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Boston Cardinal: The Church ‘must call out the uncomfortable truth: abortion is wrong’ (PHOTOS)
Life Site News ^ | Patrick B. Craine

Posted on 01/21/2014 8:58:35 PM PST by Morgana

WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley condemned abortion in the starkest terms before a packed congregation of over 10,000 in Washington, D.C. Tuesday evening, insisting the Church has a duty to oppose abortion.

“The Church with the candor of the child must call out the uncomfortable truth: abortion is wrong,” the Cardinal said as he celebrated the opening Mass of the annual National Prayer Vigil for Life, which occurs the night before the March for Life at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.

The Mass was standing room only, with the faithful filling in all the aisles and corners of the Basilica even a half hour early. As has become customary, the Mass opened with a stunning 35-minute procession, including 33 bishops, 300 priests, 60 deacons, and 550 seminarians. Among the bishops were four Cardinals: Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, Cardinal Thomas Collins of Toronto, and O'Malley.

"We're here because we want to save thousands of innocent children who this year will be executed by the very people whose mission should be to heal and protect life,” said O’Malley.

“The truth is that the only way that we can save those babies is by saving the mothers,” he continued. “When they experience God’s loving mercy then they will be capable of showing that mercy to their children. The pro-life movement has to be about saving mothers. We need to focus on the woman to try to understand what she is suffering.”

Though the Cardinal is known for his candor on the abortion issue, proudly joining in the March for Life since the first event in 1974, his strong comments are especially significant this year after Pope Francis chose him as a member of his advisory commission of eight cardinals, making O’Malley one of the pope’s closest advisors.

In his homily, the Cardinal compared the pro-life struggle to the story of the Emperor’s New Clothes, in which it took a child to proclaim the truth that the emperor in fact had no clothes on at all.

“The king's new clothes today are called reproduction rights, termination of pregnancies, and many other euphemisms that disguise the reality and the brutality that is abortion,” he said. “The crowd applauds the king’s new clothes and people are afraid to question. And those who do not applaud must be stupid, naive, obstinate. The voice of the Church is like the child who declares before the world that the new clothes are a lie, a humbug, a deception.”

O’Malley said the Church upholds a “consistent ethic of life” that recognizes the equal dignity of each and every man, woman, and child, but at the same time insisted on the primacy of the most basic right to life.

“The Gospel of life is the centerpiece of the Church's social teaching,” he said. “When the value of life is compromised or diminished, all life is at risk. When we give the state the power to determine which human beings are worthy of living and which should be eliminated, what we’re doing is opening up a Pandora’s box that unleashes every kind of injustice and violation of human dignity. Life is precious.”

"Human rights without the right to life are the king's new clothes,” he added.

This year marks the 35th annual National Prayer Vigil for Life, which spans the whole night before the March, including confessions, a National Rosary for Life, Night Prayer according to the Byzantine Rite, holy hours led by seminarians from across the country from midnight until 6 a.m, and morning prayer at 6:30 a.m. The vigil closes with a Mass at 7:30 a.m. to be celebrated this year by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.


TOPICS: Catholic; Moral Issues
KEYWORDS: abortion; boston; catholic; prolife; seanomalley
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1 posted on 01/21/2014 8:58:35 PM PST by Morgana
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To: Morgana

Why is that an ‘uncomfortable truth’? The only thing uncomfortable is the hideous practice itself.


2 posted on 01/21/2014 9:00:23 PM PST by Viennacon
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To: Morgana

O'Malley and Obama at Teddy "the Baby Butcher"' Kennedy's funeral.

3 posted on 01/21/2014 9:05:08 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: Viennacon
The truth is uncomfortable to all who would deceive themselves. This includes many Catholic priests who do not want to alienate their parishioners and so never tell them that abortion is a dreadful wrong. It is uncomfortable to the pew-sitters who have had or colluded in abortions themselves, and have not been healed.
4 posted on 01/21/2014 9:07:09 PM PST by hinckley buzzard
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To: hinckley buzzard

A pox on the house of anyone who does not condemn abortion without hesitation. If you can’t stand against infanticide, what can you stand against? If priests cannot give moral instruction, they need to be replaced.


5 posted on 01/21/2014 9:09:40 PM PST by Viennacon
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To: ebb tide; Morgana

It’s disgusting that O’Malley was even invited to celebrate Mass for the March for Life.


6 posted on 01/21/2014 9:13:20 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: Viennacon

AMEN!!!


7 posted on 01/21/2014 9:14:57 PM PST by doc1019
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To: Arthur McGowan

It’s also disgusting that Pope Francis chose O’Malley to be in his Gang o’ Eight.


8 posted on 01/21/2014 9:16:12 PM PST by ebb tide
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the Pontius Pilates in the churches ... who refuse to stand against it ... who will not lift a finger ... they seek comfort today ... but like Pilate himself ....

Indifference is complicity.

Blessed are those who seek justice for justice sake.


9 posted on 01/21/2014 9:18:08 PM PST by campaignPete R-CT (Let the dead bury the dead. Let the GOP bury the GOP.)
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To: Morgana

Wow. Obsessed with small-minded rules.


10 posted on 01/21/2014 9:20:24 PM PST by nickcarraway
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To: ebb tide

And the notorious homosexual Wuerl for the Congregation for Bishops. He will send America more bishops like himself.

http://www.donaldwuerl.com


11 posted on 01/21/2014 9:29:26 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: nickcarraway
Obsessed with small-minded rules.

Yeah, but who am I to judge?

12 posted on 01/21/2014 9:29:37 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Obamacare: You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs.)
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To: ebb tide

Never trust a priest or minister who wears a beard. I don’t know why this is a truism, it just is.


13 posted on 01/21/2014 9:38:16 PM PST by miss marmelstein (Richard Lives Yet!)
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To: miss marmelstein

Jesus Christ and Padre Pio come to mind.


14 posted on 01/21/2014 9:40:30 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: Morgana

The Mass ought to be celebrated by a priest with a RECORD of pro-life commitment, not a Cardinal who chronically snuggles up to pro-abortion politicians. And that would be every Cardinal in the U.S., AFAIK.

This isn’t the first time an archbishop or Cardinal has celebrated this Mass, fresh from some scandalous event with a pro-abort.


15 posted on 01/21/2014 9:52:22 PM PST by Arthur McGowan
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To: campaignPete R-CT

I guess I’m too tired. When I started to read your post about “Pontius Pilates”, my first thought was about some sort of religious exercise class.


16 posted on 01/21/2014 9:57:28 PM PST by married21 ( As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.)
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To: Morgana

The uncomfortable truth is about to get closer. The Obama administration is arguing that Christian owned businesses must be forced to support contraception and abortion under Obamacare. If the Supreme Court agrees with him, Catholics and other Christians will have to make the decision whether to shut down their businesses or disobey God. Further, from that day forward no faithful Christian will be able to start or own a business, and Christians will be converted to a permanent underclass by Obama.


17 posted on 01/21/2014 10:47:09 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: ebb tide

And John Calvin, John Knox and Charles Spurgeon.


18 posted on 01/21/2014 10:50:57 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: kaehurowing

They don’t count. None of them were priests.


19 posted on 01/21/2014 10:55:55 PM PST by ebb tide
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To: ebb tide

The original post said priest or minister. And John Knox was a priest originally.


20 posted on 01/21/2014 11:00:01 PM PST by kaehurowing
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