House Dems repudiate Pope’s abortion remarks

The Hill ^ | May 15, 2007 | Jonathan E. Kaplan

[Alex Murphy]

A group of House Democrats yesterday publicly repudiated the Pope’s recent suggestion that politicians who support abortion rights should be excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.

Eighteen House Democrats, led by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), are responding to Pope Benedict XVI’s statement that indicated he would support Mexican bishops if they were to excommunicate Mexican legislators who voted last month to legalize abortion in Mexico City.

The Pope made his remarks last Wednesday during a news conference aboard a plane before he was to begin a five-day visit to Brazil.

“We are concerned with the Pope’s recent statement warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views,” the lawmakers said in a statement issued yesterday. “Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission.”

The Democratic lawmakers said that the suggested penalty “offend[s] the very nature of the American experiment and do[es] a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”

The Pope’s spokesman later clarified the pontiff’s remarks, saying that, ‘’Legislative action in favor of abortion is incompatible with participation in the Eucharist,’’ and politicians who favor abortion rights should ‘’exclude themselves from communion.’’

Other lawmakers were not as politic as the House Democrats.

“I’ve always thought also that those bishops and archbishops who for decades hid pederasts and are now being protected by the Vatican should be indicted,” said Catholic Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who spoke to reporters last week.

Over the last several years, a few Catholic bishops have threatened to deny communion and other sacraments to politicians who favor abortion rights because their views are not in-step with Church doctrine. The decision to withhold sacraments is made by individual bishops, said Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The debate over whether pro-choice Catholics should receive communion could intensify in the 2008 race for the White House.

In 2004, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the first Catholic Democratic presidential nominee since President John Kennedy ran in 1960, received communion one day after a top Vatican cardinal said politicians who back abortion rights should be denied the Eucharist.

Kerry lost the Catholic vote by 13 points to President Bush, according to DemocracyCorps, a Democratic polling firm. There are four 2008 presidential candidates who are Catholic: Sen. Joseph Biden (Del.), Sen. Christopher Dodd (Conn.), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. They all support abortion rights.

On the Republican side, Sen. Sam Brownback (Kan.), former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, and ex-New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are Catholic. Brownback and Thompson oppose abortion rights while Giuliani favors them.

In February, former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) was under pressure to fire two female bloggers who had criticized the Catholic Church before joining the campaign. While Edwards decided not to fire the two women, one subsequently resigned.

Some Catholic organizations have criticized the Pope’s statement.

Jon O’Brien, the executive director of Catholics for a Free Choice, said, “[Pope Benedict] is still putting dogma ahead of the lived reality of the Catholic laity… it will only push Catholic politicians further from the institutional church.”

The House Democrats’ letter mirrors a “statement of principles” that 55 Democrats, encompassing a broad ideological swath of the caucus, signed last year. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.), who is Catholic, signed the letter, as did anti-abortion rights Reps. Bart Stupak (Mich.) and Jim Langevin (R.I.).

In the statement of principles, Democratic lawmakers wrote that they agreed with the Roman Catholic Church’s position on the “undesirability of abortion” and that “each of us is committed to reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies and creating an environment with policies that encourage pregnancies to be carried to term.”

Meanwhile, Catholic voters’ attitudes towards abortion are changing, according to an ABC-Washington Post poll released in March. Only 10 percent of those polled believe that abortion should be legal in all cases, a 16 percent drop since 2004. But there has been a corresponding rise in the number who said it should be legal in most cases.

[Darkwolf377]

I'm an atheist, a former Catholic, so this isn't my fight, but man, what unbelievable gall on the part of these people--they make such a statement as a political bloc against a religious figure who makes decisions for his community.

I wish I could get across what I'm feeling right now. To me it's like a bunch of politicians getting together to tell a parent how to raise their kid--oh, wait, the Dems love doing that...

Unbelievable. Their hubris knows no bounds.

[Darkwolf377]

“Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission.”

And you show this by supporting abortion?

Wow. Just...wow. I shouldn't be shocked by this stuff over and over, but I am.

[Ronin]

I’ve always looked at churches as clubs. Clubs, by definition have rules. If you don’t like the rules, you don’t belong in the club.

The position of the Catholic Church, as I understand it, is that abortion is a no-no, you don’t do it, you don’t support people who do it. If you do support people who do it, you have violated the rules of the club and have voluntarily relinquished your membership.

Case closed.

