Just before the Democratic Convention, Nancy Pelosi was asked how she squared her pro-abortion position with her Catholic faith. The Speaker affirmed that she is an ardent, practicing Catholic, and that she has studied this question for a long time. The results of her study are a source of amazement to us, both fellow practicing Catholics, as they are to the bishops of our Church. Apparently Mrs. Pelosi’s research shows her that the Catholic condemnation of abortion is of recent vintage.
The Speaker referred to St. Augustine, and it seems that her long studies have been centered on medieval debates about when an unborn child receives a soul. These philosophical speculations never called into question the fact that abortion is seriously wrong; they concerned the nature of the sin involved. It is intriguing that Mrs. Pelosi appeals to a fourth-century understanding of biology to defend her pro-abortion stance. Secular liberals often deride Christians as simplistic in their approach to science – the condemnation of Galileo, resistance to the theory of evolution, and so on – and yet the Speaker defends her position on abortion by primitive views of science.
It was only with the invention of the microscope that scientists were able to understand what the process of conception entails. Nor can science answer the question of whether a soul exists, much less when an unborn child receives it. What science does demonstrate is that from the moment of conception we are dealing with a developing human with its own unique DNA. It is nonsense, biologically, to argue about when human life begins: it begins when a human sperm and ovum unite and bring into existence a new, unique and unrepeatable human being.
But then Mrs. Pelosi sweeps aside the speculations prompted by her long study: “The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” There is the great mantra of the pro-abortion movement: “a right to choose”. It is a sentence purposely left unfinished, begging the question, “Choose what?” To deliberately end the life of another human being? It is deeply disturbing that Nancy Pelosi could give the impression on national television that such a position is consistent with Catholic teaching. To make such a claim demonstrates either appalling ignorance or a willful misrepresentation of the facts.
Many Roman Catholic bishops have stated that the Speaker has seriously misrepresented Catholic teaching. To date, Mrs. Pelosi has refused to retract what she said. The bishops should press for a public retraction. Integrity demands nothing less: the debate over abortion will no doubt go on for some time, but Americans on both sides of the debate deserve a dialogue based on fact, not fiction.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13638
The Speaker referred to St. Augustine, and it seems that her long studies have been centered on medieval debates about when an unborn child receives a soul. These philosophical speculations never called into question the fact that abortion is seriously wrong; they concerned the nature of the sin involved. It is intriguing that Mrs. Pelosi appeals to a fourth-century understanding of biology to defend her pro-abortion stance. Secular liberals often deride Christians as simplistic in their approach to science – the condemnation of Galileo, resistance to the theory of evolution, and so on – and yet the Speaker defends her position on abortion by primitive views of science.
It was only with the invention of the microscope that scientists were able to understand what the process of conception entails. Nor can science answer the question of whether a soul exists, much less when an unborn child receives it. What science does demonstrate is that from the moment of conception we are dealing with a developing human with its own unique DNA. It is nonsense, biologically, to argue about when human life begins: it begins when a human sperm and ovum unite and bring into existence a new, unique and unrepeatable human being.
But then Mrs. Pelosi sweeps aside the speculations prompted by her long study: “The point is, is that it shouldn’t have an impact on the woman’s right to choose.” There is the great mantra of the pro-abortion movement: “a right to choose”. It is a sentence purposely left unfinished, begging the question, “Choose what?” To deliberately end the life of another human being? It is deeply disturbing that Nancy Pelosi could give the impression on national television that such a position is consistent with Catholic teaching. To make such a claim demonstrates either appalling ignorance or a willful misrepresentation of the facts.
Many Roman Catholic bishops have stated that the Speaker has seriously misrepresented Catholic teaching. To date, Mrs. Pelosi has refused to retract what she said. The bishops should press for a public retraction. Integrity demands nothing less: the debate over abortion will no doubt go on for some time, but Americans on both sides of the debate deserve a dialogue based on fact, not fiction.
http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=13638
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