Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The Pope Speaks to the Speaker...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with the Holy Father today for 15 minutes here in Rome and the Holy Father, first a pastor and shepherd, spoke to her for the need for just laws protecting life. Praised be God. From the Vatican Information Service:

A JUST SYSTEM OF LAWS CAPABLE OF PROTECTING HUMAN LIFE

VATICAN CITY, 18 FEB 2009 (VIS) - The Holy See Press Office released the following communique at midday today:

"Following the general audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.

"His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church's consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in co-operation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development"

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

What did he say to her about how the church feels towards innocent civilians being killed in the multiple wars?

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

I don't know. I wasn't there. The Vatican press released did not list in its press release civilian casualties as a topic.

However, neither did Mrs. Pelosi's press release mention it.

I would suspect a few things.
First, both press releases are not exhaustive of the entire meeting.

Second, Mrs. Pelosi's voting record is clear - not a promoter of the Iraq War, thus the Holy Father may not have felt it necessary to critique Mrs. Pelosi on that topic.

Third, the specific topic of abortion laws is a topic that Mrs. Pelosi's has a peculiar relationship to based on her voting record as a Catholic and her interview (primarily on Meet the Press) where she clearly misspeaks on Church teaching regarding abortion. The Holy Father's remarks seem to have a particular focus toward a particular circumstance which Mrs. Pelosi herself has caused.

Fourth, this Holy Father seems to be quite concerned for the well-being of innocent casualties - perhaps most forcibly heard at Palm Sunday 2008.

Fifth, it can be debated whether the adjective "innocent" is qualitatively different when speaking of civilians and when speaking of a fetus. I prefer to not split those hairs, but some would critique Bernadin's "Seemless garment of life" by stating that indeed as rational creatures we can distinguish grades of innocence.

God bless and thanks for visiting.

Anonymous said...

Ok, lets cut Peloski out of the equation.

When was the last time, other than Palm Sunday last year, that the Vatican spoke out against the innocent civilians killed in unjust wars?

More importantly, come up with a number of times the vatican spoke out against abortion since the wars started versus how many times they spoke out against the war.

I'll go along with your request not to split hairs between innocent lives lost in war versus a fetus....but will leave this for thought.

When a parent, or set of parents decide to go forth with an abortion, (for the most part), they know how long the proceedure will take, the know how many lives will be lost, they know the monetary cost.

The wars the United States are currently involved in have no end date, they don't know how many lives will be lost, they don't know the cost.

The innocent lives I guess I am concerned with are the innocent lives lost in the war. For example, lets say you were visiting Iraq, and drinking coffee somewhere, and the building next to you was blown up in a messy air strike.

Lets go further and say that you were killed. Now lets compare your innocent death versus a fetus.

-The fetus was killed purposely by a parent. You were killed accidently, tough.

-You just lost all touch with your family and friends. The fetus has no social contacts.

-If you had a child, they are now fatherless. A fetus cannot...have kids.

-Your parish will now have no Priest. A fetus has no job.

I can go on and on and on, you get the idea.

To sum up my frustration with the vatican and their take on abortion....

-The vatican seems to primarily focus on abortion over lives lost in wars. Thus, I fear a time (especially based off the most recent U.S. election) when a catholic will pick up a newspaper and read about how a person is running for a certain political office and only focus on their stance on abortion due to the heavy focus the vatican puts on the topic.

The article could explain the politicians stance on his/her appetite for eating living kittens for breakfast, killing millions of innocent people in a war because he/she thinks they have thousands of gallons of mustard gas, when they don't. It could further explain that they are satanic and don't know what year it is. Yet, the one sentence pertaining to abortion is the only sentence that catches their eye, thus, affecting their vote. Thus, we are stuck with a kitten eating warmonger who will rig elections.

This message from the vatican is then preached in multiple languages around the world. If only the message wasn't so focused on abortion.....

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

The virtues of love and justice, and the great gift of mercy are not "zero sum games". They are not finite.

The protection of the unborn and the promotion of peace throughout the world are both worthy and laudable goals for the Christian. One social issue does not "trump" the other.

I appreciate your comments and visit to the blog. If you'd like, you can email me at fatherwurtz@gmail.com. God bless.

Anonymous said...

I'd say that one social issue DOES "trump" the other.

Just pointing to the amount of heavy focus the vatican puts towards abortion versus other social issues. But ok.

Fr. Michael Wurtz, CSC said...

Ecco la.


"It is you who have said as much" - Jesus to Pontius Pilate.