Posted on 01/21/2014 8:58:35 PM PST by Morgana
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 25, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) Boston Cardinal Sean OMalley 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 OMalley.
The truth is that the only way that we can save those babies is by saving the mothers, he continued. When they experience Gods 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 OMalley one of the popes closest advisors.
In his homily, the Cardinal compared the pro-life struggle to the story of the Emperors 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 kings 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.
OMalley 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 were doing is opening up a Pandoras 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.
Why is that an ‘uncomfortable truth’? The only thing uncomfortable is the hideous practice itself.
O'Malley and Obama at Teddy "the Baby Butcher"' Kennedy's funeral.
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.
It’s disgusting that O’Malley was even invited to celebrate Mass for the March for Life.
AMEN!!!
It’s also disgusting that Pope Francis chose O’Malley to be in his Gang o’ Eight.
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.
Wow. Obsessed with small-minded rules.
And the notorious homosexual Wuerl for the Congregation for Bishops. He will send America more bishops like himself.
Yeah, but who am I to judge?
Never trust a priest or minister who wears a beard. I don’t know why this is a truism, it just is.
Jesus Christ and Padre Pio come to mind.
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.
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.
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.
And John Calvin, John Knox and Charles Spurgeon.
They don’t count. None of them were priests.
The original post said priest or minister. And John Knox was a priest originally.
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