Until the Catholic Church starts excommunicating the Catholic pols who support abortion on demand, I wish they would just shut up, and stop lecturing their flock on that subject. - tom
I wonder how we would react if the Bishops wrote something like... “Catholics cannot vote for a political candidate that takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil, such as capitalism.”
BTW Joe Ratzinger wrote the following...
“Confronted with the abuse of economic power, with the cruelty of capitalism that degrades man into merchandise, we have begun to see more clearly the dangers of wealth and we understand in a new way what Jesus intended in warning us about wealth.”
So the Pope should excommunicate the wealthy?
And yes I mean to ask a hard question. I do expect emotional responses to the question. Not rational ones.
Flame on.
Capitalism (at least practiced without fraud or coercion) is far more moral than the alternatives, because it relies on individuals to use their God given free will to make rational choices in light of scarcity. Rather than force the choices of others on them without their consent or without limits on the coercive power.
Let me repeat-Catholic politicians who publicly support abortion are automatically excommunicated. There is no need for a public excommunication because it's done once the politician takes the position.
"The 1917 Code of Canon Law punished abortion with excommunication. The revised canonical legislation continues this tradition when it decrees that a person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic (Latae sententiae) excommunication" (Canon 1398) " The excommunication affects all those who commit this crime with knowledge of the penalty attached and thus includes those accomplices without whose help the crime would not have been committed" (Canon 1329).
"By this sanction the Church makes clear that abortion is a most serious and dangerous crime, thereby encouraging those who commit it to seek without delay the path of conversion. In the Church the purpose of the penalty of excommunication is to make an individual fully aware of the gravity of a certain sin and then to foster genuine conversion and repentance"(EV 62B).
If you count yourself among the "faithful," you might consider publicizing this information further, e.g. to your fave pro-abortion Catholic politician. Unfortunately, there are a bloody lot of them.
Earth to tom! Earth to tom!
They are automatically ex-communicated, latae sentiae.
Latae sentiae Excommunications are ones that take place when an action is performed (by a candidate who takes a position in favor of an intrinsic evil), not when the Church formally announces it.
Maybe you should check around prior to engaging your ....
Lurking’
Whether or not they're excommunicated, they're still in office. The problem is that many Catholics voted FOR those pols to put them into office. This is why the Bishops' message is important. It is hoped that more Catholics will start to listen to them and not support the pro-abortion candidates anymore.