VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- The Vatican's chief foreign-policy representative has condemned UN programs that seek to promote contraception and abortion.

    Archbishop Jean-Louis Tauran, the Secretary for Relations with States, issued a somber warning against "threats to human life" in his February 11 remarks to the Pontifical Academy for Life. The Academy was meeting in Rome to discuss Pope John Paul's encyclical Evangelium Vitae, which was published in March 1995.

    Archbishop Tauran lamented that many offenses against the dignity of human life are now treated as if they were fundamental rights. He pointed out that the drive to promote contraception and abortion began several years ago, amid fears that the earth's population would outstrip the availability of food and other basic necessities. "Those fears are now recognized as unfounded," he observed. But now the proponents of abortion and contraception have shifted their rhetorical strategy, saying that these measures are necessary in order to give 'individuals freedom over their own bodies."

    The archbishop said that UN conferences-- such as the Cairo conference on population in 1994, and the Beijing conference on women in 1995-- had seen important battles between proponents and foes of abortion and contraception. He explained to his audience that some groups use these conferences to introduce new theories in international law-- theories that will later be invoked to justify changes in international policies or in the laws of smaller nations. He pointed out that many international bodies-- such as the World Health Organization and the Red Cross-- have now been enlisted in efforts to promote "emergency contraception" in places such as Rwanda and Kosovo.