Vatican official attacks U.S. Democrats as “party of death”
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Vatican officials seldom single out political leaders who differ with the Church on issues like abortion rights or embryonic stem cell research. But now that the Vatican’s highest court is led by an American, the former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke, we can expect things to get more explicit in Vatican City — at least when when it comes to U.S. politics.
Burke, who was named prefect of the Vatican’s Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature in June, told the Italian Catholic newspaper Avvenire that the U.S. Democratic Party risked “transforming itself definitively into a party of death for its decisions on bioethical issues.” He then attacked two of the party’s most high profile Catholics — vice presidential candidate Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — for misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion.
He said Biden and Pelosi, “while presenting themselves as good Catholics, have presented Church doctrine on abortion in a false and tendentious way.”
Pelosi drew U.S. bishops’ scorn for saying in a television interview last month that the Church itself had long debated when human life begins. Biden is a practicing Catholic who also supports abortion rights and analysts have said he could help woo wavering Catholics into Obama’s fold. Both argue that they cannot impose their religious views on others.
Burke said pro-life Democrats were “rare” and that it saddened him that the party that helped “our immigrant parents and grandparents” prosper in America had changed so much over the years.
Burke made headlines as archbishop of St. Louis for his public attacks on public figures who strayed from Catholic teaching. He suggested during the 2004 presidential campaign that Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Catholic, should be denied communion because of his views on abortion. Several bishops said at the time they would not give him communion and the media staked out churches where he attended Mass to see if he received it.
“Lately, I’ve noticed that other bishops are coming to this position,” Burke told Avvenire, which is owned by the Italian bishops’ conference.
Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wrote a letter in 2004 to American bishops restating the Church position that a priest must refuse to distribute communion to a Catholic politician who supported abortion rights. But Burke lamented that the letter was never distributed.
Burke’s criticism isn’t limited to Democrats. Last year, he accused singer Sheryl Crow of being “a high profile proponent of the destruction of innocent lives” for defending a woman’s right to have an abortion and for being a proponent of stem cell research. He resigned as head of a children’s medical charity that featured the singer for a benefit concert.
Pope Benedict has been encouraging Catholic bishops to speak out more openly on public policy issues to make the Church’s voice heard. Any bets on when we’ll hear from Burke next?
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Look at all of you…this is the 2,000 year old Catholic church…the one that survived Rome, Byzantium, Ottoman Empire, Attila, and so on:
1) What makes you think they are so wrong in denouncing your Democratic Party–actually specific people within that Party?
2) Unlike your secular vision for the world, Catholics, Muslims, Hindus, Jews, animists, etc., see the world through the lens of their religions. As you see they are plain wrong–they see you as plain wrong.
3) That Church (the Catholic one) has had it’s share of problems–yet there is stands with it’s second-to-none avenue of helping the poor (note Mother Teresa) and shedding it’s blood in countless countries–something I don’t see Alec Baldwin and Nancy Pelosi doing (but they can sure tear down your country).
4) It is quite amazing to the lengths that the world over has had to learn about the USA, yet all we see is your ability to tear one another up or find the next shiny object to paw at. At least in most countries around our world, the deck may be stacked but the players are well known: your election, for example, is in the bag by all parties, yet all are independent or whatever. And yet, the Catholic Church is taking a beating. Wow….
“and for being a proponent of stem cell research.” Do they even know how stem cell research is perfromed today? It’s drawn from a donated umbilical cord from a birth. I’m kinda tired of still hearing about this since the technology has changed, and thanks to this new technology my father is still alive and will get to watch my little brother graduate and see my sister, his only daughter, have her first child which is also his first grandchild…
Abortion and capital punishment are not the same before God. It’s murder of the innocent (which God forbids) vs. killing the guilty (which God commands.) God endorses capital punishment in the NT saying “rulers do not bear the sword in vain – but for the punishment of evildoers”). Liberals always errantly compare the two to justify this evil.
Whenever I read about one of these Catholic pronouncements, I thank God that I’m a Protestant.
The narrators of this site did not want to post my comments about Planned Parenthood and its founder Margaret Sanger.
So folks, please do a Google search yourself folks or go into a library and find out yourself what she wrote in her book how she envisioned aborting the black race out of existence, a la Hitler vis a vis the Jewish people.
And consider how Democrats including Barack Obama, himself African American, take campaign contributions from Planned Parenthood.
Human life starts at conception. Already with all its characteristics of specific Gnomes as a full grown person. Science says so. So don’t come with that “it ism not a baby” nonsence. Look at the pictures these days of 3 week olds in the womb sucking it thumb!
And no, a fetus (Latin for “little child”) is NOT part of the woman’s body like an arm and a leg. Only connected to a small cord for depending on the mother for nutrition.
And even if she wanted to have her -normal, healthy, arm or leg amputated would we not try to talk her out of it?
How much more so when it involves a baby!
Estimates are that almost 1 million babies are aborted each year.
This, while almost the same number of infertile couples spend a fortune eagerly trying to adopt a baby.
Is GOD trying to tell us something, you think?
Are you kidding me? The Catholic Church wants us to follow the Republicans as they take the world into a state of complete chaos. Never in the history of the republican party have they given a crap about poor dead babies. It is a ploy to manipulate the hillbilly vote. In the end ask any Republican if they would be willing to pay more taxes to support all these poor babies they are going to save. That will be the end of their prolife views. What the Republicans really care about is their money not poor babies. Huh, the whole thing is laughable.
So…….. what about the Republican Party? What does the Vatican say about it? Hum….. let’s see now….. at least 500,000 Iraqis have been killed during the war in Iraq. Perhaps as many as 4,000,000 Iraqis are now homeless as a result of the war. The infrastructure of the country has been destroyed…. Is this pro-life? Be honest in your so-called God-inspired pronouncements, or, better yet, why not keep your rather biased (religiously-bloated) opinions to yourself!
War is not necessarily murder. There are ample examples in the old and new testaments which affirm that the civil government has the right to wield the sword, not just in war but for capital punishment. The Roman Catholic Church’s positions on war and capital punishment are not in line with biblical precepts.
Far more have been murdered in the name of “choice” and “privacy” than in all the wars for the last 100 years. The Democrats are the party of death, but they market it in a wayt to make it all sound nice and pleasant. Abortion is censored as well. Maybe we need to have “Choice Awareness” week at public schools and show videos of abortions in progress. Or should we continue the censorship?
Jesus said, “…and whatsoever you do to the least of these, my children, you do unto me.”
Jesus also said, “…for those that do this, they may as well have a millstone around their neck and be thrown into a sea of fire.”
Don’t you think it strange that Roman Catholic democrats are pro abortion in any form? They defy their own church teachings.
We must pray for them to see the errors of their ways and become Christians again.
A note to Catholics…With your churches unbelievable brutish, mad, pathological, and utterly satanic history, might I suggest you KEEP YOUR VALUES FOR YOURSELF AND STAY OUT OF MY RIGHT TO PRIVACY!!! THIS IS NOT ABOUT A RIGHT TO AN ABORTION, ITS A RIGHT TO KEEP THE CHURCH AND THE EQUALLY CORRUPT AND PITIFUL STATE FROM TELLING ME WHAT I CAN AND CANNOT DO IN MY RELATIONSHIP WITH MY DOCTOR. Why is this so hard for you to understand? The church has lost any and all respect I would ever give it credit for telling me how to behave. A bunch of enabling child rapists want to tell me what MY CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ARE?!
How dare you?! Who do you think you are? NO NO NO NO! CENTURIES OF VICTIMS OF YOUR ATROCITIES CRY NO!!!!
“Pedophile priests.”
The phrase has such a great ring to it – for journalists, that is. It’s hot, punchy (with that double-p alliteration) and short enough for headlines. All in all, a great tag for summing up one of the most sensational news stories of the year.
