Move to oust head of Pontifical Academy for Life

This is clearly political. In his initial statement on the subject, he did not deny the evil of the abortion which had occurred nor backed down on absolute respect for human life in all forms. He was totally right in that an official condemnation was not necessary in this situation. This is sad to see because his removal will only harden the line of the official church and make it much harder for local clergy to show pastoral compassion when it's necessary in these kinds of situations whether those involved go to confession or not.

garden variety polictical BS: one just has to love it

please let me understand:
as a non-christian and the father of a 12-year old girl - does the catholic church condemn the abortion or not?
i am refraining from giving voice to my own opinion - clear as it must be to the reader - but i really really need an idea of how (and to whome) the term "compassion" is applied here.

Poor old Rino is being attacked for being human and showing pastoral concern. Isn't it interesting how the pack has begun turning on itself?

One wonders how Archbishop Fisichella has survived in such an atmosphere of theological self-abuse. If nowhere else, the conservative question, "What would Jesus do" seems appropriate here, and the conservatives would not be pleased with the answer. I guess the stepfather just needs to go to confession to an abusive priest in order to be in good standing again with the Vatican's "Church". Can there be any question that the Vatican is destroying what is holy in the Catholic Church?

Since when did compassion ever be "bogus" when it comes to pastoral care, especially since all the world's relgions are based upon this principle. Goes to show you how far from the Gospel abortion fanatics can get.

I am pleased that the Academy for Life has suggested Fisichella be removed, but I am afraid nothing will change as a result. Compassion is at the core of our actions, or at least it should be. It was sorely lacking in this tragic circumstance.

I continue to pray for that young girl. I can't imagine the intensity of guilt she carries with her due to Fisichella's actions. In some way, he has wrongly taken a life.

Seems to me that the action of Fisichella was appropriate condign and congruous to the unfortunate event. Men of such compassion, reason and understanding deserve to be supported. I suspect St. Thomas A would concur.

If I am reading this right, it was Fisichella who finally had any compassion at all. The members who would oust him sound like crotchity old men, who should be ousted.

Thank you Archbishop Rino Fisichella for making a statement that says you understand about life, children and both/ands. Did we all read the words that Fisichella wrote? Let me repeat them here:

"Fisichella, in an article published March 15 in the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, reiterated the church's teaching on the serious evil associated with direct abortion and the penalties involved. But he also wrote that the local archbishop had put too much emphasis on the punishment of automatic excommunication incurred by the girl's parents and the doctors who carried out the abortion and didn't show enough pastoral care or compassion for the people involved.

The girl "should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side," Fisichella said."

Just what is confusing about that?

The Five people who signed the letter DO NOT UNDERSTAND the effect of sexual abuse on the child and, later, the adult the child will be. All people need to understand the 'killing' that happens in sexual abuse. Let's really protect and love life by loving all children - not just 'our children' or just the unborn.

What is most amazing about this story is the father ... was he ever excommunicated? I can't find that in the articles attached.

Until EVERY person who abuses a child - priest, religious, man, woman, - is excomminicated, the church itself does not understand 'protecting life' or 'finding life sacred.' What is the hierarchy of the church afraid it will loose too many men and or priests?

Until EVERY person who 'allows' a known sexual abuser access to children is demoted from their position of authority - pope, archbishop, bishop,whowever -'the church' continues to be guilty of causing death. How does anyone respect the church's position on life when the church constantly contributes to the killing of spirit in women and children and more?

The five people who signed the letter againstn Fisichella should be asked if they have been sexually abused? If their children have been? And how would they want the child treated? I bet from a church with arms open with care and concern. Fisichella said nothing wrong.

One consistent theme that we continually hear is the call to unity - to speak with one voice. At the same time, it is usually those who abhor anyone disagreeing with them that issues this call. There seems to be a real fear that diverse voices would be heard. All bishops tremble in fear that what they say might not be in accordance with the established voice from Rome - and are therefore afraid to publicly disagree with anything that goes beyond the party line. It might be helpful and heathy to understand that unity and conformity are not the same thing - that a healthy organism requires debate and disagreement - to find new life. In accepting the need for diversity of thought, it is possible to find that we might actually be wrong - or that what we think or say is not the final word. An amazing idea.

