A report by Catholics for a Free Choice released this week exposes the connection between the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute (CAFHRI), a conservative anti-reproductive rights group that lobbies the United Nations, and the anti-abortion group Human Life International, and reveals “shocking remarks” about Hillary Clinton made by its president Austin Ruse. The report illustrates CAFHRI’s history of covering up its connections to the anti-abortion movement, and its attempts to obscure one of its main functions as a resource for the Vatican’s delegation to the UN.
The report reveals remarks made by Ruse at a March 2000 address to a militant anticommunist organization called the Cardinal Mindszenty Foundation. Ruse remarks that a priest from the Holy See’s UN delegation guaranteed him “absolution if I just took [Hillary Clinton] out Ð and not on a date.” Catholics for a Free Choice (CFFC) president Frances Kissling said the remark was part of “an increasingly warlike mindset” among conservative groups at the UN. CFFC’s report also reveals that, while CAFHRI claims to be an independent organization, it was established by Human Life International; CAFHRI sought to deny this connection, as well as its primary purpose as an ally for the Vatican’s UN delegation.