The only problem is – it’s a lie.
It turns out the vast majority of the Catholic priests’ offenses do not involve “pedophilia” – sexual contact between an adult and a pre-pubescent youth. Rather, they amount to sexual seductions of teen-age boys by predatory homosexual men who have abused their position of authority and trust.
Funny how those that complain about gay priests molesting boys also want more gays to be Boy Scout leaders as well. The problem isn’t that they are priests, but that they are gay. How about banning gays from the Priesthood? No wonder the Boy Scouts don’t want to be forced to have gays as Scout leaders. Who wants the same problem? And then if gay scout leaders started molesting young scouts the liberals would start criticizing the Boy Scouts as a corrupt organization. What a joke.
The opposite of “Pro-Life” is “Pro-Death”, not “Pro-Choice” which is much more politically correct and an easier pill to swallow. Rather like referring to the death camps and palnned extermination of the Jews as the “Final Solution”. Sounds so much nicer, doesn’t it?
I love the way the Catholic church decides who is and who is not good enought to commune with them. I firmely believe that the Catholic Church as an etity is the anti-christ. Wolves in sheeps clothing they are and the pope is Evil incarnate on earth. Ever notice the upside down cross on his robes?
“I am glad to see that the Church is beginning to take a bolder stand for the rights of the unborn. The American people are stupid to think that all aspects of American culture are not affected by poor moral choices. (For instance, Social Security is directly affected by abortion! Do the simple math…
Women do have a choice, the choice to not have sex outside the confine of marriage. As a teacher for 30+ years I cannot think of a sigle student that should have been aborted. All are special in unique ways!
I would hope that the Church would begin to be even more vocal about what use to be a strong Democratic Party here in the U.S. I abandoned the party several years ago because of the moral depravity they are pursuing.”
Look, this is not an issue. For Catholic, while the war, hunger, Gay Marriage, the poor, are important issue, the preeminate issue is ABORTION. We have candidate who publicly support abortion. What the Catholic Church is saying is that if you are going to be Catholic you can’t support ABORTION. Pick…Catholic or Abortion. You can support both.
In one respect the Catholic church is correct to state its clear position regarding politicians who claim themselves as Catholics, and then differ fundamentally on the church’s issues. But to what extent do politicians differ from the church. Biden has the same view. Also Pelosi. They just state that the legislation of a state should be ‘hands-off’ for any organized religion. The State, any state, should be hands off for an entity, that once was a formidable political entity itself. The Catholic church, if the US credibility in the world today is being challenged, lost it ‘sense-of-purpose’ for many millions a long time ago.
It’s startling to see the Catholic Church call some other organization a “party of death.” Am I missing something? Wasn’t it the Church that killed millions (many millions) over its long and storied history?
Let’s see. isn’t it 48 million aborted babies since roe v wade? That’s more than Hitler (8 mil)and Stalin (20 Mil)put together. Maybe even throw in Pol Pot (2-3 mil). But there is no argument, both Hitler and Stalin where Ruthless and Blood letting rulers of Nations, where the people of those nations were just too frightened to do anything about it. We ALL know how they have been judged. That would probably make USA and Europe the perpetrators of the most heinous elimination of the most defenseless human beings on the planet, and the democrats and lefties both here and abroad own it. 48,589,993 They were killed because they were inconvenient. So, hearing any bullshit trying to defend abortion is worse than insane, you just go ahead and placate your conscience; you will not escape judgment.
I think its time to tax the crap out of churches.Enough!
Can you really accept an organisation with such a botched handling of its own sexual crimes to be a ‘moral authority’ on such matters? Their under the carpet response amounted to little more than an act of complicitly, while their abuse of minors still went on. Willingly or not they were little more than a pedophile ring.
To Michael Cecil — I would be interested in hearing your comments after the first mushroom cloud appears over the Zionist state. My oh my!
