Friday, March 29, AD 2024 10:04am

PopeWatch: Think Hard About This

VATICAN-POPE-AUDIENCE

The Pope spoke quite strongly against abortion, euthanasia and in vitro fertilization on Saturday to the Association of Italian Catholic doctors

The dominant thinking sometimes suggests a “false compassion”, that which believes that it is: helpful to women to promote abortion; an act of dignity to obtain euthanasia; a scientific breakthrough to “produce” a child and to consider it to be a right rather than a gift to welcome; or to use human lives as guinea pigs presumably to save others. Instead, the compassion of the Gospel is that which accompanies in times of need, that is, the compassion of the Good Samaritan, who “sees”, “has compassion”, approaches and provides concrete help (cf. Lk 10:33).

Your mission as doctors puts you in daily contact with many forms of suffering. I encourage you to take them on as “Good Samaritans”, caring in a special way for the elderly, the infirm and the disabled. Fidelity to the Gospel of life and respect for life as a gift from God sometimes require choices that are courageous and go against the current, which in particular circumstances, may become points of conscientious objection. And this fidelity entails many social consequences. We are living in a time of experimentation with life. But a bad experiment. Making children rather than accepting them as a gift, as I said.

Playing with life. Be careful, because this is a sin against the Creator: against God the Creator, who created things this way. When so many times in my life as a priest I have heard objections: “But tell me, why the Church is opposed to abortion, for example? Is it a religious problem?” No, no. It is not a religious problem. “Is it a philosophical problem?” No, it is not a philosophical problem.

It’s a scientific problem, because there is a human life there, and it is not lawful to take out a human life to solve a problem. “But no, modern thought…” But, listen, in ancient thought and modern thought, the word “kill” means the same thing. The same evaluation applies to euthanasia: we all know that with so many old people, in this culture of waste, there is this hidden euthanasia. But there is also the other. And this is to say to God, “No, I will accomplish the end of life, as I will.” A sin against God the Creator! Think hard about this.

Indeed.  Go here to read the rest.  Bravo Pope Francis!

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Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 5:36am

I am pleased the Holy Father addressed the question of assisted reproduction.
I have always though it unfortunate that so little effort has been made by pastors to draw our attention to Donum Vitae, the CDF’s instruction of 22 February 1987, especially when we see human gametes being treated as articles of commerce and a thriving international market in babies, bespoke or prêt-à-porter, through surrogate gestation.
France is the only country I know of that has enacted legislation to restrict the commercialisation of the reproductive process.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 9:40am

How odd that liberal progressives who, being environmentally conscious, are so in love with nature and yet are so willing to do the most unnatural things with unborn babies and even in their own sex lives! As St Paul said, they would rather worship the creature than the Creator.

c matt
c matt
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 11:10am

Paul, that always puzzles me as well. People who spend the extra money on “organics,” purified water and whatnot are the same ones pumping themselves full of artificial hormones to avoid pregnancy. Makes no sense.

Clinton
Clinton
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 12:00pm

It’s also interesting that many of the people we’ve seen seize upon this Pope’s
unfortunate “who am I to judge?” comment to justify ignoring perennial
Catholic teachings about homosexuality … are the same people who will, with a
roll of their eyes, pass over Pope Francis’ strong words against abortion and
euthanasia.

Mary De Voe
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 1:37pm

c matt: “Paul, that always puzzles me as well. People who spend the extra money on “organics,” purified water and whatnot are the same ones pumping themselves full of artificial hormones to avoid pregnancy. Makes no sense.”
.
Estrogen from contraceptive pills is polluting our ground water. Without a solution, Obama has issued the HHS Mandate requiring everybody to pay for and buy contraception of everybody. Global warming had no response to the volcanoes in New Zealand, Alaska and Hawaii. Oh, no, the people are prohibited from praying to God, our Creator, to “deliver us from evil”, from Yellowstone, the supervolcano from erupting. “Unless you honor me, I will make of you a “no people” a foolish nation.”
.
You just killed a human being, one of God’s children, through abortion. This ought to make you a favorite of God.(sarcasm) You just engineered a person without his informed consent. That ought to make the law more relevant to the masses for a civilized society. (more sarcasm) The devil makes us incoherent before God. Atheism removes the God of good will and common sense, and leaves us dependent upon “a no people, a foolish nation”.
.
Every sin provokes God. Every prayer will be answered.

