Vatican official says politicians should resign rather than support abortion legislation

A senior Vatican official said that Oireachtas members who describe themselves as Catholics, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, should resign rather than support abortion legislation.

The Vatican's Scientific Director of 'the Pontifical Academy for Life' has told the Irish Catholic newspaper that Catholics TDs and Senators who vote in favour of abortion are pushing themselves out of the Church.

Monsignor Jacques Suaudeau also told the paper that politicians cannot hide behind a claim that they are just doing their duty, likening that to the Nuremberg Defence used by Nazi officers who said they were following orders.