Abortion and the US Bishops: Is Pontius Pilate in Rome? Perhaps, but perhaps Someone Worse

12 Maggio 2021 Pubblicato da Marco Tosatti

Marco Tosatti

Dear friends and enemies of Stilum Curiae, I invite you to read this tweet by the Archbishop of San Francisico, Salvatore Cordileone:

“Speaking for myself… I tremble that if I do not forthrightly challenge Catholics under my pastoral care who advocate for abortion, both they and I will have to answer to God for innocent blood.”

And then it links to the pastoral letter that the Archbishop has written about abortion and the position of Catholics:

“http://InTheWomb.org Please retweet and follow and read.”

My impression is that this tweet, which was posted on May 11 at 4:09 a.m., if by chance they read it, should make some other people tremble, who are very far from San Francisco, inside Santa Marta and the Piazza of the Holy Office.

Because in the face of a President of the United States whose Catholic devotion is exalted by the press, while at the same time he is working to promote abortion like no one before him ever has, both at the national and international level, dismantling all the provisions protecting children in the womb enacted by his predecessor, and who even wants to create a juridical armor around Roe v. Wade that will stop every attack and objection – in the face of all this, all that that the Jesuit Pope and the Jesuit Prefect for the Congregation of the Faith have succeeded in issuing is a Pilatesque document, as Riccardo Cascioli writes, and which substantially denies the basic principles of the Church.

Let’s read what is written in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Abortion

2270 Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.

From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.⁷¹

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you (Jer 1:5).

My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth (Psalm 139:15).

2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion.
This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable.
Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law:

You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish.⁷⁴
God, the Lord of life, has entrusted to men the noble mission of safeguarding life, and men must carry it out in a manner worthy of themselves.

Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception: abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.⁷⁵

2272 Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense.
The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life.
“A person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae sententiae,”⁷⁶ “by the very commission of the offense,”⁷⁷ and subject to the conditions provided by Canon Law.⁷⁸

The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy.
Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society.

Clear enough, no? And so, while the American bishops are discussing what to do about Catholics who support and promote abortion – whether they are politicians are not – what is Rome doing? We quote Cascioli: “In summary, there are three directives given: a) any “national policy on the dignity of Communion” must enjoy the unanimous support of the bishops, b) it must not usurp the authority of an individual bishop nor prejudice the prerogatives of the Holy See, c) it must proceed in a two-phase dialogue: first of the bishops among themselves and then of the bishops with Catholic politicians. Prefect Ladaria thus asks for the consensus of all the bishops in order to avoid misleading views, and he invites them to avoid making people believe that abortion and euthanasis are the only important elements to be taken into account in the activity of a Catholic politician.”

So now let’s re-read the tweet by the Archbishop of San Francisco, who apparently believes in the salvation of souls – even the souls of sinners – in eternal life, and in the Judgment: “Speaking for myself…I tremble at the thought that if I do not openly challenge Catholics under my pastoral care who support abortion, both they and I will have to answer to God for innocent blood.”

It is not difficult to see, between the lines of the Vatican document, the little hands that have been moving: and coincidentally, they are always hands from the political line of McCarrick, Wuerl, Cupich, Tobin, and Farrell – who are all supporters and friends of the Democrats, afraid of annoying the gang that first brought Obama (a friend of McCarrick) and then Clinton, and then Mrs. Clinton and now Joe Biden. Afraid of unmasking the hypocrisy of a “devout” Catholic who is supported by the greatest abortion provider on the global level, Planned Parenthood, and who is an active promoter of pro-abortion policies.

And yet the catechism speaks of excommunication, while Ladaria and Co. ask for dialogue.

Cascioli rightly speaks of Pilate. For me there comes to mind other characters from the Passion Narrative, less justifiable and more active than the Roman official.