidence that the bishops’ conference would take a strong stand against abortion, which Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva recently described as a public health issue, not a moral one.Speaking on his flight to Brazil, the Pope was critical of a recent move to legalise abortion in Mexico City.He also said his main concern in the region was the dwindling Church membership.According to a recent study, some 64% of Brazilians are Catholic, but this number represents a 10 percentage point fall compared to 10 years ago and contrasts with an upsurge in converts to evangelical churches.The Pope said the issue of Catholics choosing to join evangelical churches was “our biggest worry”.”We need to find a convincing response,” he said.The Brazilian president greeted the Pope as his plane touched down at Sao Paulo’s international airport.”I extend my greetings to all the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in the words of the Apostle: ‘Peace to all of you who are in Christ’,” the Pope said, speaking in Portuguese.Crowds waited in the rain to catch a glimpse of the pontiff, who later went to a monastery where he will stay during the visit.The two-week forum will bring together almost 200 bishops and cardinals from across Latin American and the Caribbean to set out the Church’s agenda and policies in the region for the coming years.Brazil has more Catholics than any other country in the world.Nampa-AP