Polish bishops are reminding Catholic politicians that if they support abortion, they risk excommunication from the Church.

Hear an audio version of this report by Joanna Najfeld by clicking the icon above.
 
Reiterating Church teaching on the value of healthy families and a call for more pro-family politics are the central messages of a newly released Polish Episcopate document, To serve the truth about marriage and family.

But what has drawn most attention is a very clear and straightforward warning to Catholic politicians: that if they violate basic moral directives on life or family rights issues in the public sphere, they risk excommunication.
 
The document is a compilation of Church doctrine on the value of family life - and the duties of society towards the family - as the crucial fundament of every healthy society.

Drafted by the Council for Family Issues at the Polish Episcopate, it talks openly and directly about what it sees as the evils of abortion, IVF and experimentation on embryos, but also of families broken by divorce or promiscuity.
 
“As John Paul II was saying just before he died, we are witnessing very strong, organized attacks on marriage and family, which could also serve to destroy the Christian spirit of Europe,“ says Father Andrzej Rębacz, head of the Episcopate Council for Family Affairs and the National Chaplain for Families.

“These attacks include promotion of sex education at schools. We have to remember who was the first to introduce the idea of sex education. It was communist ideologue György Lukács in Hungary, who thought promiscuity was the best method to fight the institution of marriage, in order to fight Christianity.”
 

Politicians beware

The part of the 100 page document which has drawn most attention is where it discusses the duties of Catholic politicians.

"It is absolutely not true that a politician, or a government member, has to, or can, act against his conscience. (...) When it comes to God's law, everybody is equal, politicians included," the bishops write in the document. It also reiterates Church Law, according to which, anyone who publicly contradicts fundamental moral values - such as the commandment "Thou shall not kill,” by voicing support or acceptance of abortion, should be immediately excommunicated from the Church.
 
“It should be obvious to every Catholic. If you are pro-abortion and keep it to yourself, you are guilty of a mortal sin, and until you confess, you cannot go to Communion,” says Wojciech Cejrowski, writer, journalist and Catholic commentator.

“However, if you publicly support abortion, then you excommunicate yourself,” he says.

Protests followed when Health Minister Ewa Kopacz, who identifies herself as a Catholic, was reported to have arranged an abortion for a 14-year old, last year. Catholic groups brought up the question of excommunication back then and some politicians protested.

Private and public

Janusz Onyszkiewicz, a member of the Democratic Party, who refuses to disclose whether he considers himself a Catholic, is critical of the bishops' letter and says Catholic politicians should leave their moral values to their private lives.

“I don't want to discuss Church teaching,“ he says. “I think, obviously, the Church should expect everybody who belongs to the Church to follow a certain moral code. But it is different to follow it in private life and to work on the legal system of the country.”

Member of the European Parliament for the Law and Justice party, Konrad Szymański, disagrees. He says politicians, too, should keep their public and private lives consistent, and if they declare themselves Catholic, they should practice what they preach.

“I've read the letter with great satisfaction, because bishops have reminded us very simple truths: that the obligation of conscience is much more important than any other obligation, including political obligations,” he says.