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ROME


Seewald promises frank interview with the Pope


CLERICAL SEX abuse, condoms and Aids, priestly celibacy, women priests, contraception and same-sex relationships are among the controversial issues discussed by Pope Benedict XVI in a wide-ranging book-length interview that will be published later this month, writes Abigail Frymann. Its US publisher, Ignatius Press, says the


Pope deals with some of the central questions facing the Church today. The author, German journalist Peter


Seewald, asks the Pope about the cause of the clerical sex-abuse scandal, whether there was a cover-up and if he has considered resigning. The book, Light of the World, consists of a series of interviews with Seewald and will appear on 24 November in 10 languages. According to Ignatius Press, the Pope gives “thoughtful, straightforward and thought- provoking replies” to the journalist’s questions. It is understood that Pope Benedict talks about the Church’s ban on the use of condoms to combat the transmission of HIV. En route to Africa in 2009, he said that condom dis- tribution without behaviour change “increases” the problem of HIV/Aids. There has been pressure on the Church to soften its line on the use of condoms by married couples where one partner is HIV-positive. Cardinals Godfried Danneels, Carlo Maria Martini, Peter Turkson of Accra, Ghana, and Christian Wiyghan Tumi of Douala in Cameroon have indicated support or sympathy for couples in these circumstances who use condoms. Seewald interviewed Benedict XVI previ- ously as Cardinal Ratzinger for two earlier books, Salt of the Earth and God and the World. His latest volume contains a foreword by the respected biographer of John Paul II, George Weigel. In the new book, Seewald also asks the Pope about dialogue with Islam, Communion for divorced and remarried Catholics, whether there is any hope for Christian unity, and papal infallibility.


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UNITED STATES


Pro-lifers retain influence as Democrats lose support


Michael Sean Winters In Washington


REPUBLICANS GAINED control of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, but failed in their bid to take control of the Senate. Among the Democrats defeated in their re-


election bids were several pro-life Democrats who tend to represent more conservative dis- tricts. The new Congress, like the one it will replace, will have a pro-life majority in the House but not in the Senate. Additionally, one of the most senior Catholics in the Government, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, although winning re-election in her own dis- trict, will be passing the Speaker’s gavel to fellow Catholic Congressman John Boehner. Republicans also picked up key governor- ships in the industrial Midwest and maintained control of the state house in Texas. Next year, based on the census completed this year, every state must re-draw the lines of its congressional districts and Texas is expected to gain four new congressional seats because of population growth. The Republicans did lose the governorship in the largest state, California. The most controversial political phenom- enon this year, the rise of the conservative Tea Party, received a mixed verdict on Tuesday


night. The group includes both social and fiscal conservatives and some critics charge it with tolerating racist attitudes among its members, especially in its anti-immigrant stance. Tea Party-backed candidates won Senate races in Florida, Kentucky and Utah but lost in Delaware and Nevada. The Tea Party candidate in Alaska was also expected to lose his bid. In the days before the election, Cardinal- designate Raymond Burke, head of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, said in an inter- view that “you could never justify voting for a candidate who not only does not want to limit abortion but believes that it should be available to everyone”. But New Orleans Archbishop Gregory Aymond gave more nuanced advice, urging Catholic voters to consider a range of Christian values when casting their ballots, including human dignity, specifically the right to life from conception to natural death, traditional marriage, a sen- sitivity to the poor and the rights of workers. US bishops were decidedly less vocal in the political arena this year than they were during the presidential election in 2008. But such social issues played a relatively minor role in this week’s elections. The high unemployment rate and still sluggish economy were responsible for the Republican gains.


BRAZIL Church denies deterring votes for Rousseff


BRAZIL’S CHURCH has denied claims that it tried to dissuade voters from backing the country’s newly elected president, Dilma Rousseff, writes Jon Stibbs. Rousseff, 62, of the ruling Workers’ Party, won a run-off poll on Sunday with 56 per cent of the vote, after an earlier poll in which neither she nor her opponent José Serra won more than the 50 per cent needed for an outright victory. Last weekend Bishop Dimas Lara Barbosa,


secretary general of the Brazilian bishops’ conference (CNBB), and Gilberto Carvalho, spokesman for outgoing President Luiz “Lula” da Silva, denied claims published by the Italian news agency ANSA and the Brazilian news- paper Valor Econômico that the President had threatened to revise the country’s con- cordat if bishops continued to question Rousseff’s stance on abortion.


■Days before the run-off election, Pope Benedict XVI told a group of Brazilian bishops on their ad limina visit to Rome that they had a duty to instruct Catholics not to


After the initial election, the bishops’ justice and peace commission issued a statement saying the “CNBB does not suggest any can- didate” but it continued: “We urge Catholics to consider ethical criteria, especially uncon- ditional respect for life, family, religious freedom and human dignity.” Rousseff appeared to have strengthened her opposition to abortion between the two polls. Previously she had said abortion – which is illegal in Brazil in most instances – was “a matter of public health”, which some observers suggested cost her an outright win in the first election on 3 October. But on 13 October she promised not to “propose alterations of points that have to do with abortion legislation and other topics concerning the family”. Pro-lifers noted that this leaves the door open for others to make proposals.


vote for candidates at odds with church teaching on life issues such as abortion and euthanasia. He said: “When defending life, we must not fear hostility or unpopularity


… This also means that on some occasions, pastors must remind all citizens of the right, which is also a duty, freely to use their vote to promote the common good.”


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