Retired bishop endorses healthcare bill

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A retired Catholic bishop announced his support for President Obama’s healthcare overhaul despite the church’s official opposition.

Retired Bishop John E. McCarthy told the Associated Press in an interview late Wednesday that he is as opposed to abortion as every other bishop and that the bill before Congress would guard against the use of taxpayer funds to pay for it.

‘This is not an abortion bill,’ said McCarthy, 80, bishop of the Austin, Texas, diocese from 1986 to 2001. ‘This is an extraordinarily important bill providing healthcare for 30 to 40 million people who don’t have it. It’s not perfect; we can come back later and improve it. But let’s not kill it at this crucial moment.’

Earlier Wednesday, leaders of most of the 59,000 Catholic nuns in the the nation announced their support for the bill, too.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, however, says the bill’s restrictions against using federal funds for abortion don’t go far enough.

Associated Press