Archbishop Conti opens centre for single mothers

In his first public engagement on Friday, the new Archbishop of Glasgow, opened a new Pro-Life Centre, named after his predecessor, Cardinal Thomas Winning. At the opening ceremony, Archbishop Mario Conti pledged to continue offering financial support to women who decide against abortion. Five years ago, Cardinal Winning hit the headlines when he set up the project. So far, 431 babies have been born to women who approached him for help. Archbishop Conti said the opening of the centre in Glasgow marked: "a new stage of development in the life of a project for which the late Cardinal Tom will be justly remembered, and which I have long admired". He said: "This Pro-Life Initiative stands firmly in the tradition of the Church. "So many of the great institutes and religious orders of the Catholic Church came into existence as an answer to the needs of the time, and flourished by bringing the compassion of Christ into the concrete reality of the age." Archbishop Conti also responded to critics of the scheme. He said: "By offering help to those who feel they have no alternative but abortion, this initiative is showing itself to be truly 'pro-choice' in the fullest sense of that term. "It offers choice where otherwise no choice is realistically available. It allows women to choose life over death."