Sunday, March 8, 2009
Vatican Defends Excommunications Related to Nine-Year-Old Rape Victim's Abortion
NY Times/Agence France-Presse: Vatican Backs Excommunications Stemming From an Abortion
A senior Vatican cleric on Saturday defended the excommunication of the mother and doctors of a 9-year-old girl who had an abortion in Brazil after being raped. The child was pregnant with twins.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for Bishops, told La Stampa, an Italian daily newspaper, that the case was sad, but that “the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated.”
The regional archbishop, José Cardoso Sobrinho, excommunicated the mother for authorizing the operation. He also excommunicated the doctors, who carried out the operation for fear that the 80-pound girl would not survive a full-term pregnancy.
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/reproductive_rights/2009/03/vatican-defends.html
Comments
Email written to Pope Benedict 3/7/09
I don’t expect this email to get past the person who screens it, yet alas can pray for a miracle of courage and insight, can’t it?
I am disgusted by the self-righteousness of the Vatican and Brazilian archbishop who have the audacity to “excommunicate” the doctors and nurses who saved the life of a sexually abused 9 year old girl who’s uterus could not deliver twins conceived in rape.
Your pompous ignorance and heartlessness arising out a patriarchal history that has suppressed women for millennia is an abhorrent distortion of Divinity. Nor is your interpretation of “God’s Will” anything other than your own male-invested “twist” conceived to propagate more Catholics as a means to extend your power base. Prohibit birth control, abortion and sex education and voila! The Earth will get populated with more Catholics! And who cares about the reality that we are over populated and facing unprecedented global hunger. All those archbishops, clerics and even the pope himself are literally well-fed, “fat cats!”
I understand the catholic population of Brazil is dropping. Must be that the “ignorant masses” are finally waking up to the manipulation of the Vatican that has ruled their lives for so long. Good for them.
You should be ashamed of yourselves. If you are going to take such a stand on abortion, then perhaps you should take an equally strong stand on the death penalty since it involves killing a child of God as well.
AND, if you’re going to do some ex-communicating in Brazil, then it appears that in addition to the doctors and nurses – you should ex-communicate the judges as well who didn’t prevent the operations.
Actually, I believe this little adventure down in Brazil on the part of the archbishop and the Vatican who has supported him may well be the straw that breaks the camel’s back w/regard to Brazilian respect for the catholic church. Ya’ll just revealed yourselves for who you really are – in all your ignorance, self-righteousness and stupidity!
Good show. You may well have set something in motion throughout the world that finally wakes humanity to the insanity and gross manipulation of humanity that sits within your walls.
Time for you to either admit error – or resign.
Posted by: Keolalani | Mar 9, 2009 9:34:14 PM
Maybe as an organization the church has a right to enforce the rules on its members but how can they not say anything substantial regarding the rapist.
The issue of rape was basically brushed aside and the loving mother who go through hell or maybe in this case burn "heaven" is considered evil incarnate.
Perhaps pedophilia is protected now even outside of the priesthood?
Posted by: igme | Mar 22, 2009 1:15:02 PM
And the 9-year-old does not have a right to live. Just wonderful.
I keep getting more disgusted with this story every day.
Posted by: earlgreyrooibos | Mar 8, 2009 6:46:54 PM