Philip
Philip
Monday, November 17, AD 2014 7:32pm

Mary De Voe.
Damn right!
Your sarcasm is appreciated.
Bless you dear one.

DJ Hesselius
DJ Hesselius
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 12:18pm

Am I wrong in noticing that the Pope only speaks thusly (criticism of abortion, divorce, homosexual behavior, calling it a sin, etc) when he is before an audience who would normally agree with Church teaching? Have I noticed wrong on that? That is my impression.

Michael Paterson-Seymour
Michael Paterson-Seymour
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 12:34pm

DJ Hesselius

Surely it is obvious why he would want to discuss abortion, euthanasia and assisted reproduction, when addressing a medical association?
Less so, if he were speaking to the mercantile marine, for example.

Paul W Primavera
Paul W Primavera
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 12:52pm

MPS, the Holy Father should say these things to Cardinal Kasper and the liberal news media. He avoids doing so and issues such platitudes as “Who am I to judge?”

Sydney O. Fernandes, MD
Sydney O. Fernandes, MD
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 2:46pm

It is pathetic how downhill the medical profession has gone with regard to reproduction and with life itself. It is an irony of devilish proportions to have uterine transplants in China and Sweden; IVF from now 3 sources; exploitations of women for surrogacy in India; and nearer home, the utter lack of so many “Catholic” physicians to stand up and be counted to follow ethical principles. In Catholic hospitals, the ERDs are virtually not promulgated, and often ignored in practice. From the pulpits, a great silence.
For whom are we saving the planet?

Mary De Voe
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 7:02pm

Thank you, Philip. I will take that as a Hail Mary.

Franco
Franco
Tuesday, November 18, AD 2014 9:18pm

A false compassion says Francis. What happened to God is
open to new ideas?

Perhaps, Francis is unaware of the crucial role homosexual
groups played in establishing assisted suicide in Oregon.
Remember homosexuals have many gifts to offer the church.

Oregon was targeted by the Hemlock Society, which strongly
advocated assisted suicide and which was funded by homosexual
groups, which sought a painless death for AIDS infected members
of their community, to make legal euthanasia.

The states of Oregon and Washington were targeted for assisted
suicide because both states have large non-religious populations
(over 25 percent for each state) which made the effort to legalize
euthanasia in those states much easier.

trackback
Wednesday, November 19, AD 2014 3:13am

[…] Effect – The CWR Is Pope Francis’ Honeymoon with the Media Over? – Russell Shaw Pope Francis Condemns Brittany Maynard Suicide – D. R. McClarey JD Pope Francis’s on Complementarity of Man & Woman – Edward […]

Fr. Chris Fontanini
Wednesday, November 19, AD 2014 2:15pm

I have been around enough individuals in the medical field to know that not everyone in the medical field would agree with Pope Francis and the Church’s understanding regarding these particular issues. I cannot help but think there those in Italy who would not agree with the Church’s vision on abortion, IVF, euthanasia, etc. I applaud him for speaking out and hope that this catches on to the broader media. His words can encourage and embolden us priests to speak more clearly and vocally on these issues.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Wednesday, November 19, AD 2014 11:36pm

It’s also interesting that many of the people we’ve seen seize upon this Pope’s unfortunate “who am I to judge?” comment … are the same people who… pass over Pope Francis’ strong words against abortion and euthanasia.
–Clinton

Not interesting at all. Those people answered Pope Francis’s “who am I to judge?” remark with “That’s right Frankie, you’re not to judge!” Within their Culture of Death, those people are quite consistent

Puzzle solved.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Wednesday, November 19, AD 2014 11:43pm

Notice how easily that foolish girl could obtain drugs to put herself to death with while the State of California struggles to obtain any drugs at all with which to put death horribly guilty murderers.

By the way, the more euthanasia enthusiasts there are who consider death a blessing, the harder it will be for ACLU attorneys to stand before a judge and claim that the death penalty is “cruel and unusual”.

Micha Elyi
Micha Elyi
Wednesday, November 19, AD 2014 11:44pm

It’s also interesting that many of the people we’ve seen seize upon this Pope’s unfortunate “who am I to judge?” comment … are the same people who… pass over Pope Francis’ strong words against abortion and euthanasia.
–Clinton

Not interesting at all. Those people answered Pope Francis’s “who am I to judge?” remark with “That’s right Frankie, you’re not to judge!” Within their Culture of Death, those people are quite consistent.

Puzzle solved.

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