Last week we mentioned the case of a nine-year-old Brazilian girl who underwent an abortion after she was impregnated by her abusive stepfather. Though abortion is illegal in most cases in Brazil, doctors decided that the eighty-pound girl’s life was in danger by her being pregnant.Despite the extreme circumstances of the case, local Catholic officials excommunicated the mother and the doctors who performed the abortion. "The law of God is higher than any human laws,” declared local Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho.
Over the weekend a senior Vatican authority defended the excommunication decision. "It is a sad case but the real problem is that the twins conceived were two innocent persons, who had the right to live and could not be eliminated," said Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re to a local daily. Re- who is the head of the Roman Catholic Church's Congregation for Bishops- acknowledged that “life must always be protected” yet did not say anything over the girl’s life being in danger by her pregnancy.
Aside from excommunicating the girl’s mother, Sobrinho also had the gall to disparage the raped child:
The stepfather was not excommunicated because the church said that his action, although deplorable, was not as bad as ending the life of an unborn child.Sobrinho’s lack of compassion for a raped nine-year-old girl instead if her accused attacker is reprehensible and sickening. The child’s stepfather has been accused of:
"It is clear that he committed a very serious sin, but worse than this is the abortion," Sobrinho said.
- Raping a nine-year-old girl
- Impregnating her with twins
- Violating the girl since the age of six
- Paying her off to stay quiet
- Abusing the girl’s disabled sister
Image- Al Jazeera English (“The church said the abortion was worse than the alleged rape by the girl's stepfather [EPA].”)
Online Sources- Al Jazeera English, Belfast Telegraph, New York Times, The Latin Americanist
I am also heartbroken for the girl and outraged at the Vatican. As an atheist I have to ask (since I cannot imagine myself), how can anyone read about this and continue to see themselves as a compassionate human being and a practicing Roman Catholic? If my understanding is correct, if you are Catholic, you believe the Pope is infallible and you cannot pick and choose which church rules are to be followed. I have difficulty talking to Catholics, because I do not understand how they can support an institution that actively promotes dogma that lead to situations such as this one and with the Pope's recent comments on HIV/AIDS and condom use in Africa.
ReplyDelete"How can anyone read about this and continue to see themselves as a compassionate human being and a practicing Roman Catholic?"
ReplyDeleteThe answer is simple, Zach. As a Roman Catholic I believe in the fundamental spiritual teachings based on my religious beliefs. (The Golden Rule, for instance). Yet I will not agree when those basic tenets are wrongly skewed by Church figures.
I support a religion and its set of teachings and not always those who interpret them. The Pope (much like all human beings) make mistakes and are certainly not "infallible". Hence, my personal abhorrance (sp?) at the excommunication decision and lack of compassion by some Church figures for the girl and her mother. (And for that matter the discomfort over the Pope's comments denigrating birth control).
Then I would say you are not entirely a practicing Roman Catholic. You are practicing some of the religion, but not all of it. Catholicism is quite dogmatic and I do not think church officials would be happy with their members picking and choosing its teachings. Because your opposition to parts of the faith appear to just be in your words and not actions, you're disengagement from parts of the faith will probably never result in anything material.
ReplyDeleteHowever, say your beliefs were reflected in your actions, and you assist someone with an abortion which defies Catholic dogma, you will officially not be a Roman Catholic and excommunicated like the girls relatives. Correct me if I'm wrong on that, but that's how it appears to me.
In the meantime, I suppose you will keep experiencing the discomfort, as you said, over the Pope's comments and I'm guessing over the clash between parts of your religion and compassion, intellectual honesty and science as well.
To clarify that last part a bit...
On Catholicism and compassion-
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6750887.stm
http://www.slate.com/id/2090083/
Intellectually honest- I mean that religious adherents typically claim to know where we came from, why we are here, and where we go after death, and I don't think anyone can honestly say they know for certain any of those things).
And Catholicism and science, well, what does science say about the possibility of virgin birth and transubstantiation?