Everyone except the stepfather seems to be paying heavily for his crime against a child. Again a person guilty of rape and abuse of a child is not condemned or punished by the church. Respect for life includes the living also.

If this wasn't so totally sad it would be laughable... I'm sure the victims of sexual abuse in Ireland could tell us about how genuine the church's stand on the sanctity of life is ... and how pastoral the Bishops are ... the only life the hierarchy respects is their own. Sorry this sounds so cynical ... but it is my reaction to what happened last week.

Was the stepfather excommunicated for raping a child?

The real crime here is the rape of a child. I wonder if the stepfather was excommunicated for that. Was that issue even addressed by this committee?

As the months of Pope Benedict's papacy roll by, it's hard not to conclude that the Vatican is desperately in need of public relations assistance. We/they look more and more as if the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing and if it did it certainly couldn't make contact. Perhaps the concept "both/and" might be introduced. We regret terribly the loss of innocent life and our hearts go out to the nine-year-old and her mother who have suffered dreadfully in this experience. May God bring them healing and forgiveness. Something like that. Is it always necessary to make some absolute and immovable statement and then fight about it?

Hypocrisy rises again! These fanatics have no right to claim that they are protecting innocent life. The actions of these members who criticize Fisichella and those who support them have taken the abortion issue and twisted it in a evil direction. Fisichella is pilloried for showing compassion the girl and her mother. Did the Brazilian archbishop or any of his defenders on this Vatican star chamber take any action against the father? I guess he gets off scot free because he's a male.

For me, this case was the tipping point in the whole controversy. If the Church's position leads to this result, it has to be flawed.

In what way has Archbishop Fisichella "wrongly taken a life"? What is so evil about showing compassion to a nine-year-old child who has been repeatedly raped by her stepfather? And what is the matter with those allegedly "pro-life" people that they cannot care about a child whose life outside the womb has been irreparably damaged by the actions, physical and political, of a group of men who will never face similar victimization or be held accountable for their inhumanity? The whole situation makes me want to weep--for the child, for the archbishop, and for the church that has truly lost its way.

The Catholic tent grows ever smaller. Soon only the ignorant will remain. During the Reformation, Catholics left the Church primarily because their King or Prince left. Now, Catholics are leaving in droves as individuals who can draw their own moral and ethical conclusions. Pray for the little girl. Pray for her mother. Pray for compassion. Pray for Fisichella the loyal servant being condemned because he experienced a merciful moment.

What is missing at the Vatican and in the church is a healthy understanding of human sexuality across the board, whether it be issues of abortion in a rape situation, birth control or the sexuality of gays, lesbians, and transgendered people or celibacy. I suggest that mandatory courses in psychology, specifically human sexuality be required of all clerics, especially those heading about committees such as the Academy for Life. How can anyone expect a 9 year old girl to carry and deliver twins when it is a difficult enough pregnancy for a mature woman. Where is the respect for her life ? All the rest of this is power politics among church officials. I hope that she receives competent and compassionate help from a good therapist. God certainly does not hold this 9 year old accountable and I hope that some "enlightened" priest or nun, or compassionate person lets her know that God does not blame her. I recall the very strong warning by Jesus as to what happens to those who hurt innocent children whether it is the victimizer or those religious who blame the victim by the punitive use of excommunication.

This is a situation that confirms my belief that my church is really out of line. That all of Rome needs a thorough cleaning out.

I continue to pray that a cleaning out of Rome comes in my life time

Why should the 12 year old girl carry any guilt? She was a minor child, and was repeatedly raped by someone she should have been able to trust. The decision to abort the twins, as I understand it, was made by her doctors because they believed her life would be in danger if she had to carry them to term. The responsibility for that decision is theirs and the child's mother's. I agree with the comments made by Archbishop Fisichella. The Church that follows Christ should offer guidance and healing first, not condemnation. Given a chance to condemn, Christ offered healing and forgiveness first, and then said "Go and sin no more."

