1) The Pope, politicians, abortion and communion.Rome/Brasilia -- On May 9, 2007, a Reuters reporter aboard the airplane transporting Pope Benedict XVI  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. to Brazil asked the Pontiff if
he supported the Mexican bishops in their recent warning of
excommunication excommunication, formal expulsion from a religious body, the most grave of all ecclesiastical censures. Where religious and social communities are nearly identical it is attended by social ostracism, as in the case of Baruch Spinoza, excommunicated by the Jews. to pro-abortion politicians. His Holiness clearly set
the issue straight in responding:
"Yes, this excommunication was not an arbitrary one, but is allowed by Canon law, which says that the killing of an innocent child is incompatible with receiving Communion, which is receiving the Body of Christ
The Body of Christ is a term used by Christians to describe believers in Christ. Jesus Christ is seen as the "head" of the body, which is the church. ." Referring to the Mexican bishops, the same reporter says the Pope added: "They did nothing new, surprising or arbitrary. They simply announced publicly what is contained in the law of the Church ... which expresses our appreciation for life and that human individuality, human personality is present from the first moment." All of this occurred prior to the Holy Father's arrival in Brazil. Upon his landing in Sao Paulo, perhaps the largest Catholic city in the world, Benedict set the tone for the General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean by expressing his certainty that the bishops would reinforce respect for life from the moment of conception until natural death. Informed Catholics are aware that Pope Benedict's statement during his trip to Brazil is a reiteration, and not an addition, to the Church's teaching. Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (Latin: Ioannes Paulus PP. II, Italian: Giovanni Paolo II, Polish: Jan Paweł II) born Karol Józef Wojtyła frequently spoke out against abortion, contraception, euthanasia, and other offences against human dignity. He did so at length in his encyclical The Gospel of Life (1995). In harmony with the apostolic witness of the Church and as prefect prefect or praefect (both: prē`fĕkt), in ancient Rome, various military and civil officers. Under the empire some prefects were very important. The Praetorian prefects (first appointed 2 B.C. of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) (Congregatio pro Doctrina Fidei), previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office, is the oldest of the nine congregations of the Roman Curia. (CDF (1) (Central Distribution Frame) A connecting unit (typically a hub) that acts as a central distribution point to all the nodes in a zone or domain. See MDF. ), then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had also clearly articulated the severe scandal involved when Catholic politicians support grave moral perversions, such as abortion (See C.I., Sept. 2004, p. 20). What is new for us is that this time he has spoken as Pope, the highest teaching authority in the Church. He spoke unambiguously about the consequences for Catholic politicians who give public scandal to the faith. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion