Posted on 05/15/2007 10:36:07 AM PDT by Alex Murphy
Pope Benedict just won the trifecta.
In the last week, three events have combined to create a remarkable "teaching moment." The horse race began last week at the first Republican presidential debate. There, Philadelphia native and Irish Catholic Chris Matthews of MSNBC asked presidential candidate Mitt Romney: Do you think it violates the separation of church and state for Catholic bishops to deny Communion to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights?
Romney, a Mormon, appeared puzzled to be asked a question involving a matter of internal Catholic policy. Maybe, Mitt must have thought, Matthews has me confused with Rudy Giuliani or Sam Browback (or Democrats Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, John Kerry or Teddy Kennedy). No matter.
Romney, as Mister Dooley might have seen, seen his opportunity and he took it.
Given the chance for an unexpected whack at the ball, Romney proceeded to hit it out of the park.
Look, buddy - Romney said, or words to that effect - that's between you and your bishop. But, however that comes out, it sure doesn't violate separation of church and state. Any church has the constitutional right to determine its internal policies free of state interference, for example, who can receive Communion and who cannot.
The second event occurred in Mexico City, a very Catholic country.
There, the state legislature of Mexico City defied Holy Mother Church by enacting one of the few laws in Latin America permitting abortion for reasons other than to save the life of the mother. Minor bishops fulminated. There were calls for issuing formal excommunications of the socialist legislators who had voted for the law. Cooler heads filed a lawsuit with Mexico's constitutional court to invalidate the law.
The Constitution of Mexico, like that of many Catholic nations, contains a provision protecting innocent human life.
Secularists trumpeted the legislation as a victory for modernity. But, as street demonstrations on both sides of the question multiplied, the cardinal primate of Mexico was summoned to Rome for urgent consultations. Cardinal Norberto Rivera got off the plane from Rome and said he wasn't going to excommunicate anybody. He didn't need to. The Mexican legislators who had voted to legalize abortion had already excommunicated themselves by their actions.
Which is, in fact, what the church teaches. Anyone who had an abortion and anyone who conspires with or is a necessary accomplice to the aborting mother is automatically excommunicated. Because of this self-excommunication, Cardinal Rivera said, he didn't need to do anything.
Outflanked, angry Mexico City legislators insisted they were still good Catholics.
Finally, the Triple Crown. On Wednesday, Pope Benedict was flying to Brazil.
There, under a socialist government, the Brazilian Congress is considering legalizing abortion. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says that, as a Catholic, he is personally opposed to abortion.
But ... the rest you know. Sounds just like Biden, Kerry or Pelosi (or Rudy).
At an in-flight press conference, the Holy Father was asked:
Question: Do you agree with the excommunications given to legislators in Mexico City on the question [of legalizing abortion.]?
Answer: Yes. The excommunication was not something arbitrary. It is part of the [canon law] code. It is based simply on the principle that the killing of an innocent human child is incompatible with going in Communion with the Body of Christ. Thus, they [the bishops] didn't do anything new or anything surprising. Or arbitrary.
Shortly after this exchange went out on the Internet, the papal plane was rocked by a sonic boom from the secular humanist press: oh, my God, the pope is a Catholic! And, although the wings of the papal jet did not, in fact, rock, there was a "clarification" issued by the Vatican Press Office before Benedict's plane touched down in Sao Paulo.
Then Benedict's traveling press officer clarified the clarification: No, Father Lombardi - who had, presumably, talked with the Boss before coming out - said. The Mexican legislators excommunicated themselves from Communion.
Finally, Jesuit Father Tom Reese started to explain the explanation ... . You can enjoy the whole thing on whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com and other Catholic blogs. But I think the message, at least, is clear. The morning line on this guy Ratzinger was wrong. Everybody expected a German Shepherd. Instead, we have a great teaching pope.
He teaches but, as with the Mexico City legislators, he does not condemn - indeed, he stays the hand of the ones who were hot to condemn.
As the Pope might have said: like Islam, Catholic Christianity is a living faith. So, actions have consequences. You politicians are free to vote your consciences, the pope might have said. Just remember that you thereby may forfeit the sacraments.
But, I expect Benedict to say soon, one of those sacraments is still available to you: the sacrament of penance. Unlike Islam, which has no sacraments, Catholicism preaches salvation and forgiveness for sinners. The church, somebody said, is for sinners; the saints don't need it.
So, look to Benedict to use this moment to preach repentance and forgiveness for those who have authorized, assisted at or had an abortion. It is not true that the sacrament of penance is not available for a woman who has had an abortion, or those who helped,pressed or enabled her. What is required, though, is repentance.
For us as Americans, this week's papal trifecta suggests two observations.
First, as theologian George Weigel has written, Benedict's election as pope means that the 40-year effort by secular humanism to force the Catholic Church to adapt to secular humanism's view of man and the world has failed. Indeed, this latest episode, like Jane Kramer's piece on the pope and Islam in the April 2 issue of the New Yorker - which Weigel scorned as "The New Yorker Spins the Pope," proves the truth of his observation:
[These people who keep expecting a change of the church's position] really ought to find [themselves] new ... sources. [They] remind me of nothing so much as those unfortunate Japanese soldiers found on remote Pacific islands in the 1970s - men who never, somehow, got the word that Emperor Hirohito had packed it in 30 years ago ... It's over. Get over it.
The second question, of course, is how this week's clear direction from the Holy See will end up being implemented in the United States, especially in the coming election year.
With the ongoing spectacle of former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey (he's a Catholic; no, he's an Episcopalian; no, wait, he's going to be an Episcopal priest), it's worth remembering that it was the archbishop of Newark who first blew the whistle on the governor. His Grace took a lot of heat for it, after McGreevey agreed to stop receiving Communion in public. But, three years on, the archbishop looks pretty good.
The archbishops of St. Louis and Denver have, similarly, been outspoken.
Is the church's teaching clear? Crystal. Then it's time to talk about mercy.
Clarity ... and mercy. Something we all need.
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Everything is very confused and vague to the leftwing media.
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Everything is very confused and vague to the leftwing media.
Good job from Mr. Romney. I still find him an interesting candidate, although I'm not sure about him.
My respect for Romney just went up a WHOLE bunch hearing that...
Thanks for this post.
One thing I would not agree with in this article: we have BOTH a teaching Pope and a German Shepherd. One doesn’t cancel out the other.
Here’s hoping...
Wouldn’t be the first time a moderator from the MSM screwed up during the debate.
Remember back in the 2k election when a question about gays was asked of Joe Lieberman, when it was quite obviously intended for Dick Cheney?
Even Lieberman (from his expression and body language) could tell that the moderator (forget who it was) screwed up.
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