Word: vatican
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...Cardoso Sobrinho, that the girl's family as well as the doctors who performed the abortion were automatically excommunicated. Monsignor Rino Fisichella, a solidly traditionalist Rome prelate considered to be close to Benedict, tried to soften the church's approach to the case by writing in the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano that the girl "should have been defended, hugged and held tenderly to help her feel that we were all on her side." Two weeks ago, the Vatican announced that Sobrinho, who had been serving past retirement, was stepping down. And that's where the church stood...
...tucked-away "clarification" published on page 7 of a recent edition of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican produced a document that unequivocally confirmed automatic excommunication for anyone involved in an abortion - even in such a situation as dire as the Brazilian case. It settles any questions about the absolute nature of church doctrine on the matter of abortion - but it could potentially reignite the p.r. firestorm. (See the original story of the controversial abortion in Brazil...
...delicacy" and leaves no wiggle room on the standing of the family and doctors who carried out the abortion. "Formal cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life," reads the statement, which widely cites past Vatican documents. "The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the parents and the whole of society." (While the doctor...
...Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi told reporters after the audience that it was important for the Pope to be clear about the Church's stance on ethical issues. "It would be ambiguous to hide or minimize what we believe," he said. "It's not meant to be divisive or polemical." Lombardi added that the Pope told him that Obama "explicitly expressed his commitment to reducing the numbers of abortions and to listen to the Church's concerns on moral issues...
Still, beyond the private talk, Obama's visit to the Vatican - in which the President's wife and daughters also got a private tour of St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel - is one of the key encounters of his first year in office. It gives him the chance not only to solidify support from U.S. Catholic voters at home but also to spread his new American gospel to the world...