Cardinal Willem Eijk of Utrecht, president of the Bishops' Conference of the Netherlands, said, however, the court's ruling would not only make it easier for doctors to take the lives of dementia patients but would also put them under pressure to do so.

The Right to Life organization called upon the politicians of Northern Ireland, the majority of whom are pro-life, to repeal the "extreme change to the law" at the earliest opportunity.

"The recent anti-Semitic graffiti in north London brings shame to us all," said Cardinal Vincent Nichols.

The opposition Labour Party suffered its worst defeat since 1935.

British bishops have made the right to life a priority for Catholics ahead of a general election in which two major political parties have promised to liberalize abortion laws.

The bodies of 31 men and eight women -- all believed to be Chinese -- were found Oct. 23 in a refrigerated container near Purfleet, a port on the River Thames.

An ecumenical group of church leaders in Northern Ireland have come together to protest the British government's edict for a more liberal abortion rights law to be applied in the province.

Four Irish bishops said abortion and same-sex marriage will be imposed on Northern Ireland after British politicians "hijacked" a bill intended for other purposes.

"The evidence shows sadly that the situation is becoming worse," said British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

An English church official "deliberately misled" a U.S. archdiocese into harboring a pedophile priest and helping him to escape justice for a quarter of a century, said a report from a child abuse inquiry.