Where can I write to Archbishop Fisichella? I've been wanting to thank him for being the one Christian in the midst of this morass of Godless self-righteous lovers of the letter of the law. Jesus said the law is made for man, not man for the law. This is part of the Good News Jesus came to give us. If the law has left the poor child feeling guilty there is really something wrong with the law. The guilty one is the father here, as anyone with a drop of Christian love for neighbor can see. It's amazing that the Archbishop has been left in his position this long, amidst these one issue un-Christian Catholics who can't see the trees for the forest. It will be an interesting test of the Holy Father--will he grasp the value of having at least one Christian in this Academy, or will he go back to protecting the guilty instead of the innocent--exactly what brought on the mess over sex abuse in Ireland--and the United States and Australia and Germany and Latin America, and probably anywhere the Catholic Church has reached. The Pope has loudly condemned this kind of abuse, though he has newly arrived at this position. Let's see if he'll notice how important it is to keep Archbishop Fisichella in his job and protect the Archbishop's position in the midst of his condemners. It's a tough question, for sure, but I believe that for a follower of Jesus, compassion has to win out. The complicated situation doesn't excuse a Christian from compassion, nor does it make the compassion bogus. Let's get the priorities straight.

No wonder that priests, even in the ultraconservative Philadelphia archdiocese, avoid in their sermons any mention of their hierarchy's positions on birth control and related sexual and reproduction issues.
The teachings and "pastoral" behaviors of the Catholic hierarchy (popes, Vatican agencies, U.S. bishops) are an open running scandal.

We should consider keeping the New Testament and Psalms handy for frequent personal and prayerful use. I myself still go to Mass and Communion, and sometimes to confession (concerning whatever is bothering me and to a priest I know is genuinely trained in pastoral matters). Come on, righties, tell me I'm "not a Catholic." Through these sources, I pray for my family and friends, for old friends I've lost contact with, for those whom I harmed, for all the living who most need prayers (reading the news provides ample grist for subject matters) and all who have passed away but who still need prayers. At that point, I often think of those who lived or died in pain caused by Christian leaders over the centuries.

Like the Jewish family living in nineteenth-century Italy in one of the Papal States, whose baby was accidentally baptised by a priest. When the Church learned of this accident, they forcefully removed the child from his or her family, and required that the child be raised a Catholic. Protests to Pius IX were unavailing, even when diplomats from various nation-states tried to intervene. And there were the legions of Catholics and various types of Protestants and non-European indigenous peoples who were executed because of their personal faith, or perceived lack thereof, at the hands of Protestant and Catholic queens, kings, margraves, bishops, papal commissions, et cetera and so on. Unfortunately, I bring too much European and American History to my prayers, and I sometimes drift from prayer to the bad recollections of the real people who lived over the ages, and suffered for the religious purposes of others.

And enough drifting here, too. Back to the subject here: so sad, so sad. Let's sit down and say some prayers for all involved.

The charade of "valuing human life above all else" continues in this case. They concern themselves with the "sanctity of life" and would choose to have a 9 (Nine!!) year old carry twins to term when it was her stepfather (step-father!!)who repeatedly raped her and then they stand silent while the Mother is excommunicated! Such hypocrisy is laughable!
This group of self named "Guardians of valued human life" wrote before the meeting a critical letter of Archbishop Frisichella and then with great restraint?? waited to see if the Pope whould speak to the issue and when he didn't (Probably because it had already been dealt with!)they deem it their "duty" to make their criticisms public!! They only put one more nail in the coffin of the Body of Christ. Honestly, these people speak of liberals as spoiled "Cafeteria Catholics" only wanting their way.....is this group wanting to be aligned with us "Cafeteria Catholics"?
I too hold the little girl in loving prayer and while I'm at it, I will pray for this deceitful, hatefilled, santimonious, judging clutch of evildoers!

