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SF Archbishop on Pelosi: No Catholic Can Dissent from Church Teaching on Abortion
CNSNews ^ | January 26, 2015 | Luaretta Brown

Posted on 01/26/2015 11:27:50 AM PST by jazusamo

Video at link of Pelosi's comments.

(CNSNews.com) – Responding to statements made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi--who would not say at her press briefing last week if a 20-week-old unborn child is a "human being"--Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said that it is a “scientific fact that human life begins at conception” and that “no Catholic can dissent in good conscience” from Church teaching on the sanctity of life. At her Jan. 22 briefing Pelosi said she had "great standing" to speak on the issue of abortion, noting that she was a "Catholic and a mom of five" and asserting that it was "true" she knew "more about having babies than the pope."

CNSNews.com asked Archbishop Cordileone about Pelosi’s comments on human life, particularly in light her self-description “as a Catholic and a mom of five."

"It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception," the archbishop said in a written statement to CNSNews.com. "This has been established in medical science for over 100 years. Catholic moral teaching acknowledges this scientific fact, and has always affirmed the grave moral evil of taking an innocent human life.

“This has been the consistent teaching of the Church from the very beginning, a teaching already discernible in the natural moral law, and so a teaching from which no Catholic can dissent in good conscience,” he said.

“It is the obligation of pastors of souls to reach out to their people who have difficulty understanding and accepting such important teachings of the Church in order to extend to them true pastoral care and, where appropriate, to establish a regular dialogue,” said Archbishop Cordileone. “This is something I have always striven to do in the various ministries I have exercised as a priest and bishop, including now as the Archbishop of San Francisco. I ask for people’s prayers for success as I continue to strive to do this."

Pelosi lives in Cordileone's archdiocese and represents San Francisco in Congress.

At her Jan. 22 press conference at the Capitol, CNSNews.com twice asked Pelosi whether an unborn child 20 weeks into pregnancy is a human being.

Pelosi would not answer the yes-no question with a yes-no answer, but did say that a woman has "the right" to abort her child.

“The fact is is what we have said: The life and the health of the mother is what is preeminent in when a decision is made about a woman’s reproductive health," said Pelosi, after declining for the second time to say if an unborn child at 20 weeks is a human being. "It isn't an ideological fight, it is a personal health issue.

"And as a mother of five, in six years, I have great standing on this issue, great understanding of it, more than my colleagues. In fact, one day many years ago, perhaps before you were born, when I was a new member of Congress, as a Catholic and a mom of five, opposing some of the initiatives similar to what--in the same vein as--what we have today, one of the Republicans stood up and said: Nancy Pelosi thinks she knows more about having babies than the pope.

"Yeah, Yeah. That would be true. So, in any event, this is up to women, their conscience, their God, their doctor, their fate, their survival. And that is what the decision should be. Decisions about women’s reproductive health should not be made by politicians in Washington, D.C., but should honor the decisions that have been made by the Supreme Court, a decision made by the Supreme Court, recognizing the right of women to have that choice.”

During the press conference, Pelosi made clear that she is opposed to both the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act and the No Taxpayer Funding of Abortion and Abortion Insurance Full Disclosure Act.

The former would prohibit the abortion of babies 20 weeks or later into gestation unless they were conceived in rape or incest, or if the life of the mother was at risk. The latter prohibits federal funding of abortion and stops federal Obamacare subsidies from going to insurance plans that cover abortion while not preventing people in subsidized Obamacare plans from buying supplemental abortion coverage--with their own money.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: abortion; archbishopcordileone; catholic; pelosi; sanfrancisco
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To: pleasenotcalifornia

I am in Pittsburgh, a big Catholic town with a population that votes heavily Democrat because they still buy into 1930’s union propaganda that they are “the party of DA WORKIN’ MAN!”

I have seen waves of Democrat Catholic politicians....Senators, Congressmen, State Representatives, State Senators....come to Mass and to Church events and portray themselves as good Catholics, despite the fact that they’d never met an abortion that they would not vote for.

Reaction of the attendant clergy, sad to say, was deference that verged on groveling. “Oh, Congressman, you are SO wonderful, blah blah blah....”

Pastoral dialogue it ain’t.


21 posted on 01/26/2015 11:53:00 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: faithhopecharity; All
"if not, this article means nothing"

I agree.

22 posted on 01/26/2015 11:54:38 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: jazusamo
Well, I'm waiting for some (Arch)Bishop to excommunicate Rep Michael Doyle - (D) PA-14.

He claims to be a Catholic.

But he was the person who convinced Stupak and his followers that Obamacare doesn't support abortion.

It was Doyle's influence that got that damn law passed.

23 posted on 01/26/2015 11:56:17 AM PST by FroggyTheGremlim ("Your apathy is their power." - Sarah Palin Jul 19, 2014)
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To: jazusamo

**Responding to statements made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi—who would not say at her press briefing last week if a 20-week-old unborn child is a “human being”—Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco said that it is a “scientific fact that human life begins at conception” and that “no Catholic can dissent in good conscience” from Church teaching on the sanctity of life.**

Is Archbishop Cordileone getting ready to excommunicate her?


24 posted on 01/26/2015 11:58:12 AM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: jazusamo

So when will his eminence deny her the sacraments?


25 posted on 01/26/2015 11:59:51 AM PST by muir_redwoods ("He is a very shallow critic who cannot see an eternal rebel in the heart of a conservative." G.K .C)
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To: BigEdLB

What a message!