Is there any doubt that a fetus is alive????? If anyone says that a fetus is not alive, that person has no creditability. Abortion kills the living fetus. Does a woman have a right to kill?
Following up on Luke, I think that it is absurd not to support a politician because you disagree with ONE of their beliefs. What about all of the other policies that the candidate has? Is abortion really the most important issue when the economy is struggling in epic proportions? To let your religion get in the way of the success of America is absurd. Selecting a leader is a culmination of MANY things, and separation of church and state is a must. Are you really not going to support a leader because he/she votes for abortion? REALLY? What about everything else. Why is ABORTION the most important thing to look at during the voting process? Is it because it is tied to your religion? Many people above have stated that they would never support a candidate who supports pro choice. That’s it? What about their plan to fix the economy, their plan on Iraq, their plan to free us of fuel dependency. Please, for one minute, take your religious views out the door, and focus on what matters, the Unite States, not yourself. You go to church for a reason.
If Democrats are the party of death I guess that makes Catholicism the denomination of Child Molesters.
Good Christians have waited for exactly this type of pro-active attempt to stop the hypocrisy. Yes, the Church has been attacked from within by horrible people. It is NOT what Christ created, and worrying about the whiplash of excommunications has allowed the evil to grow. But now that it is finally being addressed, don’t accuse all of us who know “the gates of Hell shall not prevail against us”. I am a Catholic, and I’m not alone in trying to live my Faith as it was handed down by Christ.
“Please!”
An acorn’s not an oak tree.
Nor the coconut – a palm.
An egg is not a chicken.
The atom–not a bomb.”
The Vatican needs to get its own nukes!
Since churches enjoy tax freedom, we just need to start taxing all religions and churches for the political instruments they are – especially as they further venture into the public sphere and political arena. Besides, who cares what an organization that protects child molesters over the public good states anymore, anyways…
Thank God the Church is finally standing up and speaking God’s position. My husband and I have considered leaving the Church because politicians have been allowed to go unanswered on this vital issue. Pope Benedict addressed our concerns on the sexual abuse scandal. Please continue to meet these politicians head on.
Party of death? If that’s the case, then Catholocism is the religion of death. Crusades anyone? What about the inquisition? Good times.
When we compare war and abortion and say that they are equally evil we make a huge mistake.
During the American Civil War hundreds of thousands gave their lives and over a million were maimed in order to uphold the “inalienable” right to Liberty. I don’t hear anyone now saying that was a wrong war or that it should not have taken place.
LIFE is another and more BASIC “inalienable” right. Not speaking against it we become complicit in its evil and our own hands become soiled with the blood of the “innocent” who are being slaughtered daily right in their own mothers’ wombs.
Why have we hardened our hearts to the plight of the most innocent and defenseless in our society? Are we silent or indifferent only because we can’t hear their cry? They do cry and their blood cries out to God.
Zionist? What? Ahmadinejad has openly declared that Israel must be destroyed. Besides, isn’t Zionist sort of anti-semetic? I suppose now African Americans are going to take over the world too and “kill whitey?” Or maybe those darn irish people will flood the world with beer and end all civilization. Will American Indians engage in depravity against the civilized man from their reservations? Ok…
“Oh, I see.
The Republican party’s willingness to wage *nuclear* warfare against Iran in violation of Iran’s legal right to pursue uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes (and based upon the Zionist calumny that Ahmadinejad has stated that the Israel ’should be removed from the map’) signifies that the Republican party is the party of LIFE.
-Michael Cecil”
I haven’t read all the comments completely, but I would ask each side to be respectful of the other. After all, Joe Biden said in the debate last night that he respected the motives of all people, even those he disagreed with.
The Catholic Church has consistently opposed abortion. The debate about the beginning of life is a biological debate; even before science proved that life begins at conception, the Church opposed abortion. If you believe that abortion is the taking of an innocent life, are you not obliged to stand for life? Some people believed that black people from Africa were not human. Did the liberals of the day say, “I believe that they are human, but I won’t interfere with your right to have slaves.” No. They opposed slavery and imposed their will on others.