So who took lessons from whom; the Pontifical Academy of Life from the American Republican Party or vice versa...?

A funcitoning church and a good gov't would have partnered to remove the child from the abusive home, found her a safe and nurturing family, paid for therapy for all her trauma as well as assuring her financial upkeep toward adulthood. The twins would have ritually and regrettably been laid to rest in sanctified ground with the blessing and baptism of the church. A functioning church and government would also pay for therapy for the grandmother. The state needs to criminally prosecute the step-father; put him away and attempt therapeutic rehabilitation. In his case, the church would issue absolution, should it be requested, after a full and resonant attempt at reconciliation with the young victims and his spouse. Absolution would also be awarded for the abortion which was chosen under such duress. All would be done to establish harmony where harmony is difficult, if not impossible, to reestablish.

It is wrong to be complicit in these crimes of violence, let alone perpetrate more violence. Life is lived through the heart from the soul, not a manual, philosophy or ideology. When life is the toughest is when we need most to have love all around us.

The natural instinct of a journalist, regarding this article, is to go find out and write a follow-up on the names not only of the five who signed the letter, but the all the other members of the "Pontifical Academy of Life."
Who appoints them? Where do the members live, and meet?
What are the purposes and products of their organization?
What other organizations do its individual members participate in? (Show the interconnections.)
What is the budget of this Academy, and who funds it, and where does it spend its money? Is its budget a subpart of the annual Vatican budget?

Sorry, I'm semi-retired, and I cannot fly off to prowl around the cafes of Rome favored by vaticanisti. Someone else, please rise to the occasion!

The five individuals who issued the inappropriate press release should be ejected from the Academy; they sound like rogues.

Such pressure group politics has no basis in a debate on moral theology. Indeed, the calcified position on this instance is absolutely wrong. While elective abortion is always evil, if you are ending a pregnancy that would otherwise kill the mother, there is no wrong in it. The fact that the Church persists in this error,which is contrary to anything remotely resembling a natural law interpretation, continues to be troubling.

has no one noticed in all this that a nine year old child has been repeatedly raped and thus became pregnant....a nine-year old child. another wonderful reason why a married clergyman (or married archbishop, for that matter) hopefully wouldn't treat a crime of rape with excommunication of the family and thus the victim as an answer...would that a compassionate Jesus could still be with us writing down sins in the sand as academics go on and on in diatribes.

Free yourselves

www.oldcatholic.org

Recently, one of the Roman groups published a statement that the person is present from the moment of conception. This flies in the face of clear statements from the Catechism of the Council of Trent (1636), and another from the Holy Office (1704). There is another from Thomas Aquinas, but he is just a Doctor of the Church, and what he says does not bear official weight. These people in the Curia need to get their act together.

The hierarchy is going to try to punish someone with compassion but absolutely refuses to correct all the child abuse situations... the most current travesty is the lack of compassion for the child victims of abuse by clergy in Ireland.
The institution has lost its moral compass.It does not understand "what absolute respect for innocent human life entails".

I no longer support the institution financially.

There would be far less loss to humanity and the example of Christian compassion, and pastoral understanding if the five signers would resign so that the Archbishop can continue to be a model of Christ to the world.

I find it funny that a statement by FIVE out of the 159 members of the Pontifical Academy for Life is being taken as an absolute judgement by the entire Academy. Do the other 154 members have nothing to say on this matter? I know we aren't a democracy or anything, but it seems rather absurd to let such a tiny group make so much noise over what seems to be an issue of limited concern. Archbishop Fisichella did not condone the abortion, did he? Merely wished that the poor rape victim had been shown some compassion in the situation.

Perhaps it is these 5 members who do not understand what "absolute respect for innocent life" is. Is a 9 year old girl not still innocent? Was it her fault that she had an abusive stepfather? Doesn't SHE deserve some respect for her life as well as those lives of the children that were sadly not formed out of an act of love?