26 posted on 01/26/2015 12:00:55 PM PST by Salvation ("With God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; jazusamo

” When is she to be excommunicated? That’s when I’ll know they’re serious.”

They aren’t serious.


27 posted on 01/26/2015 12:03:40 PM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: Salvation

You and I know there’s little chance of it but it would be appropriate in my view.


28 posted on 01/26/2015 12:03:40 PM PST by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin)
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To: jazusamo

“unless they were conceived in rape or incest, or if the life of the mother was at risk” I hate this conjunction of the “rape or incest” exception with the “life of the mother” exception. Almost always if the life of the mother is at risk the baby will not survive. The easiest example to think of is an ectopic pregnancy where to fetus is trapped in the tube. If left there the mother will certainly die. The child has no chance of survival. So that tube has to usually be cut out. Someone dear to me was in that situation and the stupid doctor wanted to start in on the whole abortion issue. I gave him a look that would curdle milk and said, baby is probably already dead and cutting out the tube will save her and you want to talk abortion?


29 posted on 01/26/2015 12:04:28 PM PST by Mercat
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To: jazusamo

” Yep, they use their religion to help them get elected then ignore it.”

Hmmmmm......what does THAT remind us of?

hint....see tagline : )


30 posted on 01/26/2015 12:04:57 PM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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To: Salvation

BTTT!


31 posted on 01/26/2015 12:05:06 PM PST by jazusamo (0bama to go 'full-Mussolini' after elections: Mark Levin)
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To: jazusamo
Pelosi said ... that it was "true" she knew "more about having babies than the pope."

She probably knows more about killing them than the pope, too.

32 posted on 01/26/2015 12:06:22 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: BigEdLB

We don’t kill the one that commits the rape; why would we kill the one who is a result of the rape?


33 posted on 01/26/2015 12:07:01 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: jazusamo
All who hold their offices under the Constitution need to do some basic study on the principles and ideas underlying the U. S. Constitution .

They were simple, but profound, ideas, as summarized in their Declaration of Independence. That document affirmed the existence of a "Creator," the "Supreme Judge of the World," "Divine Providence," and the "laws of nature and of Nature's God."

In America, all our constitutional protections rest on the Founders' premise that all human beings are "endowed by their Creator" with rights to both life and the liberty to "pursue happiness." That is the sole reason those rights are deemed unalienable--because they are derived, not from another human being, not from a government, not even from the mother, but from God.

"The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time: the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin them." - Thomas Jefferson

That understanding underlies every other consideration embodied in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution. It is the very basis of our rights to life, liberty, and laws to protect them.

Since the 1970's, technological advances have enabled us to observe God's tiniest creations in the womb. We no longer have an excuse for imagining that these are blobs of tissue labeled "fetuses." They are living babies who will have life and liberty if we do not "destroy" them.

At the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington DC on February 3, 1994, Mother Teresa stated: “And if we accept that a mother can kill even her own child, how can we tell other people not to kill one another?"

Indeed, if we cannot protect the life and liberty of these smallest versions of ourselves, even with their so-called "imperfections," then Mother Teresa's words take on significant meaning.

34 posted on 01/26/2015 12:10:59 PM PST by loveliberty2
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To: CynicalBear

Agreed


35 posted on 01/26/2015 12:11:59 PM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Daniel 2 Daniel 7 Daniel 9 Revelation 13 Revelation 16 Revelation 17 Revelation 18 Revelation 19)
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To: jazusamo
CNSNews.com asked Archbishop Cordileone about Pelosi’s comments on human life, particularly in light her self-description “as a Catholic and a mom of five." "It is a scientific fact that human life begins at conception," the archbishop said in a written statement to CNSNews.com. "This has been established in medical science for over 100 years. Catholic moral teaching acknowledges this scientific fact, and has always affirmed the grave moral evil of taking an innocent human life. “This has been the consistent teaching of the Church from the very beginning, a teaching already discernible in the natural moral law, and so a teaching from which no Catholic can dissent in good conscience,” he said.

“It is the obligation of pastors of souls to reach out to their people who have difficulty understanding and accepting such important teachings of the Church in order to extend to them true pastoral care and, where appropriate, to establish a regular dialogue,” said Archbishop Cordileone. “This is something I have always striven to do in the various ministries I have exercised as a priest and bishop, including now as the Archbishop of San Francisco. I ask for people’s prayers for success as I continue to strive to do this."

IOW, a finger-wagging. What if Pelosi declines the dialogue? What do we expect the archbishop to use next - harsh language?

36 posted on 01/26/2015 12:13:52 PM PST by Alex Murphy ("the defacto Leader of the FR Calvinist Protestant Brigades")
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To: All

We all have our views on Abortion. Nancy Pelosi is a hypocrite. I said what I think. That was my point. I will not engage on this thread further...


37 posted on 01/26/2015 12:18:29 PM PST by BigEdLB (Now there ARE 1,000,000 regrets - but it may be too late.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
When is she to be excommunicated? That’s when I’ll know they’re serious.

Bears repeating.

38 posted on 01/26/2015 12:24:57 PM PST by onedoug
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To: jazusamo

It is a scandal. And too many Bishops and Archbishops are contributing to it.


39 posted on 01/26/2015 12:39:57 PM PST by Montana_Sam (Truth lives.)
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To: DuncanWaring

Nancy,abortion is about a child, not a choice.


40 posted on 01/26/2015 12:46:09 PM PST by stephenjohnbanker (My Batting Average( 1,000) (GOPe is that easy to read))
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