Catholics Excommunicate Family And Doctor Of A 9-Year Old Rape Victim For Abortion

[DeSwiss]

Brazil's Pregnant 9-Year Old: Pope Condemns Abortion

TIME / By Jeff Israely / Vatican City Saturday, Jul. 18, 2009


People protest during an antiabortion march in Brasília
Jamil Bittar / REUTERS

The Catholic Church (and Pope Benedict XVI) were presented with a public-relations powder keg in March when news broke that a 9-year-old Brazilian girl underwent an abortion after she'd been raped and impregnated with twins by her stepfather. Catholics from São Paulo to Paris were outraged by the swift public declaration of the local Archbishop, José Cardoso Sobrinho, that the girl's family as well as the doctors who performed the abortion were automatically excommunicated. Monsignor Rino Fisichella, a solidly traditionalist Rome prelate considered to be close to Benedict, tried to soften the church's approach to the case by writing in the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the girl "should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side." Two weeks ago, the Vatican announced that Sobrinho, who had been serving past retirement, was stepping down. And that's where the church stood. Until now.

In a tucked-away "clarification" published on page 7 of a recent edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican produced a document that unequivocally confirmed automatic excommunication for anyone involved in an abortion — even in such a situation as dire as the Brazilian case. It settles any questions about the absolute nature of church doctrine on the matter of abortion — but it could potentially reignite the p.r. firestorm. (http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1883598,00.html">See the original story of the controversial abortion in Brazil.)

Church conservatives have steadfastly defended Sobrinho, who had rejected Fisichella's criticism of insensitivity and said he was simply stating Catholic doctrine in response to reporters' questions. The L'Osservatore Romano document makes it more than likely that the Pope has felt it necessary to publicly defend the Brazilian prelate's hard line, ordering up the clarification to straighten out any confusion created by Fisichella's article.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1911495,00.html?xid=rss-world">MORE

- So they didn't automatically excommunicate the girl too, huh? Hmmmm......

Well, I'm sure that by the time she dies, she'll have finally gotten used used to the idea of her mother burning for eternity in the firery lakes of hell. While she kicks back in the comfort of Jesusland singing songs and playing harps and shit. So, no worries.

The Catholic Church: "a good couple of notches above the barbarians......."
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DeSwiss


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http://thesuperjesus.wordpress.com/">''Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions.''

[MADem]

1. They should head for the Episcopalians--same liturgical flavor, no guilt nor bullshit. NT

[The_Casual_Observer]

2. Pretty tough on those barbarians, wouldn't you say?

[DeSwiss]

4. Always.

They've got a 2,000 year head start.



"Religion is Dungeons and Dragons for people who never want the game to end."

[LuvNewcastle]

3. I thought that mess had been dealt with already.

They had to dig it all up again and make that poor girl re-live it. I hope the girl and her family realize that they're actually better off without the Catholic Church in their lives.

[LAGC]

5. Sick. Just plain sick.

How can you force a rape-victim, esp. that young, to go through with bearing two fetuses to term, assuming such a young girl would even survive delivery anyway?

The Catholic Church is evil.

[charlie]

6. Pope Dubya

Has a knack for doing the wrong thing at the wrong time, spends a lot of time throwing red meat to his base, seems intent on dragging everyone to a throwback era long abandoned. He just needs a my-armpits-are-chapped swagger for the full effect.

[trotsky]

7. But the rapist is still a Catholic.

Just swell.

[trumanh59639]

8. What terrible human beings

God I hate religion.