Bishops correct Pelosi and Biden on Church teachings on abortion
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT: PELOSI, BIDEN AND ABORTION
Excerpts from Bishop Paul S. Coakley’s statement:
- On August 24 Mrs. Pelosi, who is Catholic, told Tom Brokaw on NBC’s Meet the Press that through the centuries Catholic leaders had not been able to agree when human life begins. She told the interviewer that ultimately “we don’t know” when life begins and “that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose” (abortion). She made her remarks while claiming to be a Catholic and implying that hers is a legitimate Catholic position.
- On September 7, Senator Biden waded into the same waters on the same program with the same interviewer. Senator Biden confused the matter further by saying that he “knows when (life) begins for me,” but that that this is a “personal and private issue.”
- That life begins at conception is a scientific fact, not a personal or subjective or philosophical or religious opinion.
- The comments of both of these high profile Catholic public servants raise a number of serious concerns. First, the authority to interpret the Catholic faith is entrusted not to public officials, but to the bishops as successors to the apostles. Among the chief duties of the bishops is to teach the Catholic faith. Among the principal duties of the lay faithful is to help shape a just society which promotes the common good while protecting the most vulnerable.
- IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY of Catholic public officials to properly form their consciences in light of authentic Catholic moral principles to assist them in their public service. Speaker Pelosi and Senator Biden are seriously misinformed on the Church’s position on when human life begins and the gravity of abortion.
- The truth is that from the beginning to the present day the Catholic Church has consistently condemned abortion as a grave evil. A late first century catechism called the Didache or The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles said, “You shall not slay the child by abortion. You shall not kill what is generated”.
- From the moment of conception a distinct human being is present in the womb. This is a scientific fact. From conception this human being is endowed with dignity which must be respected and protected until natural death. This is a philosophical and theological conclusion based on that fact as well as on God’s revelation.
- Our current laws deny legal protection to an entire class of human beings, children in the womb. We have a serious obligation to work to restore full legal protection to these vulnerable human beings from the very moment of conception.
- The comments of these two prominent Catholic legislators demand a response because of another very real moral and spiritual danger: scandal. To give scandal does not mean merely to shock or upset someone as the “scandal sheets” in the grocery store checkout lines often do. To cause scandal means that we lead others into sin. The Catechism says, “Scandal is an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil. The person who gives scandal becomes his neighbor’s tempter” (CCC 2284). Jesus warns, “Temptations to sin are sure to come; but woe to him by whom they come!” (Lk. 17:1).
Full statement: Bishop Coakley of Salina corrects Biden and Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
Statements from other Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals correcting Pelosi and Biden:
- *Bishop Malooly of Wilmington corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion AGAIN
- Bishop Malooly of Wilmington corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Nickless of Sioux City corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Aquila of Fargo corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop DiMarzio of Brooklyn corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Slattery of Tulsa corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Wuerl of Washington corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- USCCB corrects Biden on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Morlino of Madison corrects Biden and Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Chaput and Bishop Conley of Denver correct Biden and Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Provost of Lake Charles corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Nickless of Sioux City corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Lennon of Cleveland corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Wenski of Orlando corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Aymond of Austin corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Cardianal George of Chicago corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Cardianal O’Malley of Boston corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Vasa of Baker corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Farrell of Dallas corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Nienstedt of Saint Paul and Minneapolis corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Listecki of La Crosse corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Slattery of Tulsa corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Murphy of Long Island corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Zubik of Pittsburgh corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Gomez and Bishop Cantu of San Antonio correct Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Sheridan of Colorado Springs corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Bishop Aquila of Fargo corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Cardinal Egan of New York corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- USCCB corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Wuerl of Washington corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Archbishop Chaput and Bishop Conley of Denver correct Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
Related:
- Respect for Unborn Human Life: The Church’s Constant Teaching
- Deacon Keith Fournier corrects Pelosi on Church teachings on abortion
- Senator Joseph Biden’s Sophistry
- Archbishop Raymond Burke on admonishing public officials
- Human Lives, Human Rights
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