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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I am sick of reading that no one has the right to impose their religious or moral view on others. If one follows this line of reasoning then upon what moral basis does one rely for denying advocates of depraved practices (such as bestiality, cannibalism, sex with children, female circumcision, etc.)?
There are moral absolutes. There is right & wrong, there is truth and falsehood. Choose to rely upon the truth proclaimed by the God of the universe in the bible and earnestly seek His will and your confusion will cease.
How could the Vatican and say anything about anyone. They have a long and rich history of lies and deceit themselves. The ignorance and arrogance of these people has proven them to be just as “evil” as they claim others are. Now in 2008 they are still speaking out against individuals who differ from them, not learning at all from their biggest bout of ignorance regarding Galileo. Too bad the allied forces in WW II didnt take out the Vatican along with the Third Reich.
TS Mommy, you have excommunicated yourself by your implicit support of legal abortion. Check the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Anyone who assists someone in procuring an abortion is automatically excommunicated.
Abortion can never be justified, because it is the direct intentional killing of an innocent person.
War can be justified, say for example in defense. Note that the Church did not consider either the Gulf War or the Iraq War as necessarily justified. In war, to maintain justice, you must never iintentionally kill innocent bystanders. This is the same as in the case of police activity: sometimes bystanders get hurt. But that must never be the intention. This is also why it is never allowed to kill ordinary prisoners of war.
In an abortion, the doctor actually intends the death of the child, and tears his/her body limb from limb, without anaesthesia.
That is the difference between war and abortion. In war innocent people may die accidentally, while in an abortion an innocent person is targeted for destruction. Soldiers can be good, although some may not be. Abortionists cannot be good.
The Church’s teaching is very clear and concise and, I think, very convincing.
I can’t see a single Dem here who has actually defended baby murder.
Give it up already. Rejoin the human race.
Michael, not only is the comment not about your post you are ignorant enough to believe that the Iranian Midget has the right to enrich uranium. This is a man who will destroy the Jews as soon as he can. He has stated it time and again. The Republican Part has not waged nuclear warfare against Iran. And if anyone votes Democrat they can not be Catholic, they would be non believers. The bible defines exactly when life starts. God said that all days are planned out for you. This tells us that your life is planned before conception. So if you vote Democrat it is simple, you keep in power the people that have passed laws saying that Murder is ok. And Obama is the worst of the worst. He voted to make sure that no medical help would be ok if the abortion was batched and the life was outside the mom.
In response to Dave’s point, “Each person has a freedom of choice, and the decision a pregnant woman has to struggle with about either having the baby or having an abortion, or giving it up to adoption, or etc. that choice is hers and hers alone.”
Do you agree that there is a difference between “choice” and “right?” I have a choice to kill the next person who comes in the room. Does that mean I have the right as well?
In the end, I think our country’s notion of freedom has changed from being free to do the right thing to being free to do whatever you want.
If life occurs at conception then why does no federal organization recognize this.
The IRS doesn’t
The Census bureau doesn’t
Even your church doesn’t as they don’t perform funeral services when you have a miscarriage…do they ?
Do we celebrate the day of conception or the birthday ?
The Church has condemned the current wars that the US is waging. Therefore they are not being hypocritical. Also, the Church does state that some wars are OK if they are necessary to prevent evil(WWII for example). Killing innocent babies is never justified, and misrepresenting this position is a terrible thing.
As it says in the Bible: Tis better to have grindstone attached to your neck and thrown into the sea than to lead the flock astray.
For the record, I’m not Catholic, but I think John Paul II was right on the money when he said:
“The Holy See insistently proclaims that the first and most fundamental of all human rights is the right to life, and that when this right is denied all other rights are threatened. The assumption that abortion and euthanasia are human rights deserving legislative sanction is seen by the Holy See as a contradiction which amounts to a denial of the human dignity and freedom which the law is supposed to protect. A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; and among the most vulnerable are surely the unborn and the dying. A materialistic view of the human person will concede little value and dignity to either. What is then claimed as a victory for human rights is really the sanctioning of a freedom sundered from truth. In the end, that is no freedom at all but a descent into arbitrariness and the dominion of the strong over the weak.”
“Why doesn’t the Catholic Church mind its own business…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?” -Sam
Sam, there are resources out there for fathers of aborted children.
http://www.fatherhoodforever.org/
May we all recognize that through the saving grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we are forgiven. I think all of us should look in the mirror and recognize that we are sinful. The Lord commands us to rebuke sin. The Bible is filled with recognition of life at conception. The Lord knows us, we are born in sin and that includes our politicians. We need to pray for them and ask the Lord to turn them from the sin of abortion. If they don’t, they will stand before the Almighty and have to given an account as to why they did not believe in God’s word and follow his commands. If they don’t repent and confess Jesus as Lord then they will be doomed to everlasting destruction. I pray that we all heed the warnings of Jesus and come to Him. I suggest that you read Romans and learn from it – God speaks to us – all of us people in authority and under authority. Woe to those who dismiss the God of the Bible and refuse to believe in his authority as sovereign Lord!
DOES DEAD SPERM AND DEAD EGG MEET TO MAKE A DEAD BABY,
NO, I DON’T THINK SO. AS SOON AS THEY CONNECT, A LIVE
LIFE IS FORMED. HAVEN’T YOU EVER SEEN AN ULTRA SOUND?
DEMOCRATS ARE TRYING TO CHANGE THE NAME OF ABORTION TO
WOMAN’S PRIVACY ETC. ALSO, PELOSI AND BIDEN HAVE EVERY
RIGHT TO BE DENIED COMMUNION.HENRY HYDE WAS ALWAYS PRO-
LIFE AND GOT ELECTED EVERY TIME HE RAN. GET YOUR HEAD
OUT OF……………………………………..
It’s funny how the Catholic Church does not say how Republicans are FOR Capital Punishment! A life is a life and nobody is “for” abortion but in time of rape, incest, or the mother’s life is on the line they may be a need for it. Also if abortion is made illegal in the States backshops with unlicensed or revoked licensed doctors would be endangering our wives and daughters for unsafe medical procedures. I am all for trying to keep a child but there should be more counseling and adoptions to help women make a very, very difficult decision. Finally, to all the expected posters that would say well an unborn child is innocent whereas a death row inmate is guilty, remember there are many on death row wrongly imprisoned, an unwanted born child has a higher risk to committing crimes. If you are pro-life who are you to decide on who lives or dies, by the very statement that you are pro-life you are therefore for ALL life, otherwise you are playing God in who lives and dies!
THIS is the real issue:
The Democrat Party will 100% endorse and support state-funded abortion…they have no qualms of allowing babies, who have done NOTHING to harm anyone since they aren’t even born yet, to be killed…however, they OPPOSE the death penalty, for adults who made the decision to take human life for their own selfish ends…with the Democrats, troublemakers are victims…this is the result of that party being taken over by leftists, who are founded in cultural marxism and moral relativism…look at what socialists have done to Europe, where the “natives” of several nations can’t even replace their own dying citizens, due to low birthrates and most likely, abortions. I do not want to see the USA down that path…
There is no question that life, a totally separate life, begins at the moment of fertilization; or rather, mitosis commences. At that point, an organism with completely unique DNA exists and is replicating. Do deny that it is alive is contrary to fact. The question is, does the organism have a human soul at this point, not is it alive… This can be argued any number of ways, but abortionist liberals err by not choosing the action that exterminates humanity (if it exists) rather than preserves humanity (if it exists). Of course, liberals are largely atheistic anyway, which is their true justification for discarding human life – they do not acknowledge any soul or spark of divinity within humans. Which, finally, explains why liberals have such a significantly lower self-image than conservatives do. They consider themselves (and everyone else) essentially valueless. This is why liberalism, the modern face of socialism, is such a base and disgusting philosophy; it is, as the Bishop says, a philosophy of death.
For all those that are pro-choice, do you agree that 1. If a woman that is pregnant, and she chooses to smoke drugs during pregnancy and deliver a crack baby, that society should say nothing, after all its her body? 2. If someone decides to kick a pregnant women in the belly until the fetus is dead, is that also just the womans body and therefore the equivalent of kicking her in the leg? I believe that the pro-choice position, is not only wrong morally, but also illogical. Kudos to the Catholic church!
Everyone is free to choose their religion, if I remember correctly. If you want to be a Catholic, follow Church doctrine and don’t dispute it. The Church is not a democracy.
If you don’t like it, go find yourself another Church that supports your moral philosophy, or become an atheist. And stop criticizing other peoples’ faith.
It’s so simple that I don’t understand what the big deal is about.
