c. 1998 Religion News Service

VATICAN CITY _ Setting off a potential clash with German bishops, Pope John Paul II on Tuesday (Jan. 27) ordered Roman Catholics to stop counseling women seeking abortions, saying their services could be misconstrued as advocating the procedure.

But the German bishops, who contend Catholics are needed in clinics precisely to counsel against abortion, gave a mixed response to the papal demand. They said they would attempt to change the system but, meanwhile, continue to participate in it.

At issue is a German law permitting women to have abortions in the first trimester of pregnancy if they have obtained written certification of having first received counseling on the matter.

About 25 percent of the estimated 1,500 counseling clinics in Germany are operated by the Catholic Church, and many others are staffed by Catholics.

In a strongly worded letter to German bishops, released here Tuesday, the pope wrote:”I would like to insistently invite you, dear brothers, to make it so that a certificate of this nature will no longer be given in ecclesial counseling centers or in those dependent on the church.” In his five-page letter, John Paul said the bishops should”define in a new way the counseling activity of the church and to be careful, in this regard, that the church’s freedom is not constrained and ecclesial institutions made co-responsible in the killing of innocent children.” In response to the papal demand, Archbishop Karl Lehmann of Mainz, who heads the German Bishops’ Conference, said,”You can’t change a system overnight.” Lehmann said the bishops would consult with German legislators over the next year to amend the 1995 law that would allow the Catholic-run clinics to continue counseling women on abortion but not offer certification.

Despite the pope’s appeal, he said, Catholics were free to continue participating in the system until the issue is resolved.

While the pope’s demand applies to all Catholics, some lay groups that provide abortion counseling said they would openly defy the order.

German officials, including senior aides to Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who spearheaded the law, said ending the certificate program is unlikely, and was intended as a check against abortion procedures. There were about 130,000 abortions in Germany in 1996.”According to the law, abortion counseling is intended to protect unborn life more than punishment, whose effectiveness is dubious,”said Wolfgang Schaeuble, parliamentary spokesman for Kohl’s Christian Democratic Union party.

But the pope disagreed.”Even if the right to life has a precise acknowledgment in the constitution of your beloved country, the legislator has nonetheless legalized in determined cases the killing of unborn children,”he wrote.

He also expressed confidence a deal could be reached by which Catholics could participate in the counseling system.

However, some observers say a change in the law by which some clinics offer certification and some don’t would be confusing. It may also drastically reduce the church’s participation in abortion counseling because many women seeking the procedure would not consult services where certification is unavailable.

With German elections scheduled for this September, the rift is expected to become embroiled in election-year politics, analysts said, by driving a wedge in Kohl’s conservative coalition.

In an interview with the news magazine Der Spiegel, Alois Glueck, a Kohl ally in parliament, said the pope’s move could cause a”rift between church and state.”He added,”that would lead to the bitterest conflict and toughest test that the Catholic Church has faced this century.” DEA END HEILBRONNER