” “"Of course, abortion is not a matter confined to a religious belief": this is stated by José Paulo Carvalho, deputy of the Cds/Pp party and president of the Portuguese pro-life federation, in commenting some interpretations made of the words of cardinal José Policarpo, patriarch of Lisbon, about the referendum on abortion which is due in Portugal in January 2007. The cardinal had said that abortion is "a fundamental ethical matter" more than "a religious matter". Seeing in the cardinal’s words "something that lets the Catholics free to decide on the referendum" means, according to Carvalho, "contradicting what he actually said". "My interpretation concludes the president of the pro-life Federation in a statement published on the website of the Portuguese Bishops Conference is that the cardinal meant to make the matter more open, by not reducing it to a Catholic matter, but a matter that concerns everybody".” “
