United Kingdom: election, Catholic Bishops’ message. 20 questions to the nominees about life, refugees, freedom of religion

(London) The message for the election written by the Bishops of England and Wales, which will be read out in all of the 2,566 Catholic parish churches of the 22 dioceses of England and Wales next Sunday, 21^st May, lists a number of questions that the faithful can ask the nominees, for whom they are about to vote, to understand if they will uphold the issues that Catholics have most at heart. The first one is actually Brexit, and the Bishops Conference calls the Catholic devotees to ask the nominees for Westminster Parliament how they feel about the European citizens’ rights in the United Kingdom and the British citizens’ rights in the other member states. This is followed by other issues, such as assisted suicide, prison reform, the homing of migrants and political refugees, the freedom to practise one’s religion, helping the poor, supporting Catholic schools, and fighting human trafficking. The letter starts with a heart-felt appeal to voters, that they register to vote. “Please, go out and vote”, the Bishops write. “Your vote is a matter of conscience”.