"Greg [Pope] was appointed after a rigorous selection process and was the unanimous choice of the final interview panel, which was chaired by Bishop Malcolm McMahon, Chairman of CESEW."Parents, clergy, teachers and other concerned citizens, both Catholic and non-Catholic, up and down the country have already been outraged by the CES's shameful complicity with the government and the pro-abortion lobby in spreading the culture of death through schools. The CES, along with the pro-abortion lobby, helped draft the government's guidance on sex education, which is a cornucopia of anti-life and anti-family ideas. The CES did everything it could to help the government mislead the public about the Children, Schools and Families bill. The bill, as passed by the House of Commons at third reading, was a vehicle to impose the teaching of abortion, contraception and homosexuality* on schools, including Catholic and other faith schools.
"Oona Stannard, Chief Executive and Director of CESEW, welcomed the appointment, saying...'[It] will help us to continue to both promote and protect Catholic education...'"
It is clear that the CES and its agenda has the full backing of Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster. Archbishop Nichols has today expressed "deep shame" at the sexual abuse of children within the Catholic Church, apologising:
"to those who have suffered abuse, those who have felt ignored, disbelieved or betrayed".That is all very well, but neither Archbishop Nichols, nor Bishop McMahon, nor Oona Stannard have apologised for exposing schoolchildren to abuse via government-led sex education. Nor have these Catholic leaders apologised to all those parents, clergy, teachers and other concerned citizens "who have felt ignored, disbelieved or betrayed" by them. The CES's appointment of Greg Pope is an grotesque adding of insult to injury. I pray that Pope Benedict and his supporters in the Curia will relieve the Catholics of this country from this oppression by the episcopal policy in England and Wales.
Greg Pope MP’s parliamentary record against life and family
Abortion
Greg Pope voted for amendments to lower the 24-week time-limit for abortions done on social grounds to 22 weeks or to 20 weeks but voted against amendments to lower the same limit to 16 weeks or to 12 weeks. (20 May 2008).
Abortion and contraception for school-age children
Greg Pope:
- voted against a bill which would have required practitioners providing contraception or abortion services to a child under the age of 16 to inform his or her parent or guardian (14 Mar 2007).
- signed a parliamentary motion praising a condom manufacturer for helping schools host “National Condom Week” (11 May 2004).
Greg Pope voted against an amendment which would have required doctors to provide pregnant mothers with certain information and an offer of counselling before any abortion of an unborn child on grounds of disability (20 May 2008).
Abortion groups
Greg Pope signed parliamentary motions praising the leading domestic and international pro-abortion organisations:
- All-Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and Reproductive Health (24 May 2005)
- All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Choice and Sexual Health Group (15 Jul 2004)
- Family Planning Association (15 Jul 2004) (9 Feb 2006) (21 Feb 2007) (9 Feb 2009)
- International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) (1 Jul 2004)
- Marie Stopes International (1 Jul 2004)
- United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) (16 Dec 2002) (1 Jul 2004) (9 Jun 2005).
Greg Pope signed parliamentary motions promoting:
- “reproductive health” (16 Dec 2002)
- “sexual and reproductive health” (24 May 2005) (9 Jun 2005) (20 Oct 2006)
- “sexual and reproductive health and rights” (1 Jul 2004)
Contraception
Mr Pope signed parliamentary motions promoting:
- “Contraceptive Awareness Week” (9 Feb 2006) (21 Feb 2007) (9 Feb 2009)
- “contraceptive choice” (20 Oct 2006)
- “contraceptive needs” (8 Feb 2006)
- “family planning” (16 Dec 2002)
- “National Condom Week” (11 May 2004) (11 May 2004) (9 May 2007)
- a tax reduction on condoms (30 Nov 2005)
The Mental Capacity Bill (now Act) enshrined euthanasia by neglect into English statute law. Greg Pope:
- voted for the bill at second (11 Oct 2004) and third readings (14 Dec 2004)
- voted against amendments motivated by pro-life concerns (14 Dec 2004) (14 Dec 2004) 5 Apr 2005).
Greg Pope voted to:
- reduce the homosexual age of consent to 16 (to equalise it with the heterosexual age of consent) (21 Feb 1994) (22 Jun 1998) (22 Jun 1998) (25 Jan 1999) (1 Mar 1999) (1 Mar 1999) (28 Feb 2000). He also signed a parliamentary motion in the same vein (24 Mar 2004).
- reduce the homosexual age of consent to 18 (21 Feb 1994)
- allow active homosexuals in the military (9 May 1996). He also signed a parliamentary motion in the same vein (24 Mar 2004).
Homosexual* parenting
Greg Pope:
- voted against amendments which sought to retain the requirement for doctors to consider the child’s need for a father (20 May 2008) or male role model (20 May 2008) before a woman is given fertility treatment.
- voted against amendments restricting adoption to heterosexual couples (20 May 2002) and married couples (4 Nov 2002). He also signed a parliamentary motion in the same vein (24 Mar 2004).
Greg Pope:
- voted against measures (popularly known as “section 28”) preventing local councils from promoting homosexuality, including the teaching in schools of “the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship” (5 Jul 2000) (10 Mar 2003) (10 Mar 2003). He also signed a parliamentary motion in the same vein (24 Mar 2004).
- signed parliamentary motions promoting measures against “homophobia” (4 Nov 2003) (26 Oct 2005) (22 June 2006) (4 Jul 2006) (10 Jul 2006) (12 Dec 2006) (24 Jul 2007) (12 Nov 2010).
Mr Pope signed parliamentary motions promoting homosexual rights generally and in other various ways (24 Mar 2004) (21 Feb 2005) (30 Mar 2006) (4 Jul 2006) (20 Nov 2006) (20 Mar 2007).
Homosexual* unions
Mr Pope signed parliamentary motions promoting homosexual unions (7 Sep 2004) (13 Oct 2004) (20 Jul 2005).
Marriage
Greg Pope voted against:
- an amendment to reject plans for a no-fault divorce system in England and Wales (24 Apr 1996)
- amendments to extend the cooling-off period for divorce from one year to 18 months or to two years (24 April 1996).
Parents’ rights
Greg Pope:
- voted against a bill which would have required practitioners providing contraception or abortion services to a child under the age of 16 to inform his or her parent or guardian (14 Mar 2007)
- voted for the Children, Schools and Families bill at second (11 Jan 2010) and third readings (23 Feb 2010), which would have restricted parents’ rights over their children’s education, especially regarding sexual matters.
Greg Pope signed parliamentary motions promoting population control (16 Dec 2002) (1 Jul 2004).
Transsexual* rights
Mr Pope signed a parliamentary motion “call[ing] on the Government to bring forward legislation to give transsexual people full rights and legal recognition” (27 Nov 2002).
Sex education
The Children, Schools and Families bill, as debated by the House of Commons, would have forced all state-funded schools (including faith schools) to provide sex and relationships education, based on anti-life/anti-family principles. Greg Pope voted for the bill at second (11 Jan 2010) and third readings (23 Feb 2010). He also signed a parliamentary motion in the same vein (21 Feb 2007).
* Pope John Paul II, the great pro-life champion, teaches in paragraph 97 of Evangelium Vitae that it is an illusion to think that we can build a true culture of human life if we do not offer adolescents and young adults an authentic education in sexuality, and in love, and the whole of life according to their true meaning and in their close interconnection.
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