The bishop is right on. It’s just too bad that the Vatican doesn’t speak out about the pervasive spread of socialism (the bailout) in the U.S., which is nearly as damaging as the lack of regard for human life. Maybe when the economy gets bad enough and their donations dry up, they will realize that it is the free market that is the most moral economic plan.
Its about time someone stood up to the fools in the deomcattic party. I use to be a democrate and I left the party because of their support for homosexuality, and late term abortion. People have a choice when they are having sex, and they should use protection, and that way they can stop unwanted pregnancies before conception. Democrates think they are above God and Country but they are not. Judgement will come to them sometime.
Dr Ryan
The soul enters the body at the moment of the first BREATH – that’s when a HUMAN BEING’s LIFE begins!
A human species FETUS is not a human BEING!
Read about how God gives LIFE through the use of HIS BREATH in the Bible!
Right on Bishop!
The truth is the truth is the truth…
The Church has always and will always pray for the entire world and the salvation of everyone.
Abortion is ALWAYS wrong!!!
May God have mercy on us for allowing it.
Its simple people.Some mistakes you cant turn around and fix.Getting pregnant you can obviously fix in the eyes of pro-choice.No ONE is held responsable for there actions anymore.IF YOU DONT WANT TO GET PREGNANT DONT HAVE SEX!Its that simple.Catholics are blaming dems because they stand for every thing the church is against.Boohoo poor Dems (get some morales)
Every living animal on this planet has a heart beat.Wouldnt it make sense that when the baby has a heart beat it is alive?
I cannot believe that anyone tries to justify abortion – there is no justification. Do not make the mistake of bringing in anything else about war, or what the Church has done in the past – it does not matter – 2 wrongs do not make a right. Abortion is still wrong – period. A women does not have a choice – God places a soul in a baby upon conception, who are we to interfere? How can anyone abort a child – why, because it is not convenient, timing is wrong? There are so many who want to adopt, give the baby a chance at life. Who will stand up for the rights of Baby’s? Pro-life does.
I am proud to be a Catholic – here is a church that is taking a stand. Has the Church made mistakes – yes. Does that mean that it cannot stand up and take a stand against Abortion – NO!
Amen Archbisop Burke, as a recent convert to Roman Catholisism, I am encouraged and affirmed in my decision to join The Church when its leaders make a principled stand.
Bishops are right. Christianity protects life and forbids murder. You either have pie or eat pie, you are either a Christian and protect innocent life or you murder for your own convenience in which case you are not a Christian.
I applaud the Archbishop for his stand against what Pelosi and Biden have stated. But what good does it do when these people are so high up in the government that they dare not change their position on anything. That would require being humble and that is not in either one of them. Minus some conservative Democrats, the Democratic Party IS the party of death. Look what they’ve done to our economy with this scam bailout. There wasn’t any need for a bailout. What is was, was the representatives who’ve blocked regulations on Freddie/Fannie wouldn’t do anything about these two failures until they were bankrupt. Democrats and management in general cannot allow themselves to admit fault or that what they said do was a bad idea and it caused a failure. The higher up the ranks a person goes the less they can admit fault. Until they finally reach the top of their profession where the damage they cause by not being able to admit fault causes the loss of livlyhoods for thousands of people under their control. The church has always taught being humble is not to be feared, and will not cause loss of respect from people. But evil teaches these people in high positions, that if they admit fault they cannot stay aloft above the people you control. Admitting fault makes people equal and people in high positions believe they are not equal with anyone except those in the same position they are in, and even then some will pick apart what those equal to them do and say trying to make them look bad and themselves good. To us those that do that are bad as well, but they do not believe that about themselves only about others. Archbishop Burke puts it right in that taking a position supporting abortion is wrong, and when these people who’ve made their careers passing the blame onto others, don’t face the facts about killing the unborn as murder but rather attack those who state that, are in danger of damnation. The story of Jesus’ life tells us that when he was at a town and the children came running up to Him, the adults tried to shoo them away. Jesus said not to do that, but to “suffer the little children to come unto me, for those who deny me to them, I will deny you to my Father.” Pelosi and Biden need that read to them, for if you kill the little children, you do that unto him who is the Father. The Democrats need a serious humbling to take place. Their hearts may be in somewhat of a good place about wanting to take care of those who can’t take care of themselves, but when they promote abortion as a way to lighten the burden on the poor, is not only ignorant, but influencing people to commit sin themselves as those who talk them into sinning.
