Posted on 11/19/2008 3:56:29 PM PST by wagglebee
WASHINGTON, November 19, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The possible signing of the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) by President-Elect Barack Obama would be "the equivalent of a war" an unnamed senior Vatican official recently told TIME magazine.
The startling comments make the second time this week that a Vatican official has forthrightly and in the strongest language condemned Obama's extreme policies on abortion. Speaking at the Catholic University of America a few days ago, Vatican Cardinal James Stafford labeled Obama's anti-life policies as "aggressive, disruptive, and apocalyptic," also noting that, "On November 4, 2008, America suffered a cultural earthquake" (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111703.html).
With Catholic, but outspokenly pro-abortion individuals occupying two prominent positions (Joseph Biden as vice president and Tom Daschle as Health and Human Services Secretary) the specter of public excommunication or denial of communion for prominent members of the Obama Administration has arisen.
The focus of the Vatican’s concern, FOCA, is a bill that would do away with state laws on abortion, including laws mandating parental involvement, or banning partial birth abortion. FOCA would also compel taxpayer funding of abortions, and, of greatest concern to Bishops, would force faith-based hospitals and healthcare facilities to perform abortions.
Obama has in the past said that he would make signing FOCA one of the highest priorities of his presidency.
Last week at the meeting of US Bishops in Baltimore, Cybercast News Service asked Chicago Cardinal Francis George, the current president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, if voting for FOCA would bring a penalty of automatic excommunication for Catholic politicians. The Cardinal did not rule it out.
"The excommunication is automatic if that act is in fact formal cooperation, and that is precisely what would have to be discussed once you would see the terms of the act itself," responded Cardinal George. When asked for more, he added: "The categories in moral theology about cooperating in evil, which make you complicit in the evil even though you don't do it yourself, are material cooperation, which is usually remote and therefore doesn't involve you in the moral action except in a very auxiliary and minor way, and formal cooperation, which would involve you even though you are not doing it, in the way that makes you culpable.
"So we would have to take a look at each case, and at each law, to determine whether or not the cooperation is material or formal. We've never done that."
Cardinal George has, however, personally analyzed FOCA and expressed his grave concerns about the legislation. In a message to the Obama Administration at the end of the USCCB meeting George wrote on FOCA, saying it would, "outlaw any ‘interference’ in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country."
The Cardinal added: "FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities." (see coverage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/nov/08111209.html )
In light of this possible attempt to revoke conscience rights under the Obama administration, Catholic League president Bill Donohue has urged President Bush to enact regulations, already in draft for months, which would protect the rights of doctors, nurses and health workers from being discriminated against if they refuse to perform or assist in abortions, as well as other morally contentious procedures. "At stake are the religious rights of these professionals," said Donohue.
"To put it differently, were FOCA to become law (it needs to be reintroduced in the House), the culture war that the Vatican official was referring to would come to a boiling point," he warned. "In practical terms, this would mean the closure of every Catholic hospital in the nation: No bishop is going to stand by and allow the federal government to dictate what medical procedures must be performed in Catholic hospitals. Make no mistake about it, the bishops would shut down Catholic hospitals before acquiescing in the intentional killing of an innocent child. Were this to happen, it would not only cripple the poor, it would cripple the Obama administration."
Donohue concluded: "It is for reasons like these that the Catholic League urges President Bush to move with dispatch in instituting rules protecting the religious rights of all health care workers. If Obama wants to undo them, it will set up a confrontation he will surely regret."
See the TIME article:
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1859856,00.htm...
See the Cybercast News article:
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=14369
Pius MAY have adopted a “stand off” policy to save as many as possible, but I would not call this a failure.
So?....If too many Catholic leaders preach the religion of Marxism is it any wonder that 45% of Mass attending Catholic would vote for Obama thinking that he was a god on earth?
The Catholic Church is in serious need of reform. That reform will come from the many God-fearing Catholics who practice **ALL** of their religion. These are the grass root people who will ultimately demand reform from their weak bishops. I wish we had a nation full to the brim with these faithful God-fearing Catholic Christians.
Ditto.
McCain didn’t made some mention of abortion in the final debate, but by then it was too late.
You know perfectly well (or should know) that to support and encourage the commission of sin by any means is the same as committing that sin. If the Church, in it's wisdom as the representative of Jesus Christ on earth, determines that we can no longer in good conscience enable the State to continue this abomination then all of us must make a choice as to our true allegiance.
When the rendering to Caesar becomes the denial of God's law than that rendering itself becomes sinful. Read your St. Augustine.
Yes, caught myself. See post #41.
He is one of the few Protestants that I truly believe the Catholic Church should consider for sainthood.
Compare that to Pius threatening to excommunicate Catholics who voted Communist in 1948. Yes his policy saved some Jews. It also saved his own neck.
YEAH!! Perfect!
It just needs the “What, me worry?” slogan to be a visual reminder of our tanking economy/civilization :(
As a Lutheran pastor, he wouldn’t go for it. Bottom line, the almighty knows his own, I’m sure of that.
If Hitler had deposed Pius and installed a puppet, things would have been a lot worse. In hindsight, it is easy to see how Pius (and FDR, Churchill and a host of others) could have done things differently and possibly had better results, but it is wrong to say that Pius acted with malice or indifference.
You can look at Iowa. I haven’t talked to a Catholic who DIDN’T vote Obama, sad to say.
“If Hitler had deposed Pius and installed a puppet, things would have been a lot worse.”
That can be argued, however, what is the current Pope’s excuse for doing nothing?
And it is probable that respect for him is what prevents it and the Lord certainly knows His own. For what it’s worth, “The Cost of Discipleship” has always seemed far more Catholic than Lutheran to me.
If you believe that, you are corrupted.
Scripture trumps Augustine every time. You continue to make excuses for actions which run directly contrary to scripture. The Gospel says pay your taxes, even to a Caesar. The early Christians certainly did NOT rebel against a government that was worse (from a moral perspective) than an American government which passes FOCA. Their example should instruct you.
Catholic bishops are masters of obfuscation!
How many dense and lengthy letters from bishops have we read here on free republic? It is **amazing** how they can bury a nugget of truth in a mountain of verbiage.
If bishops really had any backbone they could say what needed to be said in 25 words or less.
The Pope spoke out very forcefully against abortion when he was here this spring. Dozens of bishops spoke out during campaign.
There could have been a great deal of public backlash if a foreign head of state had appeared to publicly take sides in the election.
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