Posted on 02/25/2016 5:09:03 PM PST by ebb tide
In a February 8 interview with one of Italy's most prominent dailies, Corriere Della Serra, Pope Francis praised Italy's leading proponent of abortion - Emma Bonino -- as one of the nation's "forgotten greats," comparing her to great historical figures such as Konrad Adenauer and Robert Schuman. Knowing that his praise of her may be controversial, the Pope said that she offered the best advice to Italy on learning about Africa, and admitted she thinks differently from us. "True, but never mind," he said. "We have to look at people, at what they do."
At 27, Bonino had an illegal abortion and then worked with the Information Centre on Sterilization and Abortion which boasted over 10,000 abortions. There are famous photos of Bonino performing illegal abortions using a homemade device operated by a bicycle pump. Arrested for the then-illegal activity she spent a few days in jail and was acquitted and entered politics.
When she was appointed Italy's foreign minister in 2013 there was a general outcry from life and family leaders at the appalling situation.
Responding to the Pope's praise of Bonino, pro-life leaders in Italy expressed disbelief. "How can the pope praise a woman that is best known in Italy for practicing illegal abortion and promoting abortion?" commented Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, who was until last year the head of the Rome office of Human Life International.
Luca Volonte, an Italian politician and the president of the pro-life Novae Terrae Foundation, told LifeSiteNews he believed the Pope "was not really informed about how much Mrs. Bonino has done in Italy and at the international level to promote abortion and euthanasia." Even though he admits "she did well in Egypt," he adds that even there "she promoted her anti-life values." The Pope, said Volonte, "was wrong and worse were the members of His secretariat for not informing him."
The Pope's possible ignorance of Bonino's stance is unlikely given his justifications in the interview. She has been for decades the most prominent supporter of abortion in Italy. Moreover, the Pope already received criticism for his contact with Bonino in 2015 when he called her about her cancer and invited her to the Vatican.
Au contraire. Bergoglio is the current pope and therefore I fear.
Close, bouncer in a tango dance hall.
"How can the pope praise a woman that is best known in Italy for practicing illegal abortion and promoting abortion?" commented Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, who was until last year the head of the Rome office of Human Life International.
I guess that depends on how many women Francis has knocked up. And given his tacit support for homosexual marriage, who knows?
Pius XII is the most slandered human being of the twentieth century.
In all seriousness, Francis is becoming more and more perplexing. The portrayals of him on threads like these as senile, demented, a Communist, I just don’t think are serious appraisals of him. Such statements have to ignore statements and actions galore of Francis which are orthodox. The nuncio to Bern, Switzerland, Francis just appointed is a traditionalist. His 2014 appointment as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, Robert Cardinal Sarah, is a bare-knuckled conservative. His statements condemning abortion and gender theory while defending traditional marriage are numerous.
And yet, there’s the “Who am I to judge?” statement. There are the questionable appointments. There’s the early statement seeming to smack-down Pro-Lifers. What’s the name of the Kentucky County Clerk who was jailed for refusing to issue so-called gay marriage licenses who he went out of his way to meet but then ran from? There are the hard shots at conservative Cardinals during the Synods, but there’s also the hard shots at liberals (”adolescent progressivism ... weak thinking”). And now the seemingly *wink wink* statement on contraception (which he seemed to leave an out with by saying “maybe”) and the subject of this thread.
I confess I don’t have the answers to these contradictions, but again, the portrayal of him as a far-left loon, demonic and senile, just isn’t serious to me.
If he is Pope, even if he really likes abortion (he clearly doesn't) or contraception (debatable, I suppose), he won't be able to teach infallibly that these sins are good, because he has been given the charism of infallibility. He might, however, commit some horrible evil. Previous popes have been accused of horrible crimes, including murder, but none has ever taught that murder is not a sin.
Now we know he is Pope because Benedict's resignation was made freely and publicly, and because the election which followed was universally recognized.
He’s scum.
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