What kind of person believes that innocent children are being slaughtered but refuses to speak up? A person who is afraid. A person misled by the false values of our society. A person who can not tell the difference between beliefs that are strictly religious and beliefs that derive from the laws of nature and of Nature’s God. (See the Declaration of Independence.) I feel sorry for Joe Biden. He is confused and perhaps fearful of standing for truth.
Let’s pray for those who can’t see the truth — that their eyes will be opened.
Why doesn’t the Catholic Church mind its own business. The clergy can’t even say a mass the same way from one parish to another, state to state, country to country, just one of the messes they have created. Archbishop Burke needs to watch his comments. They are not very appropriate despite his beliefs. I suggest the church, since it is anti-abortion, agree to pay for all of the children who are born rather than aborted. Are they willing to do that? If every woman agrees to have their child, will the church pay for its care for life? Until they are ready to do this, then they need to stick with cleaning up their own internal messes.
Thank you.
Sam
I am a life long catholic and I could not disagree more about this issue.
You look at one party- the republicans that has always ignored the Vatican’s calls for peace.
I will tell you how republicans are really the party of death.
They are against helping genocide like the one that is happening in Darfur
They themselves start unnecessary wars killing thousands of people and let thousands of Americna soldiers die in a vain mission.
The Republicans have caused more death in the world than the democrats. Period.
It’s quite ironic how democrats are open to abortion but opposed to the death penalty. From the outside looking in, it looks like they’ve already sentenced these innocent children to death for a crime they didn’t commit. I would much rather put to death an accused criminal rather than an unborn baby. I choose life, therefore I choose the Republican Party.
War is a completely different issue than abortion. As for Pelosi/Biden saying they can not push their views on others………that’s just plain crap.
Every individual that is of a religious faith and is a true believer is guided by their faith. All decisions they must tackle are dictated by their beliefs. Your morla character and religious faith defines your life and how it is lived…..PERIOD!!
I wonder what would happen if an active pro-abortionist doctor dies, and stands before the Creator. And the Creator says to him:” You are not deaf, nor blind nor illiterate nor dyslexic. So, tell me why you thought killing unborn babies is fine? My bible is very clear that its wrong, My commandments too, and all of the ministers too?”
The culprit, a Dem, can be expected to try to avoid culpability; Pelosi said so, or Reid, womens rights etc etc.
The Creator would give short shrift to such lame excuses. “So you rate Pelosi etc on a par with me? I don’t think so! I’ll deal with them in due course. As for women’s rights, I sent the babies. My wishes override any human rights. Right now, its you on trial. You’ve committed the cardinal sin of the coldblooded murder of innocent babies. Not once, but repeatedly. For that you have to go downstairs for eternity, I’m sorry to say. Take him down!” Interesting.
Wonder what Pelosi would say when her turn arrives?
Well, the Vatican Officials “hit the nail directly on the head” when they deemed the US Democratic Party as the Party of Death!
It is one thing to quietly believe in the right to kill the unborn without condescension to alternate opinions/beliefs. However, to overtly spew condemnation, rant, rave and begrudge the life of a little baby boy because the US VP Candidate chose “Life” for her “Downs Syndrome Baby” is the most wicked, vile, despicable, loathsome attitude known to man.
This little boy is no threat nor burden to these demented Democrats. The fact that they would deny him “LIFE” post “BIRTH” is the lowest form of mental criminality.
GET THIS……..Unfortunately, this little baby boy will grow up only to eventually read that these extreme, mental indigents regarded his life superfluous, thus, felt he should never have had the chance to live at all!!! WHO and WHAT are you vicious freaks??? May God forgive you all!
Amen to the Vatican Officials and their intuitive insight into the venomous mentality of the US Democrat.
The Democrats are the party of death. The war in Iraq is a task from God. Get over it.
