Whenever and wherever evil is opposed by those with courage to do so, especially in the public arena, they will always be pilloried. So what else is new?!

Lar, Gaborone.,

I am not catholic and i am not against abortion. What has angered me is the Cardinal's use of the Dunblane massacre to make his point. My daughter, Hannah was killed in this shooting and i believe it is insulting to her memory to have her compared to a weeks old foetus. She was a fully formed, child with a personality and she lived within a family who loved her and wanted her. Abortion by its very act suggests that the unborn child is unwanted and unwelcome. In my job a a social worker i have seen too many families blighted by the struggle to feed another child and there is no money to provide services to support families who are struggling. Perhaps the Cardinal could pour his energies into helping children who are living lives of poverty and dispair rather than focussing on those not yet born.

Karen Scott, Dunblane,

So does this mean that a politician who goes to confession, and confesses that they did not appose abortion, and is granted absolution can receive communion... Or will they be treated differently... If the Church is so interested in protecting the unborn, why do they not aggressively protect the victims of sexual assault with the same tenacity? All children unborn as well as those too small to protect themselves need our protection...

DJ, Athlone Co. Westmeath, Ireland

A commentator says “the feotus [sic] is nothing more than potential life". This is ignorance from the Dark Ages. In addition to being intellectually dishonest, it ignores the science and empirical data of ultra-sound, which, as it advances, increasingly tells us that the unborn child feels pain and stress much earlier than doctors previously realised. What does she think the foetus is? A tadpole? And yes, men are entitled to views on abortion –women do not have a monopoly on the pro-creative act.

Liz Todd, London,

When will we be rid of these turbulent priests interfering in politics?

Mike, Durham, UK

As I do not vote for anyone based on their religion -
why should the leader of any church have any say in my local politicians actions?

What if this were a fundamentalist Muslim or Orthodox Jew trying to interfere in the democratic process?
We'd be outraged, surely? I certainly would be.

If he is allowed to interfere like this - I will certainly make it a point NOT to vote for any professed Roman Catholic in the future. (It's never been an issue for me in the past).

I vote for a parliamentary representative -- not Cardinal O'Brien or any other religious person seeking to control areas out with their remit.

Aggie, UK, Scotland

It seems that for soem people in this country "freedom of speech" really means "freedom of people I agree with to say things I agree with". Can someone tell me what is wrong with ANY organisation saying anything about anything that is of interest to that organisation?

Let's be straight - this is a Cardinal-Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church delivering a sermon in his own church to his own co-religionists. If for, arguments sake, a trade unionist stood up at a trade union confernce and called for abortions to be legalised right up till birth then no one would get hot under the collar about that person addressing his organisation on what is a valid topic for discussion.

One argument I've heard a lot is "if you don't like abortion don't have one' - similar story here 'if you don't like what's being said choose to ignore it or listen to someone else'.

Steph, Oxford,

Greenpeace once ran ads showing a baby whale torn from its mothers' womb. Absolutely pathetic to see. I don't think they would accept anyone involved in whaling as members.

Malcolm McLean, Bradford, UK

Whatever the futile arguments the pro-choice movements might spin, no person of sound mind should ever support the killing of an inocent human being. Do people still think there is a difference about a baby inside or outside his mother's womb?!
My congratulations to the tough stance of the Cardinal in protecting our brothers (young as they may be) in Scotland.

Federico, George Town, Cayman Islands

And this is yet another reason why the state and religion should never, ever mix. How dare someone (and a man!) tell me what to do with my body and my life!? The feotus is nothing more than a potential life and if I or another woman does not want to continue with it, then it is OUR choice and no one elses!

This hysteria surrounding abortion being used as contraception is just not true. In the majority of cases I believe that abortion is the last resort. And lets not forget that the Catholic church does not believe in contraception either. What's a woman to do? We all know what the church would like them to do!

How about enforced sterilisation for men until they can prove that they can support their offspring both financially and emtionally? Then it can ber reversed quite easily.

Kim, London, England

His Eminence is absolutely correct. Communion is only available to those who are Catholic and in a state of grace, and if you support abortion you are clearly not in a state of grace. It is clearly the Cardinal's remit to uphold the rules on who can, and who cannot, take Communion, and therefore the ridiculous Liberal Democrat MSP who made the comments criticising the Cardinal is interfering in an internal Church matter which is none of his affair. He should mind his own business. It is the duty of the Cardinal to remind Catholics of the rules on Communion and the teaching on abortion, and if non-Catholics don't like it, tough: it is none of their concern.

Martin, St Helier, Jersey

In answer to Roberto Ruggeri, we Anglicans do not bend the rules. We seek to understand God's will, are encouraged to think for ourselves and accept that we see through a glass darkly. No one has the right to deny access to the Lord's Supper - it is precisely this arrogance that first caused the fractures in the Catholic and Apostolic Church.

David Greenwood, Guildford, UK

I didn't realise that Cardinal O'Brien owned the Eucharist - I thought it was the Lord Jesus Christ's gift to his followers ?

David Greenwood, Guildford, UK

Good.

Stop the murder!

James Wilson, London,

To be a Catholic cannot be an easy exercise in vote winning. To be a Catholic means to be able to cope with uncomfortable rules, for a private individual as well as for a politician.
The Catholic Church is not there to be changed by the world, she is there to chjange it.
Let us leave the rule bending to Protestants and Anglicans, they are so good at it.....

Roberto Ruggeri, London,