Posted on 01/28/2009 12:34:04 PM PST by wagglebee
ROME, January 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A document of the US Catholic Bishops is partly to blame for the abandonment of pro-life teachings by voting Catholics and the election of the “most pro-abortion president” in US history, one of the Vatican’s highest officials said in an interview with LifeSiteNews.com.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, the prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, named a document on the election produced by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops that he said “led to confusion” among the faithful and led ultimately to massive support among Catholics for Barack Obama.
The US bishops’ document, “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship,” stated that, under certain circumstances, a Catholic could in good conscience vote for a candidate who supports abortion because of "other grave reasons," as long as they do not intend to support that pro-abortion position.
Archbishop Burke, the former Archbishop of St. Louis Mo. and recently appointed head of the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, told LifeSiteNews.com that although “there were a greater number of bishops who spoke up very clearly and firmly ... there was also a number who did not.”
But most damaging, he said, was the document “Faithful Citizenship” that “led to confusion” among the voting Catholic population.
“While it stated that the issue of life was the first and most important issue, it went on in some specific areas to say ‘but there are other issues’ that are of comparable importance without making necessary distinctions.”
Archbishop Burke, citing an article by a priest and ethics expert of St. Louis archdiocese, Msgr. Kevin McMahon, who analyzed how the bishops’ document actually contributed to the election of Obama, called its proposal “a kind of false thinking, that says, ‘there’s the evil of taking an innocent and defenseless human life but there are other evils and they’re worthy of equal consideration.’
“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenseless human life.”
Archbishop Burke also cited the work of the official news service of the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference, that many pro-life observers complained soft-pedaled the newly elected president’s opposition to traditional morality.
“The bishops need to look also at our Catholic News Service, CNS, they need to review their coverage of the whole thing and give some new direction, in my judgment,” he said.
“But they’re not. The economic situation, or opposition to the war in Iraq, or whatever it may be, those things don’t rise to the same level as something that is always and everywhere evil, namely the killing of innocent and defenseless human life.”
Perfectly stated!
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It’s about MONEY over abortion.
I don’t care what the “faith” that is claimed.
Their “faith” is in MONEY.
Shout it from the rooftops
IMHO, no Catholic should ever be confused about abortion being sinful.
For the last 30 years the American public had been told, scolded, and bludgeoned with the proposition that the ultimate sin is racism. While it is indeed evil, there are many other sins that far surpass it. Abortion is at the top of my list along side other harming of children and innocents.
No Catholic is. The problem is that very few of those calling themselves Catholic are in fact in full communion with the Church, and this includes a good deal of the clergy as well as the laity.
So is molesting little boys there church.
You lost a lot of the faithful due to how you are handling this issue.
I sure wish Burke were in charge of enforcement.
Exactly and Vatican II is largely to blame for this.
If Catholics were properly catechized, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and quite possible New York, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Maryland would be solidly Republican as long as the 'Rats continued to push abortion.
I agree.
Better yet, how many Protestant denominations are openly or nominally pro-abortion?
Abortion is the quintessential liberal issue because
it uses force to make the most innocent
pay, with its very life,
for the irresponsible sexual behavior choices of others.
Liberalism is simply using force to make the responsible/innocent pay for the consequences of the irresponsible choices of others.
Liberals only champion freedoms associated with sexual behavior choices. No other freedoms are “allowed”.
The dirty little secret is that most bishops are pro Democrat based on their family roots, and they have staffed the USCCB with flaming liberals who are given free reign in advancing a far left political agenda.
Most of the lay staff at USCCB are formerly Democrat staffers, lobbyists, and political operatives. It was a former Minnesota DFL party hack who was in charge of the millions of dollars distributed to ACORN for registering Democrats.
Bishops see no hypocrisy in asking the faithfull to oppose abortion and take part in the March for Life, and then socializing with the Catholic politicians who support and fund abortion programs, like Casey, Pelosi, Kennedy, Kerry, Leahy, Biden.
If these bishops did not give some Catholics a mental reservation in supporting pro-abortion candidates, consciences would force them to stop supporting the baby-killing Democrats. But hey! If my bishop is seen hanging around with Biden and his ilk, how can I worry about his pro-abortion position when I vote for him.
Same rationale for these bishops with regard to illegal immigration and its supporters.
WOW. A Catholic prelate “Gets It”!!!
There was a massive failure on the part of the catholic church to explain and instill their teaching in the past election cycle.
I’m glad somebody important finally called the USCCB on their ridiculous statement. Good to see CNS (Catholic News Service) being criticized, too.
Sadly, there are a number of aged lefty bishops who love socialism and don’t really have a problem with abortion, and unfortunately, a lot of them have been around for so long that they have a lot of power at the USCCB.
Hey livius, do you know if the meeting between Pelosi and archbishop Niederauer actually took place?
Freegards
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