Posted on 10/26/2004 2:30:32 AM PDT by cpforlife.org
Former Vatican Diplomat Praises Bush International Policy in Letter to U.S. Bishops
Reveals that Bush prevented abortion being declared an international Human right by UN
WASHINGTON, October 25, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - John Klink, a senior Vatican diplomat and negotiator from 1988-2001 who worked under Cardinal Renato Martino at the United Nations, has revealed the extent of President George W. Bush's efforts to defend life and family through the UN. In a letter sent to all U.S. Bishops, Klink describes how the U.S. under previous administrations was hostile to life and family but under President Bush immediately reversed its position to support life and family.
Klink warned that in 1999 abortion would have been enshrined as a fundamental human right at the United Nations "in the space of years, not decades," had there not been a radical shift in political leadership. Klink writes to inform the bishops of the underreported "pro-life/pro-family leadership of President Bush at the United Nations since his inauguration in January 2001."
"President Bush's pro-life/pro-family leadership in the international arena began with his reinstatement of President Reagan's 'Mexico City' Policy which effectively banned the provision of US Government funds to Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who promote or perform abortion overseas, as well as the performance of, or counseling for, abortion in U.S. military facilities," recounts Klink. "It was no accident that he did this as his first official act as President."
Klink also notes that "In this same vein, within 10 days of President Bush's inauguration, the head of the U.S. Delegation to the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children pronounced a total reversal of previous US policy: the United States would promote and defend the family and parental rights and would not agree to any promotion of abortion, including further use of the UN's abortion pseudonym 'reproductive health services'."
Klink points out that with Bush's appearance on the scene, the Vatican "and the United States had common positions on these issues for the first time in over eight years." Summarizing, Klink writes, "In consonance with President Bush's directives, successive US delegations to a wide variety of UN conferences have unabashedly promoted marriage, abstinence for unmarried adolescents, faithfulness for adult couples, a ban on sexual trafficking of women and children, and a total ban on human cloning."
See the full Klink letter on LifeSiteNews.com at: http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/oct/041 025a.html
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2004/oct/041025a.html
Full Text of Oct. 18, 2004 Letter From Former U.S. Diplomat John Klink to US Bishops
Praises Bush's Pro-Life, Pro-Family Actions
October 18, 2004
Your Eminence/Your Excellency,
We hope this letter finds you well.
We know that you will have followed with careful attention and prayer the extremely important debates at the United Nations over the course of the past 15 years. As you will recall, His Holiness Pope John Paul II was instrumental in focusing the world's attention on these debates, particularly the now famous Cairo Population Conference. John Klink was honored to have assisted the Holy See in those critical years as a diplomat and negotiator from 1988 to 2001, working under H.E. Cardinal Martino, the then Permanent Representative of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York and the current President of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace. Despite the notable successes in the promotion of the culture of life won by the Holy See and its allies in those critical years, major and continuous opposition to these efforts was marshaled by the European Union and the United States. As the history of the major UN conferences bears witness, these extraordinarily powerful political entities continually sought to create an international right to abortion, to effectively promote sexual activity amongst adolescents, and to weaken parental rights.
Arguably, the most dangerous of the UN conference documents was the outcome document of Cairo + 5 in 1999 which for the first time in a United Nations document called for training health care workers to perform abortions. It was clear at that moment that without new pro-life/pro-family political leadership, the wave of so-called "reproductive and sexual rights" would be enshrined as new "fundamental" human rights in the space of years, not decades.
While a great deal of attention has been given during the past two years to the differences of opinion between the Holy See and the Bush Administration regarding the Iraq War, we wanted to apprise you of the less reported, but more wide-reaching pro-life/pro-family leadership of President Bush at the United Nations since his inauguration in January 2001.
President Bush's pro-life/pro-family leadership in the international arena began with his reinstatement of President Reagan's "Mexico City" Policy which effectively banned the provision of US Government funds to Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) who promote or perform abortion overseas, as well as the performance of, or counseling for, abortion in U.S. military facilities. It was no accident that he did this as his first official act as President.
In this same vein, within 10 days of President Bush's inauguration, the head of the U.S. Delegation to the UN General Assembly's Special Session on Children pronounced a total reversal of previous US policy: the United States would promote and defend the family and parental rights and would not agree to any promotion of abortion, including further use of the UN's abortion pseudonym "reproductive health services".
In consonance with President Bush's directives, successive US delegations to a wide variety of UN conferences have unabashedly promoted marriage, abstinence for unmarried adolescents, faithfulness for adult couples, a ban on sexual trafficking of women and children, and a total ban on human cloning. The parallel with Catholic social teaching could not be more clear. The Holy See and the United States had common positions on these issues for the first time in over eight years.
