Marginalizing Abortion

When did abortion, a grave moral crisis in our country and increasingly around the world, become an “issue?”

One Vatican-page article in the Jan. 31, 2021, edition of the Register, which marginalizes the gravity of this crisis, is entitled: “Under President Biden, Relations With US Poised to Shift Dramatically.” After noting that Biden is to become the second “Catholic” U.S. president, the writer at the outset describes the Vatican’s favorable view toward President Biden. 

This is in contrast to the unfavorable view of President Donald Trump, “with whom there were clear differences.” The paragraph ends there, implying that no clear differences exist between President Biden and the Vatican. The article proceeds to list beneficial aspects of Mr. Biden, lauding his status as “a proponent of a number of social policies that this pontificate also supports.”

A cardinal at the Vatican believes Biden’s outstanding-ness on these policies is “possibly ‘inspired by the Church’s social thought.’”

I argue that it is far more likely Biden’s positions on such issues as climate control and immigration have no connection whatsoever to his purported Catholic faith. Rather, it is a happy coincidence that the prevailing political winds drive these concerns, along with China policy, in the same direction as that of the Catholic Church.

“Areas of Alignment” between Biden and the Vatican and “Areas of Disagreement” are listed, inappropriately, in this order. It is more than halfway through the article that the author decides to mention the “challenges” of “life issues.” When we finally get to this “area of disagreement,” Mr. Pentin treats opposition to abortion as merely one Catholic teaching equal in weight among others. The moral evil of abortion is rather a fundamental conviction of Catholicism, and at the same time not uniquely Catholic. Many who belong to other faiths or no faith at all find the practice abhorrent based on the principles of natural law.

The cardinal is again quoted, acknowledging “concern” over Biden’s pro-abortion views. He “believes the Church ‘can work with him [Biden] to find a middle way.’” 

My recommendations, for what they are worth, apply to the article on “Joe Biden’s Cabinet Catholics,” as well. Let’s call Biden’s claim of his Catholicism what it is: arrogant. Let’s address the presence of several so-called Catholics in this administration, who promote abortion, what it is: an outrage.

Finally, we must avoid the euphemistic term “issue” when addressing the slaughter of innocents.

Mary Fletcher

Fairfax, Virginia

The editor responds: The news story you cite is not an opinion piece. It reported the facts as told to our Rome correspondent from his sources. The Register stands by its pro-life record and does not shrink away from criticizing notable Catholics who diverge from Church teaching on the sanctity of life.

 

President and Speaker

Everyone must do what they can to condemn the new president’s support of abortion rights. Mother Teresa pointed out that abortion conveys the message that it is acceptable to kill people. That is the message conveyed by President Biden and Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (both baptized Catholics). Every child, every person, has a right to life.

Edward T. O’Donnell

King of Prussia, Pennsylvania