VATICAN: Democrats are Party of Death

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2008
VATICAN: Democrats are Party of Death
15
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 9:13am
October 1st, 2008

Vatican official attacks U.S. Democrats as “party of death”

Posted by: Phil Stewart



Senator Joe Biden with Catholic priest Zhang Depu near Beijing, 10 Aug 2001/poolVatican 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.”


Nancy Pelosi kisses Pope Benedict’s ring during his U.S. visit, 16 April 2008/Larry DowningPelosi 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.


Archbishop Raymond Burke/Archdiocese of St. LouisCardinal 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


http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2008/10/01/vatican-official-attacks-us-democrats-as-party-of-death/


 


It's about time they called out top Democratic figures misrepresenting Church teaching on abortion.


Then there's Mr. cult of death himself, Barack Hussein Obama. He voted against banning partial birth abortion. He supports abortion on demand. He voted NO on notifying parents of minors who get out-of-state abortions. He opposed the Born Alive Infant Protection Act four times in Illinois. A similar bill passed the U.S. Senate 98-0. The Born Alive bill would have prohibited a baby from being born alive but left to die according to the mother’s wishes. Obama inexplicably opposed this bill not once, twice, or three times, but four times- and then he lied about his abortion voting record!


http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=24354


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 9:22am
Not an original thought, but why such vehemence on the abortion issue and nada on the death penalty.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-26-2008
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 9:35am

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


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 9:38am
I doubt it. They are still recovering from the altar boy pay-outs.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-28-2008
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 11:18am
Anything to excuse the head man of the 'culture of death', huh?
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 11:20am
No, I was not talking about that, since the premiss is ridiculous. I was wondering why the RCC is so focused on abortion and yet does not seem to care much about the death penalty.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 2:53pm

Perhaps because a criminal, by their taking the life of another, has forefeited their rights.


Or perhaps because fewer than 100 criminals per year are put to death as opposed to more than 800,000 babies.




Edited 10/3/2008 2:54 pm ET by absintheofmalice
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 2:57pm
"forfeit their rights"? How do you mean?
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-27-2003
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 4:07pm

Well... As a Catholic whose money has went to pay lawyers fees and judgements against the Catholic church's pedophile priests ... I SINCERELY wish The church would pay more attention to pedophilia in the ranks of it's clergy. Archbishop Burke has plenty of things to worry about (such as the ading and abetting of pedophiles) as Head of The Church's highest court. He should leave American politics alone. Maybe some bible reading would help them out... such as..

Take yea first the plank out of your own eye before yea attempt to remove the speck of dust from your brothers




Edited 10/3/2008 4:15 pm ET by twoirish
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2005
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 4:45pm

Riiigghhtt.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-25-2008
Fri, 10-03-2008 - 8:15pm
By committing first degree murder, they have by their actions, and the judgment of a jury, been stripped of their right to life in a civilized society

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