Our witness to these developments was underlined by John Klink's nomination by the President as a Senior Private Sector Adviser to almost every delegation where these important social issues appeared on the agenda, and Mrs. Ann Corkery's nomination to the important post of Public Delegate to the UN General Assembly last year and the Commission on the Status of Women. The President's action did not go unnoticed by US Congressional abortion proponents who filed written complaints to Secretary of State Collin Powell, voicing their frustration that a former Vatican representative would be included in U.S. delegations. As with the President's attempts to appoint prominent Catholic judges, the message was clear from the opposition: practicing Catholics should have no part in important US Government involvement lest their pro-life/pro-family views have real influence. However, President Bush was not deterred and remained steadfast both with the Administration's pro-life/pro-family positions as well as in support of our nominations.
While Cardinal Ratzinger's recent clarifications regarding the reception of communion by pro-abortion politicians has been the subject of some controversy, we feel that not only should the issue of discipline of Canon Law be the subject of honest and thoughtful debate, but that a real recognition should be given by the Church to politicians, whether Catholic or non-Catholic, of whatever political party who promote the Church's pro-life and pro-family values in the public square, in furtherance of the teachings of the Second Vatican Council. For this reason, it is our wish to make this full report to Your Eminence on President Bush's courageous pro-life leadership in the international arena since the beginning of his term of office-a commitment which remains as a promise of continued action should he be elected for another term of office.
Please accept Your Eminence/Your Excellency, our sentiments of esteem and our request for your prayers for our joint endeavors with the Bush Administration and many other dedicated international professionals to promote the culture of life.
Sincerely,
John M. Klink Ann M. Corkery
Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
Forget killing our own children. How long before eating them becomes a fundamental human right?
SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!
;)
Another reason for the wacky left to hate Bush
Christians should be energized this election more than any others in recent years. We must make sure voter turn out among Christians is higher than it's ever been.
Do I comment on articles like this or do I just let everyone enjoy the Moment in much the same way Texans tossed their hats in the air to celebrate the fact no minor would have an abortion in Texas without parental consent?
It's tough for me too, cp.
WHY did you choose to change it?!?
Right after the right to sexually abuse them. (Just make sure you don't slap them while doing them.)
life
Sweet.
Good news just as Chris Matthews has been trying to drive a wedge between Bush and Christians for the last couple of weeks by claiming that Bush is not truly pro-life because he hasn't banned abortion by kingly decree. I hope everyone who watches that A-hole sees through this pitiful attempt to discredit the President with pro-lifers.
I will watch some obviously biased shows occasionally to see what kind of scrap they are spewing but I draw the line when they start spew misleading innuendo and outright lies. Haven't been able to stomach more than 30 seconds of Matthews in several months.
Unfortunately, I don't get Fox News anymore. Political junkie that I am, I have consume garbage, even though I know how sick it'll make me. I have to resort to CNN, CNBC, and PMSNBC. *sigh*
I am, of course, glad that GWB took a stand. Working from principle rather whan expediency is, after all, the big difference between him and The Great Prevaricator.
(Not that anyone I know gives a rat's behind what the UN does anyway!)
If we're not careful, we'll loose our traditional allies over issues such as this. Whatever will we do without the French? We'll have to rename our fried potatoes and crusty bread!
"Bush prevented abortion being declared international Human right by UN, reveals former Diplomat" ... and since we know for certain (as from his own two-sided mouth) that Ol' John Feckless Kerry will place us more and more under U.N. direction, we may be certain too that abortion--as the sacrement of the religion Kerry serves, Secular Humanism--will be not only declared a natural right, but heavily funded by democrat presidential mandate spending our taxpayer dollars to slaughter alive unborn children around the world. Democrat politicians, the drek at the bottom of a septic tank! And what scares the begeebers out of me is the number of dumbed-down Americans who hold the democrat imps in awe and adore them!
=== he hasn't banned abortion by kingly decree.
This is another instance where the debate is lost as soon as it's framed.
It's not about "banning" anything. It's about rolling back the government's intervening to SANCTION one form of homicide.
Besides, the monies shifted in this Headline move are but a mote in the sunbeam of funds now pouring through NIH funnels into the hands of those Private Sector partners who provided the President his stem cell line specimens courtesy of the embryos they sacrifice.
(Although I think "sacrifice" is reserved generally for animals used in "destructive research," by folks like PETA thoroughly behind the use of embryos and clones rather than animals in the lab.)
President Bush DOUBLED the budget of the NIH and appointed as director a fellow who'd made his bones at Johns Hopkins along these Lines. The manufacturing of Humans is the next in the inexorable march of Industry and Sales. The State's reserved for itself the bit of research responsible for legitimizing the embryo industry, creating that "pre-implantation" bright line of non-personhood for cloning (much less ESCR), and manipulating with taxpayer cash the Market in Genetic Quality.
Not a good thing at all. It's almost quaint the way they've trotted out the Viet Nam war and Roe for another Election round. What a piece of luck Barbara Bush's balloon on removing abortion from the platform entirely fell flat last election.
We'd have been without our single-issue "Catholic Non-Negotiable" ace in the hole.
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