NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      THE HAGUE (CWNews.com) - A US-based pro-abortion group claiming to represent grassroots Catholics has been given a prominent role at a UN population conference this week, according to the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CAFHRI) on Wednesday.

      CAFHRI said in a report that Frances Kissling of Catholics for Free Choice hosted a seminar called "Ending Male Dominance," on efforts by feminists to change the power structure of religions including Catholicism, Buddhism, Anglicanism, Judaism, Islam, and Hinduism. "The central problem in religion, population, and reproductive health is male dominance," she said in remarks at the seminar. Other women representing various religions spoke of the "problem of male dominance" in their faiths.

      Kissling finished the presentation by attacking the Catholic Church and Pope John Paul II. She said that "Catholicism is not special, just different, we have a Pope." She went on to say that the Holy Father is a "great thinker and writer not for the 20th Century but for the 5th Century." Both remarks elicited applause and laughter, according to CAFHRI.

      The conference sponsored by the UN Population Fund is undertaking a five-year review of the UN Cairo conference on population in 1994. Critics accuse organizers of squelching any voice opposed to the ideology of increased contraception, abortion, and sex education for children.