Cardinal Sean Brady has called for protests against the upcoming move to liberalize abortion laws in Ireland.

In his Christmas message the cardinal stated, “Public representatives will be asked to decide whether a caring and compassionate society is defined by providing the best possible care and protection to a woman struggling to cope with an unwanted pregnancy or by the deliberate destruction of another human life."

“I hope that everyone who believes that the right to life is fundamental will make their voice heard in a reasonable, but forthright, way to their representatives, reminding them that the “There is no more important value than upholding the right to life in all circumstances.”

He also spoke on the issue of welfare reform and its impact on poor children.

“I believe this failure to prioritise the elimination of child and family poverty in the reform of the tax and welfare system, in any jurisdiction, is unworthy of a society which claims to have a paramount concern for children,” he said.

Cardinal Brady said he understood the tough times people are in and said it can address our need for meaning and purpose in life.

“Unprecedented financial pressures, and an ever-increasingly aggressive public culture, along with social, moral and spiritual fragmentation, are leading to lives being overwhelmed by stress, intolerable interior isolation and even quiet despair,” he said.

“We can, and should, do better than this in striving to create a society truly worthy of the dignity of the human person.

“It would have to be a society in which the emotional, moral and religious as well as the economic needs are met. The consequences of failing to cater for those needs can be tragic.”