Says court ruling “challenges the whole world”…
Vatican Academy for Life issues Lackluster Reaction to Supreme Court’s Overturning of Roe v. Wade Abortion Decision
Today the Supreme Court of the United States issued its definitive ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson case in favor of Dobbs. It explicitly overturns the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 and the Planned Parenthood v. Casey decision of 1992:
- Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade in Dobbs decision (Crux)
- 6 things to know about Roe v. Wade, Dobbs v. Jackson and the Supreme Court (Catholic World Report)
- Seven myths about overturning Roe v. Wade (Catholic World Report)
This new Supreme Court decision does not make abortion illegal per se, it rather allows each state to decide whether to criminalize abortion or not.
The Novus Ordo bishops of the United States reacted quickly with a press release in which they clearly expressed their relief and joy at the Supreme Court ruling. Even “Cardinal” Blase Cupich of Chicago weighed in quite positively.
The Vatican, on the other hand, was a little more — shall we say — restrained in its enthusiasm. “Abp.” Vincenzo Paglia, the president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, released a statement that has been called “bizarre”, and for good reason. We will quote it in full:
The Pontifical Academy for Life joins U.S. Bishops’ statement on the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. As Archbishop H. Gomez and Archbishop Lori declared:
“It is a time for healing wounds and repairing social divisions; it is a time for reasoned reflection and civil dialogue, and for coming together to build a society and economy that supports marriages and families, and where every woman has the support and resources she needs to bring her child into this world in love.”
The Court’s opinion shows how the issue of abortion continues to arouse heated debate. The fact that a large country with a long democratic tradition has changed its position on this issue also challenges the whole world. It is not right that the problem is set aside without adequate overall consideration. The protection and defense of human life is not an issue that can remain confined to the exercise of individual rights but instead is a matter of broad social significance. After 50 years, it is important to reopen a non-ideological debate on the place that the protection of life has in a civil society to ask ourselves what kind of coexistence and society we want to build.
It is a question of developing political choices that promote conditions of existence in favor of life without falling into a priori ideological positions. This also means ensuring adequate sexual education, guaranteeing health care accessible to all and preparing legislative measures to protect the family and motherhood, overcoming existing inequalities. We need solid assistance to mothers, couples and the unborn child that involves the whole community, encouraging the possibility for mothers in difficulty to carry on with the pregnancy and to entrust the child to those who can guarantee the child’s growth.
Archbishop Paglia said: “in the face of Western society that is losing its passion for life, this act is a powerful invitation to reflect together on the serious and urgent issue of human generativity and the conditions that make it possible; by choosing life, our responsibility for the future of humanity is at stake”.
Vatican City, June 24, 2022
(Source)
The lack of enthusiasm in this message is palpable. It is quite evident that “Abp.” Paglia is not thrilled with this Supreme Court decision.
Although Jorge Bergoglio (“Pope Francis”) has issued strong words of condemnation of abortion in the past, his actions, inactions, and shifts of emphasis have made it very clear that this “Vicar of Christ” does not consider abortion to be a big deal, much less something we should “obsess” about. And besides, “God never tires of forgiving”, he never ceases to remind the world.
Francis is a clever fellow. In late 2016, he revamped the entire Pontifical Academy for Life, which allowed him to dismiss all members, even though they had been granted a lifetime appointment:
He also revised the academy’s statutes to the effect that new members would no longer have to uphold the Novus Ordo doctrines concerning human life: “Members of the Pontifical Academy for Life will no longer be required to sign a declaration that they uphold the Church’s pro-life teachings”, Life Site wrote in a report on the changes.
The man he had picked as head of the academy, “Abp.” Paglia, later made the news for having commissioned a homo-erotic mural in the cathedral of his diocese years prior, and it includes a depiction of himself: “The archbishop now at the helm of the Pontifical Academy for Life paid a homosexual artist to paint a blasphemous homoerotic mural in his cathedral church in 2007. The mural includes an image of the archbishop himself”, Life Site reported. Here are some more links on that story:
- Vatican archbishop featured in homoerotic painting he commissioned (Mar. 3, 2017)
- Vatican pro-life academy’s founding members blast new President’s X-rated mural as ‘demonic,’ ‘disgusting’ (Mar. 15, 2017)
- Vatican archbishop defends cathedral’s pornographic, homoerotic mural as ‘evangelizing’ tool (June 7, 2017)
The same head of the “pontifical” academy also made news a few years back declaring that Francis’ exhortation Amoris Laetitia does indeed open the door for Novus Ordo Communion to be given to those who are publicly known to persist in adulterous relations:
- Vatican archbishop: Pope Francis opened Communion to adulterers (July 27, 2017)
That Paglia should not be terribly thrilled by the momentous decision of Dobbs vs. Jackson today, is therefore not exactly a big surprise.
Over at Life Site, Kennedy Hall is cautiously floating the idea that maybe the Supreme Court’s ruling today has something to do with Bergoglio’s consecration of Russia (and Ukraine and the world and …) to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which he performed in March. Such an opinion would come in handy for Francis, since nothing gets conservative Novus Ordos fired up more than abortion. If they can be convinced that the Dobbs vs. Jackson decision was, in a sense, “Pope” Francis’ doing, they will be very tempted to overlook all his ongoing apostasy and blasphemy.
One final observation is in order.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was published on a most significant date: June 24, 2022. Generally June 24 is the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, who as an unborn child leaped for joy as the voice of the Virgin Mary, pregnant with the Son of God, sounded in the ears of his mother. St. Elizabeth proclaimed: “For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy” (Lk 1:44). This year, however, the Feast of St. John’s birth is transferred to June 25, yielding to the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus — quite in keeping with the spirit of the Baptist, who said, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30) — which is always celebrated on the Friday in the week after Corpus Christi. This year that day is June 24.
May the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament be praised, adored, and loved, with grateful affection, at every moment, in all the tabernacles of the world, even to the end of time. Amen.
Image source: composite with elements from Flickr (Presidencia El Salvador) and Shutterstock (Colors United)
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