It is so sad that the "pro-life" people cannot even comprehend what they even READ! They are so anxious, apparently, to judge and condemn, they cannot even take the time to properly understand what has happened! Fischella had NOTHING to do with the abortion on the LITTLE GIRL, he merely asked for some pastoral care and compassion, which one would hope anyone would have in the terrible circumstances. The doctors did not rape the child,nor did any Church officials, and Fischella merely commented, "after the fact".

It seems to me that for years,the "Holocaust" the Church itself has promoted is a "War on Women" (and now extended even to "Little Girls?") run by a few old men in the Vatican, and enabled by younger career-oriented men throughout the world.

The girl "should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side," Fisichella said.

and that is exactly what JESUS would have said and DONE....

Amen!

I think this is somewhat political. It is my understanding that excommunication is automatic for everyone concerned in an abortion, the woman, the doctors, those who facilitated the abortion, etc. In this case though there wasn't a woman, only a little girl; so I don't know what her standing is. She is above the age of reason, so technically maybe she is excommunicated. I don't think any girl under the age of 16 should be excommunicated for having an abortion in canon law. Personally, I think the little girl should not be excommunicated but her mother should be for facilitating the abortion. No matter the age of the victim, abortion is always the direct taking of an innocent life.

This is a very difficult case. However, I don't think Fisichella was in any way questioning the Church's teaching on abortion. I certainly don't but I favor a change in canon law in terms of the penalty. Fisichella was focusing on the penalty for the crime of abortion. Also, there is the question of why the Brazilian bishop should be shining a light on the case. The two doctors he publically excommunicated were automatically excommunicated anyway. Sometimes the least said is the best for all concerned.

Archbishop Rino Fisichella appears to be the only person associated with this tragic event to show any reasonable sense and genuine compassion. Yet even he did not go far enough. No matter what the modern day Scribes and Pharisees in Rome think and say, it was appropriate that this nine year old have the fetuses (babies) aborted. Not to, would be cruel beyond human comprehension.
What mother or father among the readers who, (God Forbid!), found their daughter in a comparable situation, would have behaved one iota differently than the mother and doctors in Brazil? I am sure that some of the archconservative readers will say that they would. May God have mercy on their self-righteous wretched souls.
Do my thoughts imply that it is high time the Vatican revisit the absolutistic character of its ban on abortion? Yes! Although I support the ban on abortion in general, I also support exceptions in the case of rape and serious compromise of the life of the mother.
Anonymous

Thank you Archbishop Fisichella for your pastoral approach. I hope and pray that others may follow your good example.

One might hope the other 154 members either:

a. Didn't want to look stupidly legalist, or

b. Had better sense than to condemn Fisichella's Christ-like compassion.

If this pontifical commission has even a shred of credibility left, it can thank this archbishop.

What pathetic men we have at the tiller of The Barque of Peter. These five warped people who signed the letter againstn Fisichella have slipped from the Gospel of Jesus into the mindset of Taliban.

A very crude analogy comes to mind. They can't tell S... from Shinloa. Please forgive me but I can't think of a statement more appropriate.

Jesus, please save us from such misguided "leaders".

It is interesting that people don't understand what quality of life really is. I know that people believe that because a child moves around in the womb that it is complete. The body is being prepared for the spirit which is given when the child is born. This does not mean I agree with abortion but in this case I agree with the Archbishop that abortion should take place in order to save the life of the child, should we have all 3 of them die? If we understand the Bible correctly we should ask why then did a flood at Noah's time wash out men, women and children, it was not because God did not love his creation but because it was the only way he could save them, by being sent to a place where they could wait and not commit any more sin. There are so many beliefs that are totally incorrect, Did anyone see God create Religion in the garden of Eden? The body of a nine year old girl is not ready for this.If these people are so holy why then did they not ask God instead of just believing that a child should be put at risk by an evil committed by someone else, the pregnancy had nothing to do with God, it was an evil act that should not bear fruit. We inherit our ancestors sin, so there is no real innocence here. Should children born of rape have to bear the transgressions of something they did not ask for. There is no innocent life here when it comes this way. I think it is politics inside of the church and I believe it is a total mispresentaion of what God thinks.