An adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster has called Britain the "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death".
An adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster has called Britain the "the geopolitical epicentre of the culture of death". Edmund Adamus blamed five decades of liberalising abortion and homosexual rights laws on making Britain more anti-Catholic than countries where Christians can be subjected to violent persecution.
The expression "culture of death", first used by John Paul II, is frequently used by Catholic traditionalists as a catch-all phrase covering the practice of abortion and euthanasia.
Speaking about marriage and gender roles, Mr. Adamus told Catholic news agency ‘Zenit’ that Catholics should "exhibit counter-cultural signals against the selfish, hedonistic wasteland that is the objectification of women for sexual gratification".
He said “Parliament over the last 50 years had been "the most permissively anti-life and progressively anti-family and marriage, in essence one of the most anti-Catholic landscapes, culturally speaking – more even than those places where Catholics suffer open persecution.
"Permissive laws advancing the 'gay' agenda" were one example of how Britain had become such a "wasteland".
Mr Adamus' comments are significant because of his senior position in one of the most influential dioceses in the country. His role as pastoral director gives him access to some of the Church's most senior figures, including Archbishop Nichols.
His comments, made only weeks before Pope Benedict XVI's historic state visit to Britain, may cause embarrassment to organisers of the visit and government officials, because they reveal how some members of the Church's hierarchy believe that the pontiff is travelling to a hostile and anti-Christian country.
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