I updated my previous post on the Pope’s abortion comments, but I thought this is very important and needed its own post. Today, after the release of his interview yesterday, the Pope made his first major comments on abortion.
Pope Francis today on Abortion:
Each one of us is invited to recognize in the fragile human being the face of the Lord, who, in his human flesh, experienced the indifference and loneliness to which we often condemn the poorest, either in the developing nations or in the developed societies. Each child that is unborn, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, bears the face of Jesus Christ, bears the face of the Lord, who, even before he was born, and then as soon as he was born experienced the rejection of the world. And also each old person and – I spoke of the child, let us also speak of the elderly, another point! And each old person, even if infirm or at the end of his days, bears the face of Christ. They cannot be discarded, as the “culture of waste” proposes! They cannot be discarded!
[Source] [Translation via Rorate]
I do not think it is coincidental that the Holy Father made these comments today, but I appreciate him doing so. It should never be either/or. The Catholic faith is not defined by its opposition to abortion, but we can never back down over this issue. We must keep it front and center as long as babies are dying by the millions.
September 23, 2013 at 3:02 am
The soul, newly created by God for the fertilized egg, makes an act of free will to accept God’s existence, otherwise it is a miscarriage. The spontaneous act of free will to exist made by the individual human being at conception is an act of his sovereign personhood. The act of the human being to constitute the sovereign nation by being an individual member of the human species is also an act of free will of the rational, immortal human soul, endowed by “their Creator” with Life, Liberty and the freedom to pursue Happiness. The will to pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness, one’s vocation to fulfill one’s destiny, is created by God. The act of being is an act of free will and sovereign personhood.
September 23, 2013 at 3:08 am
"Each child that is unborn, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, "
Each child WHO is unborn, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted. The child is a human being of body and soul, rational, immortal human soul, with endowed rights and gifts, a child adopted by God because the child is created by God and bears God's name: "I AM". I exist, because God is existence.
September 23, 2013 at 3:12 am
"unjustly condemned to be aborted." To save the mother's life, the mother's life must be in IMMINENT danger of death. IMMINENT means right now, not later, to justify use of the Just War Theory.
September 23, 2013 at 3:28 pm
Viva Cristo – Why does it have to be a choice between one moral obligation and the other? The Pope is only speaking to the reality of where these issues rest in the modern era. No one, least of all me, is saying that we as Catholics shouldn't pursue the end of abortion. The Pope is acknowledging that there are also other problems to be addressed on the global scale. My point is that addressing some of those glaring problems (eg poverty) will start reducing abortion en masse. When the Pope says that there are other issues afflicting our world besides abortion, he isn't pushing abortion to the side for liberals to use to justify abortion. Your assertion is intellectually dishonest and a totally political play for unjustified rage that won't actually change anything other to inflame a raging radical minority of our Church.
September 23, 2013 at 5:26 pm
The Pope is speaking to the root causes: man's hatred of God, abortion, euthansia, assisted suicide, IVF, embryonic stem cell research, transhumanism, transgenderism, homosexual behavior, pornography, human sex slavery and trafficking, man's rejection of God: atheism, man's denial of the human soul, conscience, free will, the destruction of the human race and enslavement by the demons. Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and now Pope Francis are calling for exorcism of the demons destroying God's children.
September 23, 2013 at 5:33 pm
Sophia's Favorite: "Quis" tends to be used for anything animate, but not many "whos" chew shoes. The Holy Spirit is WHO "WHO" is particular to the human being composed of body and soul. While there is Latin, there is the will of God, man's vocation to do the will of God. Dogs do not have rational, immortal souls and only praise God by being animals and maybe chewing shoes.