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Brazilian bishops order recall of abortion-promoting DVD

The National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB) has issued a recall of the DVD "Fraternity and the Defense of Life" after it was revealed that the video contained an interview with a representative of "Catholics for a Free Choice", who denounces the Catholic Church's opposition to contraception and abortion, reports Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSiteNews.com.

The video, which was produced by the Brazilian branch of the Missionaries of the Divine Word, was issued with the logo of the CNBB on the cover. Although it is marketed as a pro-life video, using the slogan "Choose, then, Life", taken from the words of Christ, it shows a "Catholic" pro-abortion representative promoting abortion and denouncing the Catholic Church's teachings.

Dulce Xavier, a member of "Catholics for a Free Choice", spends five minutes on the video lambasting the Catholic Church for opposing contraception, and defends the use of public hospitals for abortions to preserve "the lives of women."

Despite its name, "Catholics for a Free Choice" is officially repudiated by the leadership of the Catholic Church. The organization, created by former Planned Parenthood members and financed by anti-Catholic foundations in the US, opposes the Church's teaching on abortion, birth control, fornication, and sodomy. It even strives to deprive the Vatican of its status as an observer state within the United Nations. It has been denounced repeatedly by Vatican officials and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops.

After the questionable contents of the video were revealed to Brazilian Catholic, the CNBB recalled the video from Catholic bookstores in Brazil, and the Missionaries of the Divine Word removed the offending segment. However, pro-life advocates remain skeptical about the attitude of the CNBB. The organization has repeatedly declined to offer an explanation or apology for the scandal.

This is not the first time the CNBB and other Catholic organizations have cooperated in promoting the agenda of "Catholics for a Free Choice". Despite its role representing the Catholic bishops of Brazil as a collective entity, the CNBB houses its southern regional branch offices in the same building as the pro-abortion organization, the former on the fifth floor and the latter on the sixth floor. Both entities rent their space from the Carmelite Fathers, a Catholic priestly order that is under the authority of the bishops. To date, no explanation has ever been given for this ongoing economic relationship between the entities.

In a column written for the newspaper Diário do Comércio, entitled "Mere Coincidences", Brazilian philosophy professor Olavo de Carvalho notes the many examples of joint activities and an economic relationship between Brazilian Catholic organizations and "Catholics for a Free Choice".

Listing their shared address, joint sponsorship of various conferences and seminars, and finally their cooperation on the "Fraternity and Defense of Life" DVD, Carvalho concludes sarcastically, "In the face of so many coincidences, it is the duty of the faithful to cry out, with devoted trust in the competence of the nation's bishops: the CNBB has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with that abortionist organization. Any suggestion that there might be a pact of complicity between the two entities can only be the work of evildoers, such as the author of this article."

The Catholic news agency ACI Prensa is reporting that the director and editor of the Brazilian Catholic blog Veritatis Splendor, Alessandro Lima, is preparing a letter to be sent to the President of the CNBB, Geraldo Lyrio Rocha, asking for clarification.

[01/22/2008]

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