Abortion IS being singled out as the greatest evil of this time…and for good reason. In this country alone, almost 50,000,000 (50 million) future citizen’s lives have been terminated before they have had a chance to choose for themselves. Worldwide, the numbers approach the 1,000,000,000 (billion) mark. This is an evil beyond imagination!
This does not sanction war, poverty, crime, the death penalty…etc. They are also great evils…however, if taken in their totality do not compare to the evil of abortion.
Let’s spend the money being utilized to snuff the innocent on the women who feel they don’t have a choice and provide them with a happier option than feeling their ‘only way out’ is to kill their unborn baby.
The comment “Regardless of one’s religious views on abortion, it is unethical to legislate your religion on others.” is a ill-conceived (s’cuze the pun) idea.
This is not ‘unethical.’
Every law is ‘religious’ in that it imposes a penalty based upon a set of values/views/beliefs that a group of people have about right or wrong.
Rather than describing this as ‘unethical’ you might simply state your belief that abortion does not really kill a living human. That would be better than hiding behind the false argument of religious legislation.
Where was the vatican when JEWS were being slaughter right outside his window
I am a Democrat and a Catholic. I am pro-choice – how can that jive? I’ll tell you. I would never ever have an abortion and hope no one else does because it is against God. But God gave us a choice, free will. He allows us to choose. We glorify God by making the right choices. To disallow choice doesn’t make us better people, we would be unable to do the right thing in the face of a choice between right and wrong. We would not be able to glorify God.
Wonderful to finally hear a Church leader speak out.
Now if the NY Archdiocese would get some courage !
Maybe Edward “Cardinal” Egan could dis-invite the abortionists to his AL SMITH Dinner.
Too bad the “Church’s” teachings go so far beyond Christ’s teachings that even Christ would not recognize what is being done or said in his name.
For more than fifty years of my adult life, I have been an Evangelical Christian. My relationship with the Lord had guided my life. Despite my heartfelt and often-stated objections to abortion and homosexuality, my Christian beliefs were challenged because I was a Democrat. I have had statements made to me such as “come out from among them: or “you can’t be like Christ and be a Democrat”. I realize than many Godly pastors and Bible teachers with good intentions and true sincerity have held ferociously to their beliefs about Democrats for years. Some have pounded the pulpit claiming that abortions in the United States started through actions by the Democrat Party. This offends me greatly because it is simply not true. I have never questioned anyone’s own personal Christian relationship because of where they worship or their political leanings. Now, for Democrats like myself who are also Evangelicals, it is time to set the record straight.
A 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe V. Wade, legalized abortion by a 7-2 vote. Six of the seven Justices in the majority were Republican appointees. The only Democrat appointee, Byron White, voted against Roe V. Wade.
In fact, in every year since 1969, the United States Supreme Court has been controlled by a majority of Republican-appointed judges. There has not been a Democrat-appointed Chief Justice since 1953.
Currently, there are seven Republican appointees and two nominated by Democrats. Obviously, If the Republican majority has wanted to overturn Roe V. Wade at any time since 1973, the had the votes to do so. Why haven’t they?
In 2003, the United States Supreme Court in Lawrence V. Texas overturned a Texas law against sodomy. Once again, in the 6-3 decision, four Republicans voted to overturn the law.
Recently, the California Supreme Court overturned the State’s ban on same sex marriage. Six of the seven California judges were elected Republicans.
From 2000-2006, Republicans controlled both houses of Congress and the Presidency. In 2006, the FDA approved an “over the counter” abortion drug known as “Plan B”. The head of the FDA serves at the pleasure of President Bush.
My point is clear. For religious leaders to continue to blame Democrats for Republican actions is wrong.
Yes, a fetus is alive. So is yogurt. Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.
Would TS Mommy recommend legalizing murder and rape, so that people have a choice? I agree that we have free-will, and that is in part what makes christianity’s view of the World special, but one has to protect life as well.