THE BISHOP OF Dromore John McAreavey says he accepts the apology of Sinn Féin, after the party quoted his name and “misrepresented the pro-life position of the Catholic Church” in campaign literature.

Belfast Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey acknowledged that a party letter written by local members and sent out in the west of the city had misquoted the Bishop, and that he wished to “apologise unreservedly” for any hurt and distress caused.

“When I became aware of party political literature which was jointly issued in the names of Sue Ramsey MLA and Councillor Matt Garrett of Sinn Féin, which stated that I ‘share’ their position on the ‘termination’ of unborn human life, I was appalled,” the Bishop said.

This is an untrue and most damaging assertion.

I cannot emphasise enough the seriousness of this action which has misused my good name and impugned the teaching reputation of my ministry as bishop.

McAreavy said political representatives “must answer for their own position on abortion and they should not try to misrepresent the pro-life position of the Catholic Church”.

“I greatly appreciate the interventions of Mr Martin McGuinness, Deputy First Minister and Mr Paul Maskey MP, West Belfast, on this matter and I accept the apology outlined in Mr Maskey’s statement.”

However, the Bishop’s statement continues:

But to be clear: this inaccurate publication does not represent the moral teaching of the Church nor does it add credibility to the political process.

Because of the importance that the Catholic Church accords to the protection of human life, our position cannot be politically misrepresented.

Concluding his statement on the issue, the Bishop said that “how any political party could be mistaken about the pro-life position of the Church defies belief”.

“These letters should have not gone out,” Maskey said in his statement.

I can assure the Bishop that all reference to him on this issue has now been removed from all print and electronic literature.

Sinn Féin has also removed the offending comments from Facebook.

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