[Zack Nguyen]

I’ve said it many times, but I’ll say it again - a showdown is coming between the church and the state, and I strongly suspect abortion will be the catalyst.

This evangelical, and I trust millions of others, will stand with our Catholic brethren if/when this happens.

[Salvation]

The House Democrats will have to meet their maker someday and answer for their support of abortions. I doubt that they will like God’s answer and judgment unless they repent and amend their ways. (Start voting pro-life.)

[Salvation]

I have a feeling deep in my heart that you still believe in God. Otherwise you would not be speaking out so strongly.

[Salvation]

You got it. The Catholic Church has stood against abortion for nearly 2000 years. Amazing, isn't it?

1:

CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2271  (618 bytes )  preview document matches 1 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2271.htm

97%

2:

CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2272  (580 bytes )  preview document matches 2 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2272.htm

96%

3:

CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2322  (290 bytes )  preview document matches 2 From its conception, the child has the right to life. Direct abortion, that is, abortion willed as an end or as a means, is a "criminal" practice (GS 27 § 3), URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2322.htm

96%

4:	CCC Search Result - Paragraph # 2274  (554 bytes )  preview document matches gravely opposed to the moral law when this is done with the thought of possibly inducing an abortion, depending upon the results: a diagnosis must not be the equivalent URL: http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc/para/2274.htm

[Volunteer]

“We are concerned with the Pope’s recent statement warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views,” the lawmakers said in a statement issued yesterday. “Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission.”

Let me put this in terms that even a Democratic Congress Critter can understand....

Congress Critters do NOT get to tell the Holy Father what the Church teaches.

[Salvation]

Although all are invited to the Catholic Church. It is not an exclusivity.

[Darkwolf377]

No, I don't. I think I explained why I was speaking out so strongly--what right do they have to say such things? I'd feel the same way, as I said, if they spoke out to a parent's directives to his kid, or any non-governmental organization's leader doing his JOB.

That really is all there is to it.

[Darkwolf377]

I have been told that the church didn’t specifically say abortion was a no-no until the 19th century. I’m not disagreeing with your point, but I am wondering what backs that idea, since I’ve heard it many times over the years. If you know, or anyone else knows about this specific point, let me know.

[Logophile]

The Democratic lawmakers said that the suggested penalty “offend[s] the very nature of the American experiment and do[es] a great disservice to the centuries of good work the church has done.”

So, the Pope makes a comment to Mexican bishops regarding the requirements for membership in the Catholic Church in Mexico, and that offends legislators in the United States? Someone needs to remind these Democrat politicians that they have represent districts in the United States, not Mexico, and they have no authority over the Pope.

And what is this nonsense about offending the "nature of the American experiment"? I thought that Democrats believed in freedom of religion, not to mention separation of church and state.

[darkangel82]

I’m also a former Catholic, and I agree, the Democrats should just shut the h- up. Pelosi has no more right to call herself Catholic than I do.

[Ronin]

What I don’t understand is why the Pope is being so soft about it.

Why doesn’t he just say, “I’m the Pope and based on my authority as the Bishop of Rome, Supreme Vicar of Christ on Earth, etc., hereby state that the following politicians who have supported abortion in the past are excommunicated and will not be allowed into the church again until they repent.”

Then list the names.

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Will these Heretics please go away.

[muawiyah]

Almost forces me to ask just who made all those guys "the Pope".

Catholics who don't go along with their own belief system have a choice ~ preferably one that does not involve joining my church ~ we already have enough pukes just like 'em.

I doubt any of these guys fear "Outer Darkness". Most have probably found a home there anyway.

[M203M4]

"Pope still Catholic - Democrats enraged, hint at overturning Free Exercise and Establishment clauses of First Amendment on these grounds (and for the sake of Gorebull Whoring)"

[Frank Sheed]

“We are concerned with the Pope’s recent statement warning Catholic elected officials that they risk excommunication and would not receive communion for their pro-choice views,” the lawmakers said in a statement issued yesterday. “Advancing respect for life and for the dignity of every human being is, as our church has taught us, our own life’s mission.”

Translation: We believe that ignorance is bliss, that we are our own moral authority and can make it up as we go along, and that if we want to kill babies in the womb, it is our personal choice to do so.

Left Unsaid: We'd never advocate this for a kitten or doggie, though, because PETA would be all over our case...

[marshmallow]

This evangelical, and I trust millions of others, will stand with our Catholic brethren if/when this happens.

Bravo!