It seems the angry left misses three points:
One, the Bishop did not say the Republicans were an approved party by the Catholic church. He was speaking to several specific positions that the Democratic Party supports. If you recall the Catholic church has been repeatedly critical of the Bush adminisration for the war in Iraq.
Two: To read the commandment “thou shalt not kill…” in it’s original language you will find that it says more accurately “Commit no murder” a very specific reference to premeditated murder. After the commandments were given God told Israel to go to war. It’s one thing to quote a verse (in English). It’s another thing to UNDERSTAND what it means.
Three: The scripture “Judge not…” refers to pronouncing a person damned to hell. We are called to mercy, but we are not called to ignor evil and sin. You’re allowed to point out someones sins so that they might repent of them. Lord knows we all have them, so don’t get so angry when someone points them out. If someone says “go to hell” well that’s another story. That is what the “judge not” scripture is addressing.
AS A NON PRACTICING CATHOLIC, I THINK THE CATHLOIC CHURCH HAS LOST IT’S MARBLES. THE OLD BOYS CLUB LOST IT’S CREDABILITY FOR MORALS AND ETHICS NOT LONG AGO
Dave,
Wow until I read your letter, I never would have thought
that it wasn’t my responsibility for producing three children to provide for their needs.
Wow, it is people like you that propogate all of these
women who keep having children all the while knowing that
they are not going to be the ones providing for them, but it is I, the taxpayer, who will pick up the bill,
because of all of the stupidity of people like yourself.
You gotta find it funny how Priest who have never been in that position let alone a relationship or have a family e.g single mother etc can judge someone who has?
Was it not Jesus who said
“Let them who have not sinned cast the first stone?”
The church’s history is full of sin so they should stop interfering with the US political system.
Wow, it is people like you that propogate all of these
women who keep having children all the while knowing that
they are not going to be the ones providing for them, but it is I, the taxpayer, who will pick up the bill,
because of all of the stupidity of people like yourself.
- Posted by Sharon
That’s the problem with socialism, if you work 2 jobs or never work you still end up poor, so why bother?
It is a fact that George Washington died a Catholic. It is a fact that Washington was a advocate\student in the writings of St. Robert Bellarnine and St. Thomas Aquinas (Catholic Saints), specifically on political philosophy. It is a fact George Washington, James Madison, and other “Founding Fathers” used the ideas\concepts of these “religious people” to form this great republic. Thomas Jefferson included concepts of these Saints in the writing of Declaration of Independence. It is a fact that George Washington had a bible in his possession when on the Senate Floor. It is a fact that the President of the United States is sworn into the office with his hand on a bible. It is a fact that this country that you love so much is built on the foundation of religious ideas. If you remove them, the foundation will eventually fall. I love my country and I love my religion (Catholic). You can’t define good and evil without it. Abortion is evil. PERIOD. It is a fact that George Washington loved this country and would not believe how backwards it has became, and that is the facts. So for all you pro-abortion advocates and atheist…Stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
“Fetus” is just a given name for the early stage of developpment. Fetus is a human being not yet fully developped, the same way as the “newborn” or “baby” is in our lexicon not yet a fully developped child, and a “child” is not yet a fully developped man or a woman. The unborn panda is as small as a bean, yet it is still a panda and we await panda’s birth from beginning of pregnancy.
Archbishop Burke, like so many in the Church Hierarchy, ignores the Churches own teachings when it comes to the definition of pro-life. Pope John Paul II stated that, and this is not exact as I did not look it up, to be pro-life one must reject the violence of abortion. One must reject the violence of the death penalty. One must reject the violence of poverty.
He was quite eloquent on it. The bottom line is that the Republican Party is no more pro-life than the Democrats, they are just anti-abortion. Both parties have a long way to go. Executing prisoners and dropping cluster bombs and missals on villages is taking life as surely as abortion.
The Church needs to stay out of politics and try and re-establish the moral authority it squandered in scandal. This is not helpful.
As an athiest I strongly support the Catholic church on this. Science indicates that at conception the single cell has the genetic plan necessary to form a human being enclosed within a single membrane. Fed and protected it will become an adult, just like a new born or a toddler will become an adult if fed and protected.
