views on doctrine and church government, he was more liberal on social principles, such as nuclear disarmament and humanitarian programs. Abortion In 1973, he called the Supreme Court's decisions overturning state laws banning abortion "an unspeakable tragedy for this nation" that "sets in motion developments which are terrifying to contemplate." In 1974, Krol testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding the Human Life Amendment proposed by New York Senator James L. Buckley. While mostly in favor, Krol argued that the amendment should drop the exception for when the mother's life was in danger, so that should abortion be banned under all circumstances. Krol in his statement said of Roe v. Wade: Marriages He opposed looser regulations governing marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics. Contraception He referred to the Catholic Church's condemnation of contraception, reaffirmed by Pope Paul VI in 1968, as "divine law." Nuclear disarmament In 1979, his Congressional testimony backing talks on limiting strategic arms foreshadowed an appeal in a pastoral letter by American bishops for nuclear disarmament in 1983. At the high tide of the nuclear freeze movement in 1982, Cardinal Krol told 15,000 demonstrators at a Philadelphia rally that it was time for governments "to dismantle existing nuclear weapons." He later acknowledged that his belief in gradual and reciprocal disarmament, with strong safeguards against cheating, was probably not shared by all the demonstrators. Second Vatican Council After the close of the Second Vatican Council in 1965, he soon joined those alarmed by the pressures for change that the Council produced. He opposed many of the small accommodations or options in church discipline that gained favor after Vatican II, including looser regulations governing marriages between Catholics and non-Catholics, the reception of Communion in the hand, and attending Mass on Saturday evening instead of Sunday. Tax credits for Catholic schools In 1984, Cardinal Krol appeared with President Ronald Reagan at a campaign rally at the National Shrine of Our Lady of Czestochowa shrine in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, praising Mr. Reagan for trying to win tax credits for parents of children in religious schools. In the same year, the Cardinal delivered an invocation at the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas. Personal life He spoke eleven languages. References External links Polish American Center: John Cardinal Krol Cardinals of the Holy Roman Church profile 1910 births 1996 deaths American people of Polish descent 20th-century American cardinals Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of