News,
The president of the Pontifical Academy for Life has criticised excommunications which were announced after the abortion of twins belonging to a nine-year-old girl in Brazil. Archbishop Rino Fisichella opposes the decision by Most Rev José Cardoso Sobrinho, Archbishop of Recife, to exclude medical staff and the girl's mother from the sacrament. The former says the move eroded the credibility of Catholic teaching and seemed insensitive. Brazil's episcopal conference has also distanced itself from Archbishop Sobrinho's actions, though Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Holy See's Congregation for Bishops, approved. The girl was allegedly raped by her stepfather. [Times, 16 March] SPUC's national director wrote: "[T]he right to life of the twins in the womb of this poor Brazilian girl has been denied by all those participating in the abortion, and all those approving of the abortion (neither of which category, of course, includes the nine-year-old mother). [T]he little girl at the centre of this tragic situation has suffered not only the violence of rape but also the violence of abortion, which carries with it the risk of long-term harm including a seriously increased risk of suicide." [John Smeaton, 16 March]
The senate of Georgia, USA, has passed a bill to ban the creation of human embryos for research. Republicans removed a measure granting personhood to embryos to get the law through. The state governor supports the measure which also needs to be approved by the other legislative chamber. President Obama recently decided to resume federal funding for research on new embryo lines. [Associated Press on Access NorthGa, 12 March] Mr Mike Reynolds has introduced a similar bill in the Oklahoma legislature. Arizona and Mississippi have forbidden universities from using government money on destructive embryo research and Texas may do something similar. Louisiana has banned research on IVF embryos. California, Maryland, New Jersey and New York have passed laws to liberalise their research regime. [Reuters, 17 March]
The Catholic Church has been greatly embarrassed by President Obama's appointment of a pro-abortion health secretary, according to the head of the Apostolic Signatura, the church's highest court in Rome. Most Rev Raymond Burke said Ms Kathleen Sebelius, Catholic governor of Kansas, had betrayed her faith and obstinately remained in error despite admonition by bishops. Her lack of commitment to safeguarding human life disqualified her from any office responsible for public health. Archbishop Burke praised her being effectively excommunicated by Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City. [LifeSiteNews, 13 March]
The Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, Human Life International, and the Latin American Alliance for the Family are urging the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace to stop funding pro-abortion groups in Mexico. Fr Tom Euteneuer of Human Life International pointed out how the US bishops had withdrawn support in a similar situation. [LifeSiteNews, 16 March]
The British government's chief medical advisor says that patients in pain are being neglected by the state health system. Sir Liam Donaldson stated that pain control specialists only manage to see around one person in seven among the estimated eight million people who are in chronic pain. [Telegraph, 16 March]
A Catholic prelate in Florida has likened reproductive technology to the irresponsible creation of artificial human life in Frankenstein. Rt Rev Thomas Wenski, Bishop of Orlando, wrote that the protagonist in Mary Shelley's 19th century novel failed to consider the consequences of his actions. Artificial reproduction devalued human sexuality, and science had to be ethical to serve humanity. He mentioned the recent case of IVF octuplets and pointed out that most IVF embryos were "sacrificed". Each embryo was a human individual. [Catholic News Agency, 16 March] A separated New Zealand couple are in dispute over the fate of their four frozen embryos. Mrs Dawn Thwaite's former partner will only consent to their being used for research but she wants them implanted in her womb. Mrs Thwaite, a Catholic, says: "They are precious little lives with nobody to speak for them but me." [New Zealand Herald, 16 March]
The president of the Pontifical Council for Health Care has spoken again of the case of the late Ms Eluana Englaro who last month was dehydrated to death in Italy at her father's request and with court approval. Speaking in his native Mexico, Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragán said: "[W]hoever kills an innocent person is a murderer. Whoever does not kill is not. This is what I have always said." If medicine could not cure patients, it should be used to ease their pain. While extraordinary and burdensome means of prolonging life were not approved, Ms Englaro had not been ill and deserved food and water. [Catholic News Agency, 13 March]
To subscribe to SPUC's email information services, please visit www.spuc.org.uk/em-signup. The reliability of the news herein is dependent on that of the cited sources, which are paraphrased rather than quoted. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the society. © Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, 2018