Wow, Mr. Cecil. It amazes me how people like you can still, in this day and age, get away with such blatant anti-semitism. You write: “and based upon the Zionist calumny that Ahmadinejad has stated that the Israel ’should be removed from the map”. Are you for real? The “Zionist calumny”? So you’re telling me that Israel made up Ahmadinejad’s comments about wiping Israel off the map? He’s on record saying that himself! Go look it up. It’s an undeniable fact.
And, in regard to Republicans being the party of LIFE. That is absolutely true. The fact that republicans want to defend the United States against a real, demonstrable threat, one that has already claimed nearly 3,000 lives in a single attack alone, does not negate their position on defending life. The difference is, in general, the philosophy of conservatives is to defend innocent life while the philosophy of liberals is to defend the guilty, the depraved and the immoral, though of course, they would never admit it.
Its about time. I’ve always felt that its the job of all clergy to speak out forcefully on these matters. Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and the democrat party is wrong on everything important.
“Thou shall not murder” is what the word used in Hebrew means, not kill. Are you truly trying to say there is no difference between a soldier killing to defend his country, and a ‘doctor’ and woman aborting an innocent baby? Even if a soldier accidentally kills a baby in a battle, there is a difference, because of intent. Abortion is a targeted killing of an innocent baby. Very similar to a terrrorist’s targeting of innocent children. Of course, I notice that those who support abortion, also tend to put a moral equivalence on terrorists, so it doesn’t surprise me that you would try to call American soldiers murderers, while never admitting that an abortion has killed a human being. You are doing the will of our enemies, Osama himself couldn’t hope to murder 30 million American children, yet we have done it to ourselves with abortions, all supported by fellow travelers of those who hate this country.
Horay Vatican. the Catholic Church is soooo awesome. Just look at all of the virtue and good it has done down thru the centuries to people through it’s saints. And this is yet one more example. When it comes time to make an accounting for abortion in society as the Germans had to for their war against the Jews, will anyone remember our voices? That we did cry out for the innocent and helpless victims of abortion?
How can those of you compare fighting a war with killing innocent BABIES?
You are the ones that make the Democrat Party DANGEROUS!!!!
Who cares about a Raymond Burke?? People like him sickens me.
Catholic Church which stood by and encouraged thousands of child abuses over the years has no moral compass to talk about anything. This is another ploy from Burke and his cronies to collect more money from Catholics to pay for their sins.
What a disgusting bunch of people these clowns are..
” Vatican Supreme Court Prefect Attacks Biden and Pelosi”
Is That All That Bishop Burke finds About The CHURCH Teachings ?? Just ABORTION??? How About SATANIC Bush International MASS MURDERER???
it is amazing how they want us to have children … but let the strave around the world …they could take some of the gold they have decorating the vatican and trade it for food … and it also a wonder to me how they can say have these children , i guess so they can molest them all
Not legislate religion? In that case, my religion states “thou shall not committ murder”, I guess we should scratch all laws against murder. Same with stealing and other laws based on Judeo-Christian beliefs. Let’s have a world laws, because most have some basis in religion.
I applaud the Catholic Church for speaking up to protect innocent life. When our political leaders, and pseudo Catholic leaders, seek to mislead and flat our lie, the Church must stand up and set the record straight. This is not politics by the Church, but standing up for the principles it believes in, especially when others seek to distort them. For those who criticize the Church, so be it, enjoy. However, that does not take away from the fact that the Church should be, and properly is, standing up for the rights of innocent, unborn life. Thank you Catholic Church, and we along with other Christians (and Jews) will do our part to support unborn, innocent life come election day!
For me it comes down to the fact that the democrats think it is morally acceptable to allow partial birth abortions – you know those – the ones where they crush the skull of the fetus and suck out the brain. Where are their brains?
Michael, Bella Logosi & Joe Bidden were telling people how the Catholic Church interprets life & when it begins. The only problem is, that they were completely wrong about their interpretation. It’s ok to be wrong about something as long as when you fine out you were wrong admit it. Of course that’s not a democrat trait. Your dough may still be quite soggy.
Norman
Archbishop Burke should be Pope, so that we can have outspoken leadership on important moral issues. Pope Benedict seems to be a great guy, but I don’t see strong, outspoken leadership emanating from him on this issue and many others. Why are most of the American Bishops silent? Where is their leadership? The only issue that I hear them leading on is encouraging people to violate the immigration laws of the United States of America. And why do most of them seem inclined to favor the immoral, socialistic, Democrat “party of death”?